Moving north from the Socorro, NM area we arrive in Santa Fe, and one of my favorite places to bird in Santa Fe is the Randall Davey Audubon Sanctuary at the end of Canyon Road.  The sanctuary has several feeders out and they attract a variety of birds, some of which I’m going to display.  These photos were taken right around Christmas when snow is almost invariably on the ground.

This first bird is a Townsend’s solitaire and I included the photo not because of its quality, but because for me it’s a fairly rare bird and I’ve never seen one in New Mexico previously.

Townsends Solitaire

This next bird is a Mountain chickadee, a bird that we have here in the Pacific Northwest but that I’ve never seen visit our yard.  I have seen one at the Reifel Refuge in British Columbia and at Washington Park here in Anacortes, and I’ve had friends who have had these birds visit their yards but I can’t seen to attract one!  They are almost always in evidence at the Randall Davey Sanctuary.

Mountain Chicadee

Now we get into the interesting aspects of bird observations at the Randall Davey Sanctuary.  There are at least four different races of Dark-eyed juncos at the sanctuary and I think I probably photographed four.  This next bird, and the one that follows it, are the Gray-headed race.

This one can be identified fairly easily by the brown patches on the shoulders and on the top of the head (if you look closely).

Dark-Eyed Junco, Gray-Headed Race

This next bird is also of the Gray-headed race as evidenced by the brown crown.

Dark-Eyed Junco, Gray-headed Race

This next bird is rather interesting.  It’s a Dark-eyed junco and it probably has to be of the Slate-colored race, but it differs significantly from Sibley’s illustration in that it has a shorter bib.

Dark-Eyed Junco, Slate-Colored Race

And here is a Dark-eyed junco of the Oregon race which is the most common junco we have in Skagit County, WA.

Dark-Eyed Junco – Oregon Race

Finally we come to what I consider a mystery junco in that the photograph, at least from my limited knowledge, doesn’t reveal enough of the bird to make a definitive determination as to its race.  It could be another Oregon junco (which would be my guess) or perhaps a Pink-sided junco,, both of which are found in this area.

And if you’re not thoroughly confused by the junco races yet, you should know that there are White-winged, Red-backed and several other variations all of which can be found in the general New Mexico area!

On the morning we left Socorro for Santa Fe I spotted this leucistic grackle in a Walmart parking lot.  Since I started this web site with a leucistic Varied thrush I had to obtain a photo for the continuity.  I didn’t have my good camera at hand, the light was too bright and the bird was walking around a parking lot, but I did obtain a few photos.  This bird should be all dark, but as you can see, part of its tail is white.

I’ll be featuring just a few more images taken at the Bosque del Apache NWR in New Mexico, then I’ll move to Santa Fe for a couple of posts and then it will be back to Skagit County for an interesting story or two and a couple of features on some nice birds.

For now, here are some photos of some of the “quackers” I photographed at the Bosque…

Female Northern Shoveler

Male Northern Shoveler

Male Northern Pintail

Male Northern Pintail Experiencing a “Bad Hair” Day

Male Dabbling Ducks… Probably Northern Shovelors

“Quackers” can generally be divided into two groups, dabbling ducks (which don’t or can’t go underwater due to positive buoyancy) and diving ducks which dive underwater for much of their food.  Mallards, Northern pintails and Northern shovelers are examples of dabbling ducks.

Quacker! (: )

The photograph above is of a nice “quacker” but I’m unsure of the species.  Somebody out there help me!

Killdeer

So that’s it for the Bosque, but not before I showcase one more bird under a separate post.

This Eurasian Collared dove was with several others in the small community of San Antonio, NM, just outside the entrance to the Bosque del Apache NWR.

Eurasian Collared Dove

The following day this Pyrrhuloxia was at the same location.

Pyrrhuloxia, cousin to the Northern Cardinal

Western Meadowlark

This Western meadowlark was beside one of the local roads just off of the refuge.

Another Western Meadowlark

And back on the refuge, this Loggerhead shrike was in the same general area for all three days that we were there.

The Bosque del Apache NWR is located in central New Mexico, a little over an hour’s drive south of Albuquerque, NM.  It’s my favorite location for birding.  Much of the effort in managing the refuge is for the benefit of Sandhill cranes, Snow geese and other waterfowl.  In the winter months the refuge is home to tens of thousands of these birds.  But like any other natural place, good habitat attracts a wide variety of birds and other wildlife.

Management of the refuge must be a fairly complicated matter.  There are many different areas that are, or can be, flooded by use of irrigation channels.  Parts of the preserve are dedicated to growing crops (corn) that will attract and provide food for the birds through the winter.  And the refuge is constantly being inundated with invasive salt cedar which is battled with considerable effort and cost.

During the day a substantial number of the cranes and geese can be found in, or around the edges of, cornfields.  The birds are generally somewhat hesitant to enter the cornfields because the coyotes can hide in the corn and ambush the birds as they feed, so the majority of the birds stand around the edges of the cornfields while some of the ones that are hungrier or bolder enter the standing corn for food.  Throughout the winter portions of the cornfields are knocked down to provide food for the birds.

Sandhill cranes and Snow geese feeding in and near one of the cornfields at the Bosque.

In the late afternoons the coyotes, which are mainly nocturnal, employ various tactics to make a meal off the birds.  They skirt the flocks of birds in and around the corn fields looking for any that might be sick, injured or just not up to par on self-preservation.  Although I’ve never seen a coyote take a bird you must assume it happens on a regular basis or else the coyotes wouldn’t spend the time or effort in their pursuit.  While some coyotes appear to try to sneak up on the birds, others are fairly open concerning their intentions.  In the photo posted below, this coyote is taking the direct approach to a cornfield but on the previous evening we watched for almost an hour as a coyote sought to hide in low cornfield stubble and ambush unwary birds.

Coyote making a direct approach to the cornfield.

Just before dark the cranes, geese and ducks fly in small groups to the relative safety of the shallow ponds that are scattered over the refuge, where they spend the night.  The ponds often freeze over during the cold nights but offer some protection from the coyotes.  The water probably provides some warning of coyotes’ approach and perhaps the coyotes are somewhat dissuaded from entering the water or venturing out on thin ice.

Sandhill cranes flying back to one of Bosque’s ponds for safety during the night.

Each winter morning there occurs just before sunrise what is termed ‘the fly-off’.  Within a very short period of time, sometimes measured in mere seconds, the thousands of birds that have over-nighted at the refuge rise together and fly off to feed in the various fields both on the preserve and on private land in the general area.  This event attracts observers and photographers from all over the world.

And each and every day of the winter the cycle repeats itself.

You can learn more (and perhaps obtain more accurate information) about the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, including their weekly bird count, by visiting these web sites:

 http://www.fws.gov/southwest/refuges/newmex/bosque/

www.friendsofthebosque.org/