Howdy and welcome to the first post of this southwest ecology-based 'blog' (e.g. motivation for me to write about the various places I spend time birding and exploring). My backyard, northeastern New Mexico, is a big wide open piece of the world, complete with Alpine summits, vast unbroken conifer forests, and easterly-running arteries of rocky canyons radiating far out into the short-grass steppe. It is my hope that this blog will be able to at least translate some of the beauty found within this landscape and others into text and images.
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| Located in the Santa Fe National Forest's Pecos Wilderness, Hermits Peak towers above the eastern plains. A natural billboard for the ecotone between the plains and the southern Rocky Mountains, it can be seen from 50 miles away. |
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| Las Vegas NWR, the place is prettier than the sign. |
I returned from my Texas birding marathon on January 16th, tired from the journey and happy to be back in the monte. While the Las Vegas area has received several snow storms in January of 2015, many of the intervening days have been bright, calm, and with temperatures from the 50Fs-60Fs; warm enough to feel like spring. Certain bird species' presence however; reminds us that winter is still very much present. American Tree Sparrows breed at northern latitudes up into Alaska and Canada, but each winter, these northern sparrows come down into the northern half of New Mexico and be found regularly in any patch of trees at Las Vegas NWR and Storrie Lake SP. Evening Grosbeaks have also been present in the Riverwalk Bosquette area at the southern end of Las Vegas. These flocking birds are irruptive in distribution across much of their range, but have been regular winter residents for the past 4 years in the area. Thrushes are finding plenty of juniper berries around the area, as American Robins, Mountain Bluebirds, and Western Bluebirds are all present in their preferred habitats. A couple of Eastern Bluebirds were a surprise to find associating with Robins at the south end of the Riverwalk. Eastern Bluebirds are uncommon in the Las Vegas area, but have been seen in above average numbers across Northern New Mexico this winter; these were my first in the Las Vegas area.
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| American Tree Sparrow at Las Vegas NWR, 1/22/2015. American Tree Sparrow's diagnostic field marks include the bi-colored bill, red-facial pattern, weak malar stripe and sooty central breast spot (not visible here). |
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| Evening Grosbeak and Eastern Bluebird males (left and right respectively) in the Gallinas River 'bosquette' near the historic roundhouse building. 1/24/2015. While Evening Grosbeaks are regular visitors to the Las Vegas area during the winter, Eastern Bluebirds are uncommon in the western portion of San Miguel county. Eastern Bluebird males can be distinguished from Western Bluebirds by their clean white belly, and red breast which extends up to the throat and nape. |
Gallinas Riverwalk & Roundhouse Woods
Prior to September 2013, the Gallinas river downstream of Bridge St within the heart of Las Vegas had several medium-sized runs and pools along the stream channel that could be productive duck and heron habitat. 100-year flood conditions in September of 2013 re-arranged much of the river, and ducks other than mallards have been uncommon since. On January 21st however I observed the first American Widgeon in town in at least two years. The beautiful drake seen here was a nice contrast to the larger, ubiquitous Mallards. Up to three Wilson's Snipes were hanging out on the stretch of Gallinas between Prince and Grand St, but as with all snipes, my looks at them were brief as they flushed away calling 'sqruak sqruak'. Right in the same area, the 'Populus angustifolia alley' I found my first New Mexican Winter Wren of the year. The wren's distinctive 'jimp jimp' can be heard in this video I recorded at the scene (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUjnxFrObQA).
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| American Widgeon drake on the Gallinas River, 1/21/2015 |
When the temperatures rise into the 50s (F), the shortgrass prairie ecosystem can snap out of the torpor of winter, coming alive with the songs of meadowlarks and ever-pleasant call of crickets and grasshoppers across the grasslands. Western Meadowlarks were present and singing in large numbers around the entire LVNWR tour loop on 1/26/2015. It felt positively like spring with warm breezes and the air filled with bird song. On the my way out to the refuge I stopped at the Southeast Las Vegas wetlands for a nice group of Canada Geese and Gadwall. I heard a familiar but surprising call behind me, a Northern Mockingbird, defending a Russian Olive from European Starling would-be invaders. This is the earliest/latest Northern Mockingbird observation during winter for Northeast New Mexico above the caprock. Mockinbirds, as well as two other species of thrashers (Crissal's and Curve-billed) can be found uncommonly below the caprock where habitat associations resemble more the Chihuahuan desert community than the high plains.
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| Western Meadowlark male singing at the Las Vegas NWR - 1/27/2015 |
On January 28th I took a long, very warm hike through Gallinas canyon, covering about 3 miles of river and 4 miles overland. I arrived at the canyon later than I'd hoped, reached the Gallinas after noon, the temperatures were already in the 60s. These warm conditions led to low songbird activity and vocalizations. Despite this, plenty of sparrows were flushed along the walk, with a few early surprises! Song Sparrows, White-crowned Sparrows and Dark-eyed Juncos were the most abundant species, but the big highlight was Lincoln's Sparrows in good numbers (7). Lincoln's Sparrows are uncommon during the winter this far north in New Mexico, but perhaps the recent warm conditions have resulted in a temporary migrational flux upstream from the Pecos river. Las Vegas is a sort of transition zone for wintering bird distributions, during warm weather spells, some southerly species creep up to take advantage of wet conditions and warm temperatures to the north. During our increasingly seldom winter weather periods, these birds (including Sandhill Cranes) probably retreat below the caprock or back downstream to relative warmth.
A single Winter Wren was heard as I took lunch on a large rock overlooking a coyote willow (Salix exigua) thicket. The wren appeared soon after and 'chimp chimp chimped' it's way up and down the canyon. This was the second Winter Wren in two days found within the Las Vegas CBC area. As the Winter Wren became more excited, it was joined by a Canyon wren, then by a Song Sparrow. The trio made a great chorus of buzzes and chips.
After a long walk back through juniper savanna and Pinon/Ponderosa pine woodland and about 50 Dark-eyed Juncos (Oregon, Gray-headed, and Pink-sided), I made my way to Crane Lake and Melton Pond and found good waterfowl diversity, of both divers; Common Mergansers, Common Goldeneye, Redhead, Ring-necked Duck, Bufflehead; and dabblers; Northern Shoveler, Northern Pintail, Mallard, American Widgeon, Gadwall, and Green-winged Teal. 225 Sandhill Cranes made for a nice scene in their usual spot on the south side of Crane Lake. The lakes on the refuge were noticeably devoid of geese, as every Canada, Cackling, Snow and Ross's goose in the county, about 1800 individuals in all, were all convening in the alfalfa fields north of the Refuge entrance.
Raptors on the wing
Raptors in the Las Vegas area area always a reliable treat during winter, with 1 species of Eagle (Bald Eagle), 5 species of Hawks (Northern Harrier, Cooper's Hawk, Sharp-shinned Hawk, Red-tailed Hawk, Ferruginous Hawk, Rough-legged Hawk), and 2 species of Falcons (Prairie Falcon, American Kestrel) present with apparently enough songbirds and rodents to sustain the populations. The dark-morph Red-tailed hawk was still present on the west side of the refuge, as it has been for at least 1 month.
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| Ferruginous Hawk, Las Vegas NWR 1/20/2015 |
It's been a great couple of weeks back birding in San Miguel County, with 81 species in January so far within the county (1/16-1/30), 95 within New Mexico, and 232 for the year total. I'll be looking forward to heading south in the next few weeks to see some southwestern desert birds in winter!
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