Dear Tweeters,

My husband and I have escaped Seattle for a few weeks and are
vacationing down in New Mexico with my folks. It seems that the
CCLO debate continues- is there anything you guys would like us
to ask the CCLOs while we're down here in their home territory?
Perhaps we could conduct the large-scale CCLO sandpapering study
that was suggested :).

We missed doing the CBC, but we did take a trip to Bosque del
Apache NWR today. (Actually, it was supposed to be closed due to
the latest government shutdown- both of which have eirily
corresponded to our vacation breaks :(- but they left the roads
open today only since those who got there early wouldn't have
known...)

Saw lots of neat stuff- tons of sandhill cranes (no whoopers),
snow goose (both phases), ross's goose, peregrine falcon, bald
eagles, virginia rails, a coyote carrying a mallard, roadrunner,
say's phoebe, black phoebe, neotropic cormorant... well, and
lots of other birds.

Around where my folks live (Truth or Consequences) we've seen lots
of western, eared, and pied-billed grebes, gambel's quail, a
white-winged dove, curved-billed thrashers, and other neat birds.
We're looking forward to more (dry :) ) birding trips to come. If
anyone knows any good spots around this area, we'd love to hear
about them!

LeAnn Copas and Tom Moore
usually of Redmond, WA
tommoore1 at attmail.com