Tweeters,
Just back from a short jaunt to the Trans Pecos area. Overwhelmed by the
shear numbers of Snow Geese (35,000) and Sandhill Cranes (5,000) at
Bosque Del Apache, New Mexico. If the opportunity presents itself I
would highly recommend the Crane Festival, which was held last weekend.
It's a great chance to meld with great birding minds and see the exact
spot where all those primordial soup calendar shots are taken.
Spent a few days in the Davis Mountains area as well. Birds I was hoping
to see were Montezuma's Quail, Cassin's Sparrows and Gray Vireo. The
quail has been an enjoyable (?) bogey bird for me. I use bogey instead
of the other terms that were used in a recent Tweeters thread just
because I like the golf reference (even though I don't play golf. Go
figure.)I know the quail are always right where they want to be. I just
never seem to catch up with them. Did have a quick glimpse at 2 quail
for a split second before they alit in deep grass. Hence the title of
the post. More than likely Montezuma's and I'll leave it at that. Of
note to other Tweeters interested in trying for these birds in the Mount
Davis area, the quail have not been seen much at all due to the warm
weather so far. They are higher up than usual and have not been seen in
Fort Davis at the feeders for a few months.
Didn't fare much better on the other 2 birds I was looking for, but had
some nice sightings. Saw and heard 2 Sprague's Pipits at Lake Balmorhea.
Had a Baird's Sparrow west of Fort Davis. Most of the expected birds
were seen in the area with the exception being a dearth of sparrows
other than White-throats. There was a Snowy Egret in El Paso that was
causing quite a stir on the local TV stations and a Broad-bill
Hummingbird was visiting a feeder in town as well. A late Northern
Parula was between El Paso and Las Cruces, but I didn't chase any of
those due to the fact that I had already driven my quota.
Made some really nice contacts in the area and got to see a part of the
world that I've always been intrigued by. If anyone wants some
information on the area, I'd be glad to try to help out. Take care.

Barry Levine
Seattle