Good Morning Tweeters!
Returned from roadtrip down to Colorado and through the southwest a
few days ago. Though our time schedule didn't allow for as much birding
as we would have liked, we did get in a few stops.
Fortunately we were able to get a few hours in at Bosque del Apache,
NM, at sunrise. Quite a remarkable place! The numbers of Snow and Ross'
Geese and Sandhill Cranes dotting the early morning sky was truly
impressive. In all of the grey bodies of the Sanhill's we found two
Whoopers as well.
In the Organ Pipe National Monument we spotted several lifers,
including the Harris Hawk, Cactus Wren, Gila Woodpecker, Phainopepla,
Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher, Canyon Towhee and Curve-billed Thrasher. Most of
these came right up to us at the visitor's center as we stretched our
legs around the picnic tables. One of the oddest sights, however, was
the bright red Northern Cardinal flitting amongst the cactii. Somehow
they just didn't seem to "fit in."
A short drive along highway 2 in Mexico turned up an Aplomado Falcon,
that was efficiently grounded in a corn field several times by a
Black-shouldered Kite, White-winged Doves and a Gray Hawk.
Finally, stuck in northern California by a mudslide on 5, we made the
best of it by going to the Sacramento River Wildlife Refuge. This area
had a great diversity of birds and habitat. Lots of Red-shouldered Hawks
and Harriers, and a sole Peregrine that remained unmoved as we gawked at
it from no more than twenty feet away. Having looked for the
Yellow-billed Magpie the previous few days with no success, we finally
found them here. How peculiar that slight color modification looks! It
reminded us of a small version of the Oropendola that we saw earlier
this year in Trinidad. Also rustled up were Nutall's Woodpeckers,
Tricolored Blackbirds, Common Moorhens and Ruddy ducks--all firsts for
us.
Considering our limited time and effort, the trip proved producitve,
with 34 new species and around 350 raptors, mostly identified on the
road.
Have a good day all!
Zach Thompson
U of Washington
Seattle, WA
zath at u.washington.edu