With a forecast of record warm temperatures and the likelihood of new migrants my friend Wyatt Eglehoff and I headed up to Trout Stalker Ranch in Chama, NM.
Wyatt arrived at my house right on time at 5:00 a.m. and soon we were headed north out of Santa Fe County with much anticipation for what we would find. The temperature at my house was a ridiculously warm 52 degrees F, however as we climbed north into the beautiful Chama River Valley, and toward the San Juan Mountains, it would eventually drop to 27 degrees!
There was little traffic and the drive though the pre-dawn darkness was easy as we winged our way north through Espanola and Abiquiu. The skies north of the Ghost Ranch were stunning as there was little or no moon or any other light to compromise the brilliant views of the stars and especially the Milky Way. It was hard not to stop!
The sun was hitting the highest peaks (pretty impressive sight) as we approached Tierra Amarilla. I couldn't resist taking the "detour" along the stretch of the Chama River between La Puende and Los Ojos. The sunlight hadn't made its way down to the river yet and it was still chilly, however there was a fair amount of activity. Wyatt's keen ears picked up on a small group of EASTERN BLUEBIRDS calling from the cottonwoods. After a bit of searching we finally were able to observe two females and at least one male. We are hoping they are thinking of breeding here and I'll keep watching. One of the problems the bluebirds face are the large numbers of aggressive EUROPEAN STARLINGS already occupying the limited nesting cavities.
We got back on Highway 84 and were driving north again when we spotted our first two returning migrants near Los Brazos (spanish for "the arms"). We spotted our FOS OSPREY sitting on a snag along the Brazos River while several TREE SWALLOWS wheeled overhead.
A little further up the highway we got befuddled for a moment as we observed an immature BALD EAGLE and a RED-TAILED HAWK sitting side by side on the Canones Creek Ranch. It was interesting to compare the differences in structure of these two raptors.
Always hungry we headed into Chama arriving at the Subway right at 8:00 a.m. The lady that works there recognized me as "the birder!"
We drove onto the ranch and it was so different! Virtually all the snow had melted, it was actually greening up a bit, and goose pond was completely ice free! It was really beautiful and I wondered just how awesome it would look when all the trees and plants starting bursting out with leaves and flowers.
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| Unfrozen "Goose Lake" looking north |
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| Goose Lake looking southwest towards woods |
Living up to its name "Goose Pond" had over 30 CANADA GEESE! I think we counted a total of 60 geese on the ranch! Along with the geese there several NORTHERN SHOVELERS and a PIED-BILLED GREBE, both new (for me) birds on the ranch. MALLARDS, a couple of GADWALLS, 2 GREEN-WINGED TEAL, 4 RING-NECKED DUCKS, a COMMON MERGANSER, 3 AMERICAN COOT, and 5 GREAT BLUE HERONS (that Wyatt had migrating overhead), rounded out the waterbirds around the pond. Also near the pond were 7 TREE SWALLOWS (which breed on the ranch). The always impressive adult BALD EAGLE was on his favorite perch just north of the lake. SONG SPARROWS were living up to their name too as several were singing loudly from exposed perches.
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| Pair of Canadians on Goose Lake |
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| Two pairs of Ring-necked Ducks on Goose Lake |
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| Pied-billed Grebe on Goose Lake |
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| Northern Shovelers on Goose Lake |
I parked in the extensive woodlands that are situated along both the Chama and Chamita Rivers on the southwest end of the ranch. Wyatt and I walked the entire woods commenting on how great this habitat was - two rivers running through hardwoods with wet bottom lands in-between! We had a pretty good time speculating the possibilities of rarities that could be found here! For now my warbler list stands at one as Wyatt tracked down a YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER we thought was most likely the "myrtle" race. Other birds found at this site included a most cooperative BROWN CREEPER, several CASSIN'S FINCHES, DARK-EYED JUNCOS, and an AMERICAN DIPPER (1 of 3 seen today). A SPOTTED TOWHEE called along the edge of the woods and a couple WESTERN MEADOWLARKS were singing from the meadow beyond.
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| Brown Creeper - can you find it! |
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| The tiny Brown Creeper showing a bit its gleaming white undersides. |
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| A little better view of a little bird. This is the second Brown Creeper I've seen on the ranch. |
Our next stop was over by the cabin and the buffalo pasture. A KILLDEER flew across the road as we drove across the pasture lands. Surprisingly there weren't any ducks on the pond next to the cabin, but a noisy and active SAY'S PHOEBE kept us entertained. We stopped to check out a sparrow that flew into a large patch of cattails surrounded by soppy meadow grass. We didn't find the sparrow, but flushed our FOS WILSON'S SNIPE! After taking a bunch of pics of the buffalo we headed over to the northeast end of the ranch and the other impressive woodlands.
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| The bulls acting a bit playful on the ranch |
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| Buffalo on the move in some nice grassland on ranch |
While we were driving over to the north end of the ranch we came across a small herd of 8 Elk crossing the ranch. Another name for Elk is from the Native American Wapiti, which some sources say is a Shawnee word, and literally means "white rump." Makes sense!
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| Elk crossing road on ranch |
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| Elk on the move across a pasture on the ranch |
We caught up with Greg Friday, the ranch's manager and had a really nice visit. How pleasant to talk while being entertained by 2 LEWIS'S WOODPECKERS busily working a tree cavity overhead! Our conversation continued with intermittent "disruptions" by our FOS TURKEY VULTURES, a handsome male RED-NAPED SAPSUCKER, WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCHES, BLACK-CAPPED CHICKADEES, and a RED-TAILED HAWK that seemed very interested in checking out the woods here.
It was noon, and once again hungry we headed to town to pick-up another snack. We were about to head on over to Heron Lake State Park, but I had this feeling that we should go back on to the ranch and check "Goose Lake" again. Wyatt agreed and soon we were back at the lake. We were scanning it over and were shocked to observe a "white" goose sitting with lots of Canadian Geese on the large island. I started to take pictures as Wyatt got his scope out to confirm what we thought, but couldn't believe, was a ROSS'S GOOSE! I drove up ahead to get closer pics as Wyatt continued to observe and to take some of his own pics too. This bird shouldn't be totally unexpected, but it is considered rare in this part of NM. Also, this date is very late. This bird was a young bird molting into adult plumage as can be seen by the dark smudging on the back of its head and neck. What a great bird for Trout Stalker Ranch!
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| Ross's Goose and Canada - showing small size! |
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| Ross's Goose showing dusky smudge on back of head and neck indicating a younger bird |
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| Ross's Goose fittingly on "Goose Pond" at Trout Stalker Ranch. Note small bill with no "grin" patch (like on Snow Goose), steep forehead and rounded head, bluish color on base of bill, and small size. |
We drove down to Greg's house and called to tell him about the Ross's, but he had drove up to the lake just after we left and was looking at the Ross's too! Way to go Greg!
See the updated Trout Stalker Ranch checklist of birds for 2015 below!
We finally left the ranch and headed over to Heron Lake. By now it was an unreal 70 degrees F! We went the La Laja boat ramp which is the best place to scan the lake from. As I've mentioned before the very long concrete boat ramp is a long way from the edge of the lake - perhaps 200 meters. Apparently that's all about to change. We drove past huge earth moving equipment parked off to the side. Plus, the area between the end of the ramp and the lake had been roped off marking the perfect outline of an extended ramp!
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| Soon the heavy equipment will be moving in to extend the La Laja boat ramp down to Heron Lake |
For now (and maybe the last time) we enjoyed the warm breeze (well except when it interfered with our observations) and solitude of this spot. The numbers of birds on the lake were very low and they were very far away. Throw in the heat shimmies and gusty wind and presto - extremely tough viewing conditions!
We were dogged and determined! Straining and using more concentration than I'm accustomed to we managed to identify most of the specks out on the lake. Our best bird, and the one that took the most discipline to identify (believe me), was a female GREATER SCAUP (this was a county bird for both Wyatt and I). A small flock of LESSER SCAUP was nearby offering a great comparison to the greater.
Small numbers of RING-BILLED GULLS were scattered here and there along with one CALIFORNIA GULL sitting on a small island (another county bird for me - #152 for Rio Arriba). Wyatt says that California Gulls breed here so hopefully that will be the case this summer. The only other birds we could positively identify were the ever-present Canada Geese and 7 DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANTS.
There were a small number of ducks scattered across the lake that we had no clue about, but the most frustrating non-id were a fair sized flock of Aechmophorus grebes. I asked Wyatt if it were more likely that they would be Western
or Clark's Grebes, and his very well articulated answer was - yes! Okay, I get
it! So with that we decided to be happy with our previous hard-fought
identifications. All in pretty tough conditions.
We started south around 2:00 p.m. hitting a couple spots
along the way. Wyatt had never cruised the 8 miles up CR 512 which ends at
Corkin's Lodge. The road starts out along the Brazos River and then slowly
climbs up into Ponderosa Pine forest with lots and lots of private in holdings.
It seems like you are driving up into a fairly significant alpine area, but in
reality you gain less than 200 feet above the village of Chama. The elevation
change isn't drastic, but the vast pine forest is. Despite all of it being
private land there is lots of good birding from along the road. I'll keep
checking this area as breeding birds return.
The road ends at Corkin's Lodge which owns 1,600 acres at the
base of the incredible Brazos Cliffs. Unfortunately access to this property is
limited to guests only! That really is too bad because this is where you
start to get into spruce and fir forest and the higher alpine species.
We worked along the road picking up STELLER'S JAY, PYGMY and
WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCH, MOUNTAIN CHICKADEE, EVENING GROSBEAK, CASSIN'S and
HOUSE FINCH, DARK-EYED JUNCO, and PINE SISKIN.
Our next stop was at the
Ghost Ranch which is north of Abiquiu. Our goal was to find a pond that is
reported to occasionally have some interesting migrant and breeding species. We
never found the pond, but did pick up a FOS for both a CHIPPING SPARROW along
with a few WHITE-WINGED DOVES.
After some debate as to what to do next we stopped over at Abiquiu Resevoir. It's just hard to pass up any lake in NM! The warm southerly breezes had moved most of the waterfowl out. We found a few BUFFLEHEADS and several RUDDY DUCKS, but not much else.
The last stop was at the nearby Chama Recreational Area. This site is amazing. You turn off of highway 96 just east of the dam and head straight down into the gorge on a couple of extremely steep switchbacks. It will be interesting to bird here this spring and summer. There aren't many trees, but I bet lots of birds migrate along this section of the river. We didn't really do much birding as time was running short and the west wall of the canyon was deep in shadow. There were several BLACK PHOEBES along with some ducks on the river including BUFFLEHEAD, MALLARDS, AND GADWALL.
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| Rio Chama Recreation Area below Abiquiu Dam. Can you spot the trout fisherman? |
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| The amazing series of switchbacks that take you down into the Rio Chama Gorge |
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| This area used to be part of the Old Spanish Trail! |
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| View from highway down to the recreation area below. |
It was another wonderful day birding in Rio Arriba County. The Trout Stalker Ranch was responding to spring and looking really pretty, and the birding there each time is getting better and better. We added several new species to the ranch bringing the year's total to 66 species!
Wyatt and I both added new county birds along with lots of year birds. Wyatt hit the lofty milestone of 200 county birds (the goose was fittingly #200 and the scaup was #201); and I reached the somewhat respectable level of 150 (the goose was #150 and the scaup and California Gull were #151 and #152).
I'm heading to Florida this week to do some birding there until April 7th. So stay tuned. When I get back I'll be heading straight back to the ranch and I'm sure I'll find the migration in full-swing.
Trout Stalker Bird List - 2/10/15 to 3/28/15 (9 total birding days)
The number following the species is the total number of that particular species seen (without repeat counting). Species in bold represent a bird that is either rare and/or was seen in unusually high numbers.
- Ross's Goose - 1
- Canada Goose - 62
- Gadwall - 2
- Mallard - 12
- Northern Shoveler - 4
- Green-winged Teal - 7
- Ring-necked Duck - 8
- Bufflehead - 1
- Common Goldeneye - 7
- Common Merganser - 11
- Wild Turkey - 14
- Pied-billed Grebe - 1
- Great Blue Heron - 7
- Turkey Vulture - 2
- Bald Eagle - 3
- Red-tailed Hawk - 4
- American Coot - 2
- Killdeer - 2
- Wilson's Snipe - 1
- Ring-billed Gull - 1
- Rock Pigeon - 4
- Eurasian Collared-Dove - 1
- White-winged Dove - 2
- Great Horned Owl - 2
- Lewis's Woodpecker - 3
- Red-naped Sapsucker - 1
- Downy Woodpecker - 1
- Northern Flicker - 7
- American Kestrel - 3
- Say's Phoebe - 3
- Pinion Jay - 3
- Stellar's Jay - 2
- Western Scrub-Jay - 6
- Black-billed Magpie - 14
- Clark's Nutcracker - 3
- American Crow - 12
- Common Raven - 25
- Horned Lark - 4
- Tree Swallow - 7
- Black-capped Chickadee - 9
- Mountain Chickadee - 3
- White-breasted Nuthatch - 4
- Brown Creeper - 2
- American Dipper - 4
- Ruby-crowned Kinglet - 1
- Western Bluebird - 8
- Mountain Bluebird - 4
- Townsend's Solitaire - 3
- American Robin - 16
- European Starling - 12
- Yellow-rumped Warbler - 1
- Spotted Towhee - 3
- Song Sparrow - 12
- American Tree Sparrow - 14
- Harris's Sparrow - 2
- Dark-eyed Junco - 16
- Red-winged Blackbird - 37
- Western Meadowlark - 5
- Brewer's Blackbird - 4
- Great-tailed Grackle - 5
- Pine Grosbeak - 1
- Cassin's Finch - 8
- American Goldfinch - 2
- Evening Grosbeak - 3
- Pine Siskin - 44
- House Sparrow - 3
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