Immature Bald Eagle at Rio Grande River in Santa Fe County 2-27-14

Immature Bald Eagle on its favorite snag at Rio Grande River in Santa Fe County.

Immature Bald Eagle

Bird tour of Harding County, NM - Mountain Bluebirds, Ferruginous Hawk, White-throated Swifts and Elk and Antelopes!

Spent all day in Harding County yesterday, 02-24-14 with John Vanderhagen. On the way over there we were treated to small herds of both Pronghorns and Elk (Mora County).

We arrived at the beautiful Mills Canyon at 7:30 a.m. The birding was quiet as we are still experiencing spring-like conditions and it got warm quickly as the sun rose.

Except for Lincoln's Sparrows (2) and a single Rock Wren we didn't see anything unusual along the river. However, on the climb out I was surprised to see a group of 5 White-throated Swifts cruising over the rock clifts. They tend to show up a bit early, but late February is early by a few weeks.

John enjoyed watching a Ferruginous Hawk near Roy and there was a Say's Phoebe in the town. The star of the day were the nearly 200 Mountain Bluebirds we observed. It was a spectacular show. Interestingly there wasn't a single one to be seen just a week before.

We cruised over to Conchitas Lake and saw a couple Loggerhead Shrikes along the way. The number of ducks picked up from last week too and there was a large mixed flock of Canvasbacks, Redheads, Lesser Scaup, Ruddy Duck, American Wigeon, Gadwall, Northern Pintail, Green-winged Teal, Amercian Merganser, American Coot, Canada Goose, Cackling Goose, and Mallards.

My Harding County bird list, after two trips now, stands at 60 - not a bad start.

Antelope on the run

Male Antelope catching up with others

Group of Elk checking me out!

Elk on the move

Male Elk looking regal

Male Elk calling after the others

Female Canvasback

Loggerhead Shrike

Male Mountain Bluebird in all his spring brilliance

White-throated Swift above Mills Canyon in Harding County - first February record

Mills Canyon Road and view of both Rockies and Canadian River Gorge!

No Luck on search for American Three-toed today, but Golden-crowned Kinglet, Mountain Chickadee and Spotted Towhee, White-throated Sparrow - Santa Fe, NM 2-23-14

My friend Wyatt Eglehoff and I headed up high into the Sangre de Christo Mountains today above Santa Fe, NM. We hiked the Aspen Vista Trail which, as the name implies, starts in a massive stand of  Aspens, but winds for miles up into the spruce forest and eventually to the radio towers at 12,000 feet. At approximately 3 miles you pass through a mature stand of spruce where American Three-toed Woodpeckers are seen on a regular basis. 

We started the 1 hour and 15 minute hike to the area where the woodpeckers are seen the most. It is a steady climb from around 10,000 feet to just over 11,000 at this point. We stopped briefly on the way up to enjoy a couple Golden-crowned Kinglets, but then trudged on. 

It was pretty windy and there weren't any birds moving at all. This was my 5th attempt, but I'll keep on trying! It's a great hike and there are always interesting birds to observe. Besides the kinglet we saw a few Clark's Nutcrackers, Brown Creepers, and gobs of Mountain Chickadees.

We stopped up at the ski lodge where there are three feeders. The hope is to attract rosy-finches. So far no luck. Today there were only Mountain Chickadees and Dark-eyed Juncos. 

We headed down the mountain and stopped briefly at the New Mexico Capital Building (known as the "Round House"). It is always worth a stop because the grounds have lots of trees and landscaping. It was nearly 60 degrees by the time we got there and it was pretty quiet. However, we did see a juvenile White-throated Sparrow (rare) and a few Spotted Towhees.

Mountain Chickadee at Santa Fe Ski Area Feeders

Spotted Towhee at "Round House" Grounds in Santa Fe

Horned Larks are courting in northern New Mexico - 2-19-14

With the spring like weather some species, like Horned Larks, are beginning to sing and do courtship displays. Up until a couple weeks ago there were flocks of hundreds of Horned Larks scattered across southern Santa Fe County, but now it seems they have gone their separate ways. This lark was singing up a storm this morning.

Horned Lark - Santa Fe County, NM

Birding the Great Plains in Santa Fe County this morning - 2-19-14

You don't go birding on the plains to see a whole lot of species, but what you do see is usually pretty cool! I saw a total of 7 species this morning including Ferruginous Hawk and Loggerhead Shrike. As a bonus a large group of Pronghorn Antelopes were close to road. 

Ferruginous Hawk showing off those stunning leggings!

Loggerhead Shrike

Pronghorn Antelope

Pronghorn Antelope

Birding beautiful Mills Canyon and Harding County, NM - Northern Shrike, Rough-legged Hawks, Canyon Wren and more!

I made my first visit to Harding County today to do some exploring and start that county list. I took along my wife Carol because I had a feeling it would be a special day, and it was!

Harding County is the least populated county in New Mexico. In fact it isn't even close with the last census in 2010 showing less than 700 people! This county is stunningly beautiful and with little or no traffic.

Most of Harding County is vast open High Plains comprising of both ranches and the Kiowa National Grasslands. Birds can be sparse out on the open prairie, but the species that are found there are pretty cool. For instance the first three birds we saw driving north out of the small town of Roy were Rough-legged Hawks! 

The star attraction in Harding County is undoubtedly the breathtaking Mills Canyon. Here, the 

Canadian River takes a huge deep slice out of the High Plains. You start close to 6,000 feet as you leave Highway 39 and drop to almost 5,000 at the bottom of the canyon. The scenery is off the charts and there is remarkable history too! 

Mills Canyon is administered by the Forest Service and they operate a couple of camp grounds including the Mills Canyon unit, which is in a mind-boggling beautiful setting along the river and nestled in towering sandstone cliffs. 

We descended down through Ponderosa Pines from the top of the canyon. The birding was great. One of the first birds was a stunning adult male Williamson's Sapsucker! Other birds included a very obliging Canyon Wren, White-breasted Nuthatch, Pine Siskin, Western Bluebird, Bewick's Wren, Spotted Towhee, and a Townsend's Solitaire. 

We proceeded down stopping along the way to learn about the fascinating history of this area. It is named after Melvin Mills, who was quite a character! He established a famous apple orchard along the river and eventually operated a stage line deep in the canyon, which reportedly cut 100 miles off of the Santa Fe Trail.

It was fun taking it all in and there were some great birding spots in the riparian areas all along the river. It is a bit quiet here in the winter bird birdwise, but come spring the cottonwoods come alive with migrants and nesting species. Today was 70 degrees and everything was being fairly still down along the river. However, I did manage to find several large flocks of sparrows of several species including a White-throated sparrow and a Lincoln's Sparrow, which is rare in winter. The vast majority of the sparrows were White-crowned.

I can't wait to go back and camp in the canyon this spring. What's cool is that all the birds will be confined to a very narrow corridor along the river and squeezed between huge canyon walls. 

We left the canyon and after having a delicious lunch at Annette's Diner in Roy headed over to Chicosa Lake. There isn't a whole lot of spots in Harding County where you can find water birds, but this is one of them. It used to be a state park, but now seems to be closed. One thing about the plains is that the wind can really howl and by 3:00 p.m. it was gusting to over 40! Nonetheless I hiked into the lake and was rewarded with 7 species of ducks, most notably a large flock of Northern Pintails. There were also Redheads, Green-winged Teal, American Wigeon, Lesser Scaup, Mallard, and Common Merganser. I'm hoping there will still be some water left for the spring shorebird migration. 

We made the long drive home to Santa Fe after having spent a delightful day birding this great area. My Harding County list has finally been started and stands at 41 species! Looking forward to passing 100!

Male Rough-legged Hawk - Harding County 2-16-14

Northern Shrike in Mora County (Just a few miles from the Canadian River and the Harding County Line

Canyon Wren - Harding County 2-16-14

Eurasian Wigeon today in Santa Fe! Bonus Hairy Woodpecker too!

The Eurasian Wigeon male that I observed at Las Campanas Golf Club back in January was relocated yesterday. It is still with the American Wigeon flock and still at a golf course, this time Santa Fe Country Club. It has really become stunning!

Resplendent alternate plumage

Flying with American Wigeons

Coming in for a landing - showing off the green scapulars
 

American Wigeon with bright green swatch and white and rufous sides

Male Hairy Woodpecker that kept tapping and calling until I finally paid attention to him after playing with the wigeons!

Study of a Western Meadowlark and Say's Phoebe, Ring-necked Duck, Common Goldeneye, Common Merganser, mixed duck flock, and a male American Kestrel - Santa Fe County, NM 2-9-14

Overlooked, meadowlarks have exquisite back feathering!

Singing before mid-February!

Missing his left foot!

Shaking off early morning chill

Striking a pose 

Putting on breeding streaks along flanks. Note that this bird's left foot is missing!

Yellow malars

Check out those beautiful eyelashes!

White sides of winter adult

Showing off the "narrower" white tail feathers

Say's Phoebe

Male Bufflehead

Male Bufflehead "gears and flaps down!"

Male and female Bufflehead

Female Common Goldeneye

Female Common Goldeneye

American Wigeon, Green-winged Teal, Common Goldeneye, Common Merganser, Mallard

Male Ring-necked Duck

"Tire Thrasher!" Race of Curve-billed :-)

Male American Kestrel