January Update - San Miguel County, New Mexico Big Year 2016

Big Year Birding and Overview of San Miguel County
Sometime in January of 2016, after my partner and I returned from our 6 week long roadtrip through the Gulf coast region, I decided 2016 would be a fun year to attempt a birding big year for San Miguel County, New Mexico. My goal is two-part; firstly, to see as many species as possible in the calendar year 2016, and secondly, to be more specific, I would like to hit a nice round number of 250 species. In 2015, after being intermittently gone from march-august I got out and birded feverishly from late summer to winter and managed to record 213 species.
A big year is more than just a pokey competition to see lots of birds, it's a challenge to get out and bird often, bird new places, deliberately look for target species, and in the end get to know a place better than you did before.

The backroads of San Miguel County, New Mexico offer the naturalist abundant wild places to explore. Locations with road access can seem as remote and wild as any wilderness I've been in.

For me, that's not a difficult challenge to accept. The region of San Miguel County, New Mexico is a startling study of topographic variation, habitat diversity, the meeting of eastern and western species of fauna, and the chance for way-ward eastern birds to wind-up in our numerous playas and migrant traps. The Las Vegas area itself is unique for its habitat diversity and easy access to different bioregions. Within the Las Vegas Christmas Bird Count circle (a 7 mi diameter circle with the center at the University in the middle of town) one can access; Shortgrass Steppe, Playa Lakes, Riparian Woodland, Wetlands, Pinon-juniper woodland, Juniper Savanna, Ponderosa Pine forest, mountainous streams, and even a few pockets of Mixed Conifer forest. Hardwood forests range from Narrow-leaf cottonwood (Populus angustifolia) in the upper elevations of the Gallinas River, to Fremont Cottonwood (Populus Fremontii) on the lower reaches, to the Elm groves in town, and even a large patch of Black Locust at McAllister Lake WMA. Going into 2016, I have documented 225 species in this approximately 150 square mile area during the past 5 years or so.

The sun sets to the west of McAllister Lake. The footprints of Sandhill Cranes tell of the day's visitors.

Outside of Las Vegas, the diversity of habitats increases by even more, running from less than 5,000 ft elevation east of Conchas Lake to the east, all the way to 11,600+ feet at Elk Mountain high in the Sangre De Cristo mountains, San Miguel County has one of the broadest spectrums of habitats to be found in the state. The shape of the county also lends itself well to finding good birds. From it's western edge in the Sangre De Cristos, the county line is nearly in the center line of the state. While the county does not run north-south very far, it does run east, far east, to within about 40 minutes of driving from the Texas line. This wide geographic scatter means that eastern birds more common to Texas have a high probability of showing up at a few select habitat locales, namely around Conchas Lake and the surrounding Canadian River.

Hermits Peak looms in the distance as seen from Las Vegas National Wildlife Refuge. The stunning habitat diversity within San Miguel County can be seen upon driving into Las Vegas from any directions, it is truly 'Where the Rockies meet the Plains'.

January 2016 Update
We arrived back from our trip on January 15th, 2016. After 6 weeks on the road and a week in Southern Florida kayaking in the Everglades and Florida Keys, the frozen waters of Storrie lake and the Las Vegas NWR playas were a startling contrast. I thus began my big year of birding the next day. As is the seeming ritual at this point, my first birds of the year were in my own yard; Rock Pigeons, Eurasian-Collared Doves and House Sparrows, my faithful neighborhood birds. Dark-eyed Juncos, American Crows, and Common Raven were all additional ticks day #1. Following these initial birds I headed out to Las Vegas NWR, a great spot for winter birds - especially raptors - and was certainly rewarded. Northern Harriers, Bald Eagle, Ferruginous Hawk, Red-tailed Hawk, and American Kestrels all on this tour of the area. Black-billed Magpies and Mountain Bluebirds, year-round residents of LVNWR were also easily found. An increasingly rare species; Snow Geese were also feeding in the Alfalfa feeds near the refuge entrance, joined alongside Canada and Cacking Geese.

While all of the big water bodies in the area were frozen, the marshy areas associated with the Gallinas River were not, especially around the SE Las Vegas Wetlands (hotspot linked in the hyperlink). American Wigeon, Mallard, Northern Pintail, and Green-winged Teal were feeding in the marshy grasses that line the Gallinas river's old oxbows. The highlight of this first day of birding was the 4 Eastern Bluebirds that were foraging along the Gallinas just west of I-25. We had found Easterns during the Christmas Bird Count, a bit of an oddity given the season, so it was very cool to find them in the dead of winter still in town.

The lifeblood of the Cattle industry in New Mexico, that venerable invention; the windmill.

The following day I headed down below the Caprock to Conchas Ranch, my old study site during my Masters research. The weather was much more agreeable below 6,000 ft, I was in a t-shirt and sweating by 10:00 am as I hiked around the foothills of the Mesa de los Carros. The birds of the Pinon-juniper country were out in force, all four species of expected thrushes; American Robin, Townsend's Solitaires, Western and Mountain Bluebirds, and corvids - good numbers of corvids; Black-billed Magpies, Common Ravens, Western Scrub Jays, and those fascinating birds of the Piñon pine - Pinyon Jays (note the change in spelling, the tree should be referred to as its Spanish name, Piñon, while the bird unfortunately gets its anglicized to Pinyon Jay).

I'm amazed that Pinyon Jays (PIJA) are still occupying the Conchas country, it is relatively low elevation for them, and the populations of Piñon have had massive die-offs since the early 2000s. Pinyon jays cache huge numbers of Pinon nuts each autumn, while they retrieve more than 90% of these seeds, the remainder are left to germinate on the landscape and create the future woodland. It is a fascinating mutualistic relationship that event extends into the reproductive biology of Pinyon Jays, their sexual hormones are triggered by Piñon cones turning the color green - indicating a bountiful harvest the following fall and a good year to breed. Climate change induced drought, exacerbated by Ips confusus (a species of Bark Beetle) outbreaks threaten this relationship. As the fate of the Pinon pine goes, so too does the PIJA. The good news for the tree is that as the primary seed disperser, having active flocks of PIJA around as long as possible will help the trees migrate to more suitable sites. I gave a talk at the New Mexico Ornithological Society annual meeting in Albuquerque in April discussing the potential fate of Piñon woodlands and the iconic Jay that rules over it (abstract found here on the NMOS website).

Pinyon Jay on a Piñon Pine, Conchas Ranch, San Miguel Co., NM, January, 2016.

The road back from the Conchas held some more good first of the year birds; a Sage Thrasher, Curve-billed Thrashers, American Goldfinches, and a pair of Greater Roadrunners out for their mid-morning hunting session. Back on top of the Caprock, I came across my first Western Meadowlark (a year round resident but they remain very inconspicuous during the winter months as I suspect they molt during this time). An immature Bald Eagle also flew above the outskirts of town giving nice looks at their mottled plumage.

Immature Bald Eagle, Highway 104, San Miguel Co., NM, January 2016.

I began teaching on the 19th of January, a nice break in my schedule allowed me to visit the Ponderosa pine woodlands behind Luna Community College, I picked up Williamson's Sapsuckers, Mountain Chickadees and White-breasted Nuthatches, all year round residents of these forests. A week later I had my first snow related delayed morning of the year and I returned to these woods and had a spectacular morning of birding the fresh snow. My first Red-naped Sapsucker was foraging in the neighborhoods around Luna, and a myriad of new species were added every few minutes ago; Evening Grosbeaks, Golden-crowned Kinglets, Cassin's Finch and even a very early Mourning Dove. I drove back to Luna for my 10:00 Geology 202: Earth History class through fresh snow, still relishing the morning's birds.

Golden-crowned Kinglet foraging in fresh snow, Luna Community College area, San Miguel Co., NM, January 2016.

A very cold and very early season Mourning Dove in the Luna Community College area. I usually do not record Mourning Doves until March, this early bird got a chilling snowstorm as a welcome back! San Miguel Co., NM, January 2016.

An American Robin foraging in a Rocky Mountain Juniper (Juniperus scopulorum). San Miguel Co., NM, January 2016.

Female Williamson's Sapsucker with her expert camouflage and tell-tale yellow belly. San Miguel Co., NM, January 2016.

I finished January off with 2 more new species for the year at the NMHU Golf Course Pond (eBird hotspot page here), two birds of the marshes that make the golf course pond such a great site; Song Sparrow and Marsh Wren.

January concluded with 63 total species, I was happy with the number given it represented 2 weeks of birding. I did miss several winter species in this month that I was not able to see the rest of the winter, notably American Tree Sparrows, Merlin, Northern Shrike (although I had several shrikes I thought could* have been Northerns), and Ross's Goose.