My last day of work was 3/16/2015 so to celebrate my wife Carol and I decided to spend a couple days exploring the area around Chama, NM. Carol isn't really a birder, and this was evident by our extremely casual departure of 8:15 a.m.! But hey, it's alright, I'm retired now!
We stopped for gas in Espanola where we filled up for $1.99 a gallon! I'm guessing this will be the last time, maybe ever, that gas under two bucks will be found.
Our first stop was at Abiquiu Lake. It was plenty scenic, but most of the birds that my friend Wyatt and I had found just a few days ago were absent.
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| Serene Abiquiu lake on morning of March 19th |
As we were driving north Carol mentioned the Monastery that sits along the Chama River about 13 miles northwest of Highway 84. I told her that I had been tempted to drive down there and that today was as good a day as any.
We turned down Forest road 151 and soon were winding down a winding and dusty road with dazzling scenery at every turn. Most of the birds we were seeing along the way were MOUNTAIN BLUEBIRDS and HORNED LARKS. After about 5 miles we reached the Chama River Gorge and soon dropped down along the river. The views were magnificent. This area is managed by the Santa Fe National Forest and there are plenty of places to park and hike, plus one primitive and one slightly more developed campsite - http://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/santafe/recarea/?recid=75502 - We didn't stop and bird all that much because we were anxious to get to the monastery, but it was obvious that this would be a great place to explore in spring, summer and fall. Lots and lots of cottonwoods! The most prevalent birds were TOWNSEND'S SOLITAIRES, BLACK-CAPPED CHICKADEES, GREAT BLUE HERON, BUSHTITS, AND DARK-EYED JUNCOS.
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| Forest Road 151 leading to Chama Wild and Scenic River and Monastery |
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| "Big Eddy" one of the Santa Fe NF Chama Wild and Scenic River accesses |
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| Part of Chama Wild and Scenic River - great views and birding too! |
The going was a bit slow as the road made numerous sharp turns and it wasn't very wise to speed around corners on loose gravel. Especially seeing that at times the drop off was 100 feet or more! We arrived at the Monastery at Christ in the Desert around 12:30. Carol started walking the several hundred yards from the parking area to the church complex while I tried my luck at finding a Canyon Wren. I played a recording briefly and almost immediately two very loud CANYON WREN songs came cascading down the nearby cliffs - a county bird!
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| Entrance into monastery |
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| Monastery sign |
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| Distant view of monastery (from edge of Chama) and towering cliffs - home to Canyon Wrens! |
The monastery complex was very lovely, and, well, quiet. Carol enjoyed exploring the church and especially the gift shop! It takes a little effort to get here, but the journey through the beautiful Chama Wild and Scenic River and capped off by a neat experience at the monastery is well worth it. The monastery does have public hours daily and is free admission. The monastery is on private land and it is important to respect the monk's privacy. There is also lodging if you are looking for a secluded and unique experience. More information can be found at - http://christdesert.org
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| Monastery chapel |
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| View from inside chapel - nice! |
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| Carol in front of chapel |
I turned left off of Highway 84 at Tierra Amarilla and along the wet meadows that lead down to La Puende. We turned onto CR 340 that runs along an amazing stretch of the Chama River and then up to Los Ojos. Along the way we observed a LEWIS'S WOODPECKER, several GADWALLS, AMERICAN WIGEON, GREEN-WINGED TEALS, and an amazingly beautiful male CINNAMON TEAL which was also a county bird for me. We drove by Tierra Wools, but decided to stop and take the tour this famous establishment tomorrow.
We made our way back out to Highway 84 and headed into Chama to enjoy lunch at the spacious Subway that always has friendly service along with wifi! We got our sandwiches to go and stopped over at the Elkhorn Lodge to reserve a room for the night. We met Emily, who is the owner's daughter and manages the site. We got checked in, grabbed the key, and were off again, this time to Heron Lake. By this time it was overcast and the wind was really picking up. We stopped at the La Laja Boat Ramp to scope over the lake, but there were virtually no birds.
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| La Laja boat ramp at Heron Lake where officials don't have to worry about folks fishing from the dock - now far from the shore! However, its a great place to scan for water birds. |
After Heron Lake we hopped over the short distance to the El Vada State Park boat ramp, which is the extreme northern part of the lake. In best of times this boat ramp can only be used during high water. Like so many other boat ramps in New Mexico and the west in general this one was HIGH and DRY! It was a stunning view to see that the the entire north half of the lake was dry and barren and had been so for some time! The Chama River was still flowing through the vast empty flats. It reminded me of the vast deltas in Alaska. Needless to say there weren't many birds, but we managed to find a GREAT BLUE HERON, a COMMON GOLDENEYE hunting in the rapids of the river, and several MOUNTAIN BLUEBIRDS. We wondered what the people were thinking from their expensive homes perched on the cliffs above the now dry lake.
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| Dry northern end of El Vada Lake. Note houses up above "lake shore" |
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| Rio Chama now exposed in dry lake bed |
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| Huge El Vado Lake (north end) boat ramp leading to lonely dock and dry lake bed |
Before heading over to Trout Stalker Ranch in Chama we made one more stop at the Rio Chama trailhead. From here a 5.5 mile trail descends down a dramatic cap rock stairway near Heron Dam. The trail, which crosses the river by suspension bridge, affords panoramic views and an adventurous route to neighboring El Vado Lake.
I assumed, as do a lot of folks, that the lake, dam, and state park are named after the bird, but in fact they are named after Kenneth A. Heron, an engineer in the early 1900s who initiated the diversion of water from Colorado to arid areas further south. The best birds at this location were 10 GREAT BLUE HERONS, 2 CLARK'S NUTCRACKERS, and a stunning adult GOLDEN EAGLE!
We arrived Trout Stalker Ranch around 5:00 p.m. It was getting really windy and cold, but it wasn't raining yet despite heavy showers and snow up in the San Juan's to the north. The meadow along the road leading into the ranch was flooded from snow melt and we observed a two new birds for the ranch - a RING-BILLED GULL and several GREAT-TAILED GRACKLES. There were several MALLARDS mixed in too.
We drove across the ranch and caught up with Greg Friday, the ranch's manager, over at the buffalo pen. He had just finished feeding the buffaloes and asked Carol if she wanted to hand feed the large bull. She jumped at the chance and thoroughly enjoyed the experience, including its "raspy tongue!"
The pond next to the cabin had several COMMON MERGANSERS and one adult male RING-NECKED DUCK. After a nice visit with Greg we decided it had been a long day and headed over for the night at Elkhorn Lodge.
Carol headed to town to grab us some dinner and I wandered around the grounds listening and looking for the owls Emily told me start calling around 7:00 p.m. or so. Sure enough, after just a few minutes a pair of GREAT HORNED OWLS started calling right near the lodge's office! I even got to see the male which obligingly stayed out in the open for Carol to see when she got back. There was also a LEWIS'S WOODPECKER still active across the river in the Trout Stalker Ranch woodlands.
After a good night's sleep we were pleasantly surprised to find a clear and mild morning. After a quick search I found one of the owls sitting right out in the open. The light wasn't that great yet, but I managed a few decent shots. After coffee and saying good by and thanks to Emily we were off to bird Trout Stalker.
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| One of the Great Horned Owls living on the grounds of Elkhorn Lodge |
We found Greg working on one of the ranch's bridges and after hanging out for a while we headed down to the deciduous woodlands on the north end of the ranch. Carol wanted to see one of the dippers and we lucked out when we found the male AMERICAN DIPPER with a beak full of moss!
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| Water Ouzel with next material in Chama River on the ranch |
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| Red-winged Blackbird on ranch about to sing to the world |
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| Letting it rip! |
We were just about to leave the ranch when Greg called and in a very excited tone related how there was a pair of Canada Geese sitting high up in a cottonwood in a heron's nest! I was stunned for a second, but soon was heading back to find Greg and the geese!
We pulled up and sure enough there was a pair of geese very contently sitting 60 feet up in a heron next! We watched them for nearly an hour and it was amazing. The female looked like she was actually preparing the nest and the male was busily calling and DEFENDING against any approaching geese! At one point they both took off the nest and chased away a group of very surprised and confused geese who were just passing by. After just a moment both the geese returned and effortlessly landed back in the nest. We wondered out loud if they were actually going to use this nest, and if they did how would it work with the goslings. Also, they were in a pretty vulnerable spot to everything from weather to predators. I've never witnessed this behavior before and it will be interesting to see what happens. I'll let you know!
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| Pair of Canada Geese in heron nest on ranch! |
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| Coming back in for effortless landing |
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| Male chasing off "intruders!" |
We left the ranch and headed into Chama to grab a quick lunch to go. We drove a couple side streets where Carol spotted a feeder that had quite a bit of activity including a RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH, a county bird!
After checking out a couple areas around Chama we drove to Los Ojos and Tierra Wools. We were greeted by a very nice lady name Kate who proceeded to give us a wonderful tour of huge building. Kate showed us the looms and miles and miles of hand made wool fibers. The range and assortment of colors was extraordinary and quite frankly has to be seen to believe - just beautiful. Tierra Wools is a cooperative and indeed we saw many people working on projects. Kate told us that they have a Tierra Wools festival in early August. Check it out!
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| Tierra Wools |
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| Part of Looms inside Tierra Wools |
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| Old building on main street Los Ojos |
After Los Ojos we made our way over to Heron Lake and one more check for waterfowl. I'm glad we did because there were 3 WHITE PELICANS near the La Laja boat ramp - another county bird! It was also really beautiful there with puffy clouds and a sky you can only find in New Mexico.
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| Heron Lake and a gorgeous NM sky! |
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| White Pelicans (and Ring-billed Gulls) at Heron Lake |
We were having a great time, but it was time to start heading back around Santa Fe. We made two brief detours on the way back. The first was to the village of Canjilon located east of 84 on SR 115. I wanted to check out how to get over to Canjilon Lakes and El Rito Canyon, both excellent birding sites. The forest road leading to the lakes was rather muddy so we decided to let things dry out a bit and try in a few weeks.
By the time we passed the Ghost Ranch it was actually raining! There was a break in the sky as we approached Abiquiu Lake so we made a quick stop over at one of the overlooks. It only took a couple minutes to figure out that there were practically NO BIRDS! There were no birds, but it was very cool to watch a storm pass over the lake!
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| Storm over Abiquiu Lake |
We arrived back home at 6:30 p.m. Our trip covered 396 miles which included, two state parks, two national forests, Trout Stalker Ranch, Chama, Los Brazos, Los Ojos, Tierra Amarilla, La Puende, and Abiquiu. I added a few county birds and also some new ones for the ranch. My winter birding on Trout Stalker concluded with 56 species which I think is darn good considering I only birded there 7 times. Number after species indicates total number of that species observed.
Trout Stalker Bird List - 2/10/15 to 3/19/15
- Canada Goose - 24
- Mallard - 7
- Green-winged Teal - 3
- Ring-necked Duck - 2
- Bufflehead - 1
- Common Goldeneye - 7
- Common Merganser - 8
- Wild Turkey - 14
- Great Blue Heron - 2
- Killdeer - 2
- Ring-billed Gull - 1
- Rock Pigeon - 4
- Bald Eagle - 3
- Red-tailed Hawk - 3
- 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 - 1
- Say's Phoebe - 1
- 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
- Black-capped Chickadee - 9
- Mountain Chickadee - 3
- White-breasted Nuthatch - 4
- Brown Creeper - 1
- American Dipper - 4
- Ruby-crowned Kinglet - 1
- Western Bluebird - 8
- Mountain Bluebird - 4
- Townsend's Solitaire - 3
- American Robin - 10
- European Starling - 3
- Spotted Towhee - 1
- Song Sparrow - 10
- American Tree Sparrow - 14
- Harris's Sparrow - 2
- Dark-eyed Junco - 16
- Red-winged Blackbird - 37
- Western Meadowlark - 3
- 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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