2010 Tour Narrative
In Brief: The 2010 WINGS venture through central New Mexico in winter was an unmitigated success. The group tallied 141 species in just six days, traveling as far south as Percha Dam State Park and as far north as the Las Vegas N.W.R. and Conchas Lake. Along the way, we experienced a breadth of habitats that is hard to match in any other similarly sized area in the country. Montane coniferous forests, barren creosote flats, bottomland riparian cottonwood forests, extensive pinyon-juniper forests, and the wide-open prairie combined to provide spectacular backdrops for our daily excursions. New Mexico truly has a lot to offer! The birds were varied too, from wheeling flocks of thousands of calling geese and Sandhill Cranes to perched up and singing Crissal Thrashers, from point blank views of all three species of rosy-finches to such surprising rarities as Red-throated Loon, Red-necked Grebe, or Gray Catbird, New Mexico never fails to impress.
In Detail: The tour started with visits to some picturesque canyons along the west flank of the Sandia Mountains. In the cactus- and juniper-clad slopes and grassy swales of Embudito Canyon, we turned up fantastic views of several singing Crissal Thrashers, two perched up and very enjoyable Scaled Quail, a cooperative Ladder-backed Woodpecker, and a small group of Cassin’s Finches. At a second, more vegetated canyon nearby, a brief walk into the pinyon-juniper revealed several Mountain Chickadees and a pair of Juniper Titmice. With a forecast of snowfall in the mountains, we decided to switch our locations around and visit the high country of the Sandias on the first day. This proved to be an excellent idea, as from the comforts of the lodge house we watched mixed flocks of all three rosy-finches coming in to feed just a few feet away from the large plate-glass windows. The bright pinks, bold browns, and rich blacks of these birds are astonishing, and the opportunity to view all three species so well side by side is unique to this location in New Mexico. A short walk along the ridge revealed a pair of the often difficult to locate and very local American Three-toed Woodpeckers, which gave excellent close views from a nearby snag. As an added bonus we were treated to quick views of a pair of Pine Grosbeaks and three flyover Red Crossbills. After an enjoyable day in the mountains we drove south to Socorro, our base for the next three nights.
On day two the group made a loop down south to a series of wetlands, parks, and canyons in Sierra County. At Percha State Park we were thrilled by hundreds of Western and Mountain Bluebirds feeding on fruiting mistletoe and by a big female Prairie Falcon cruising nearby fields. In the desert scrub and adjacent foothills we located specialties such as Cactus Wren, Pyrrhuloxia, Rufous-crowned Sparrow, and Acorn Woodpecker. Enjoying the flat calm water and a stunning sunset at Elephant Butte Lake proved very popular with this year’s participants. We had an opportunity for an impromptu gull ID workshop, with four species and various ages available for close comparison, and reveled in finding staked-out rarities in the form of Red-necked Grebe and Red-throated Loon. Perhaps the lasting memory from the day, though, was the hundreds of calling and foraging Western and Clark’s Grebes, in nearly perfect viewing conditions.
On day three we savored a fantastic sunny day at the incredible Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge. The morning fly-out involved about 5,000 mixed geese, and in the afternoon the fields were stalked by thousands of cranes. The refuge impoundments contained thousands of foraging waterfowl, including countless Mallards and Northern Pintails, as well as a few wintering shorebirds. The calm and relatively warm afternoon brought a wealth of raptor activity, with Golden and Bald Eagles, Red-tailed, Ferruginous, Cooper’s, and Sharp-shinned Hawks, Merlin, Prairie Falcon, and American Kestrels all hunting over the fields. Other highlights of the day were good views of Sage Sparrows, huge flocks of flyover blackbirds (including good numbers of Yellow-headed Blackbirds), and a wintering White-throated Sparrow at the visitor center’s feeders.
Dawn the next day found us poised next to a large roosting flock of Sandhill Cranes and mixed geese. As the sun spread across the valley, we witnessed an amazing flyout of approximately 12,000 geese and 7,000 cranes against a backdrop of distant dark clouds and purplish sky. The sight of so many birds wheeling around us, and the cacophony of voices, will surely be one of the lasting memories from this year’s tour. Later, a trip to the Rio Grande Nature Center produced a nice flock of Eastern Bluebirds (to complete the bluebird sweep), stunning male Wood Ducks and Hooded Mergansers, and excellent and instructive views of Lesser Scaup and Cackling Goose.
Our day in the prairies of northeastern New Mexico was a treat, as we managed to avoid a forecasted storm and combined a visit to the Las Vegas National Widlife Refuge with Conchas Lake. At Las Vegas we found a surprise flock of eight Tundra Swans, a large flock of Canvasbacks, many dapper male Common Goldeneyes, and a big flock of geese containing four species. The drive over to Conchas took us through some scenically wonderful canyons and wide-open prairie. Around the lake were several gorgeous Ferruginous Hawks showing off, an adult Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, about a dozen Bald Eagles, and nice flocks of Common (with a few Red-breasted) Mergansers. Upon arriving back in Santa Fe, we happily dug into a wonderful dinner at a great New Mexican restaurant in the heart of old town Santa Fe.
On our last full day of the tour we finally made the acquaintance of the huge winter storm slowly tracking east from California. We were unable to reach the Santa Fe Ski Basin, but were thrilled to see the incredibly beautiful snow and ice on the trees along the lower reaches of the road. Later in the morning in Santa Fe, we found a flock of nearly three dozen Evening Grosbeaks, doubtless pushed into the lowlands by the snow. We also stopped by a local birder’s house to look at the wintering Gray Catbird that seems to be happily subsisting on homemade suet. Around Cochiti Lake we marveled at the dramatic skies and rapidly varying weather as we watched Bald Eagles stalking unwary ducks on the small open pools. The unique rock formations and pinyon-juniper slopes around the dam provided a wonderful end to the trip, as did a very cooperative male Williamson’s Sapsucker that was seen well and at close range by all.
- Gavin Bieber
Updated: February 2010