Roger's Birding Adventures: Migration under way in Santa Fe County, NM with a rare Horned Grebe and Eastern Phoebe plus Western Grebes, American Avocets, Plumbeous Vireo, Wilson's Warbler and more!

I was birding down in southern Santa Fe County on Saturday April 11th when my friend Bernie Foy called me to report he had a HORNED GREBE on a golf course pond in the west part of the county, and that it was getting close to breeding plumage! I immediately split the ag fields and began the tedious 60 mile drive to that location.

Bernie and his wife Dawn were there and soon we were joined by Jonathan and Linda Batkin. We all had great views of the grebe, which hung out for several more days. Nice find Bernie!

Horned Grebe at local golf course

The following week brought frigid lows reaching 22 degrees F on the morning of the 17th. The next day I woke up to 4 inches of snow in the yard! The migration had definitely hit a wall! On Sunday, the 19th, my friend Wyatt and I headed up to Rio Arriba County. See my post of that great adventure.

By the 20th things were starting to shake free again. Tom Eglehoff called me to report two WESTERN GREBES over on a pond at Las Campanas Golf Club along with four AMERICAN AVOCETS. I was able to catch up with both so the week was off to a good start.

Western Grebe

Pair of Western Grebes on local pond

American Avocets swimming on a local pond.

American Avocets swimming yet on another local pond.

Yesterday, April 21st, I picked up a SORA, COMMON GRACKLE, HOUSE WREN, SOLITARY SANDPIPER, BROAD-TAILED HUMMINGBIRD, and the long-awaited WESTERN KINGBIRDS. A male MOUNTAIN BLUEBIRD allowed to get closer than usual as he guarded his next box!

Male Mountain Bluebird keeping a close eye on me!

Today I met and birded with my two new freinds Sue and Peg (visiting from Vermont) at Galisteo. We heard and briefly saw a couple PLUMBEOUS VIREOS, but most of the activity was still lingering winter stuff such as EVENING GROSBEAKS, PINE SISKINS, CASSIN'S FINCH, and WHITE-CROWNED SPARROWS.

My main purpose of going to Galisteo was to find the EASTERN PHOEBE that had been reported by Bernie Foy a few days ago and was seen yesterday morning. There was no sign of the phoebe along the creek.

We were joined by my friend Catherine who reported a large white bird back up in the village and that she thought it was an egret. At that point Peg said that they had seen it flying off in the distance earlier! After some discussion we all decided to head up out of creek and take a look.

Catherine showed us where she saw it, but it was gone. Just then this really nice lady (Denise) came out and said she had seen it too! The plot thickened. She invited us into the family compound (which was HEAVEN to bird) to look for the mysterious white bird. I really felt like singing "White Bird" which was sung way back in 1969 by the group "It's a Beautiful Day." It was a beautiful day indeed!

Okay back to birds. We never did see the mystery bird, but guess what? The EASTERN PHOEBE was in Denise's yard!

After birding Catherine's wonderful yard Peg and Sue had to take off. I left Galisteo and headed over to the nearby village of Lamy, which has a wonderful stand of cottonwoods.

Lamy had nice numbers of YELLOW-RUMPED WARLBERS and EVENING GROSBEAKS. I almost left, but decided not to be lazy and checked a nearby home that has a great yard and hummer feeders. There were a couple BLACK-CHINNED HUMMINGBIRDS and lots of HOUSE FINCHES, but not much else. I almost left when a small yellow bird caught my eye. It turned out to be a male WILSON'S WARBLER! Finally, a sign that the tide of migrants is about to come in.