My New Mexico Vacation

This year I chose to spend 10 wonderful days in the state of New Mexico. My husband and I chose to stay overnight in Albuquerque from Friday, Nov 14 through Monday, Nov 17 while touring ABQ, Santa Fe and Taos. We didn't have to attend the Festival of the Cranes in Socorro and the Bosque del Apache until Wednesday morning (Nov 19).

We flew into ABQ Friday (14th) around noon. So first things first - we had to go to one of our favorite restaurants, Perea's, located on Central Avenue (old Rte 66). My husband loves getting Carne Adovada here; I ordered a taco salad. This restaurant is family run and is open during the week for breakfast and lunch. They serve some of the best tasting New Mexican dishes in Albuquerque. I don't necessarily have any favorite dishes at this restaurant, but I have never been disappointed in either their breakfasts or lunches. I highly recommend this place should one visit Albuquerque.

After filling our tummies with such good food we decided to look around Old Town window shopping. I've been wanting to get a southwestern style wall clock to put above our mantel in our year-old remodeled family room. My second choice was to choose a southwestern style painting. Unfortunately, nothing seemed to catch my attention. So after visiting Old Town we chose to check in to our motel room and unpack. After unpacking we still had a couple hours of daylight so we went to visit the Rio Grande Nature Center. I've never been there before, not even when we lived in ABQ. So this was definitely a new place to visit. It's more of an open space preserve. Below is the sign located right near the concrete blind. You can click on any/all photos to see a larger image.

This is Sandia Peak from the Nature Center. As mentioned earlier, we visited the center late in the afternoon. So as the sun was getting lower in the western sky, this mountain has a tendency to show what is known as alpenglow. Sandia is the Spanish term meaning watermelon. I think the Spaniards named this mountain for its shape and for its coloring at sunset. There was much to see and so little time. So my husband and I visited the center on Saturday afternnon, too. So some of these photos were taken on Saturday; others taken on Friday. As I walked along one of the riparian trails I saw and heard a few small birds, but could not get any decent photos. Below is an attempt at getting a couple of house finches as they perched on the bush.

The next several photos are the ducks I encountered, mostly on the pond, and others in the overflow channel. Again, some photos were taken Friday and others taken on Saturday. Below are a few mallards on the pond. And the photo was taken from the concrete blind.
This photo isn't best quality, but at least I can document that I also saw some Northern Shovelers on the pond.
Another pond dweller I can document was this Canvasback. (lifer!)
Here is another lifer for me, and the only photo I could get of this ring-necked duck. Don't you like his "crew cut" hairstyle? I'm not absolutely positive of its ID, but I could not find another duck in my field guide with that two-tone bill.

Other pond dwellers were American coots. Here's one swimming along next to a male mallard, and that's a northern shoveler in the foreground looking for something nutritious to consume.

Here is another shot of a couple northern shovelers behind a coot. This nature center seems to host several species of ducks during this time of year.

And here is another lifer, and one of my best photos! This male and female pair of wood ducks were found in the overflow channel. You really need to click on this photo to see a larger image. These are such beautiful ducks, and just look at that gorgeous reflection in the water. Not only is the male attractive, but I find the female attractive, too. I love that eyering of hers.

And last but certainly not least, I kept hearing sand hill cranes while I was walking along the trail heading for the Rio Grande River. But I didn't see any until I finally got to the edge of the river. Apparently, some sand hill cranes will winter here at this nature center. If only I would have known this and was interested in birding while I lived in Albuquerque. Oh well.

I certainly want to revisit this place when I return next year.

Another visit to Palo Alto Baylands - part 2

As mentioned in my previous post, this little trip to the Palo Alto Baylands took place in early October. The previous post showed all the scenic landscape in the area and around the Bay Area. This post is strictly the photos I have of the birds Red and I saw. Red will be posting her photos very soon, and you will want to visit her blog since she has better quality photos.

Typical of what one would see at the Baylands, especially around the Duck Pond, are Canada Geese, mallards, even hybrid mallards, and lots of coots and gulls. Above is my one shot of the all too "common" Canada Goose. Below are some hybrid geese found near the snowy egrets. If you look closely you can also see a male mallard in this hybrid geese photo.

(Don't forget to click on the images)
This shot of the male mallard and American coot was also taken at the Duck Pond. This area is well visited and many of these birds are looking for a handout from the clueless folks who visit. There are signs posted all over asking people to not feed the animals, but nobody pays attention to the signs.

This pair of male mallards was taken along the trail, away from the Duck Pond. I so love seeing their bright green heads and dark curly "tails."

I felt like this snowy egret was sitting there posing for me.

Farther down the trail Red and I saw several different water birds. This photo has a mixture of American Avocets in their winter plumage and marbled godwits.

All marbled godwits here except for the one American Avocet. This was taken just about twenty feet away from the previous photo.

And then we saw Northern Shovelers, and I think the other birds are western sandpipers. If any experts out there can tell me differently, I would welcome the correction.

Here's another shot of Northern shovelers found on the opposite side of the trail.

Here are a couple of long-billed curlews offset by more American Avocets.

I would certainly say we had a very varied birdy experience for being there for just a few hours. Along with the beautiful sunsets and alpenglow of the hills around the Bay and seeing a good variety of bird species we "done good!"

Bosque del Apache and Water Canyon

On Saturday, Nov 17th, the Festival of the Cranes was in full force with many exhibits, including art exhibits all around. Several educational animals were also available, mostly birds, but there was also a captive wolf which I did not get a photo of. Here are just a couple of shots of a hawk. Aren't they beautiful? Just look at those feathers, especially on the second photo.

Great horned owl

American Coot on the Refuge admiring his reflection

Below, an alligator juniper tree in Water Canyon.

Here is a close-up view of the bark. You can see why it is called "alligator" juniper.

The Mountain Birding Tour was led by Mary Alice Root, Bill Thompson and Julie Zickefoose. On the way to Water Canyon we saw a herd of pronghorn antelope grazing in the field. I haven't seen any pronghorn for many years, so I really enjoyed seeing them out "on the range." Also, before getting to Water Canyon, the group stopped where there was a huge rock wall (in the distance). We stopped to look for a great horned owl that was spotted the day before. The owl was still there; and it was also noted that there was a honeybee hive attached to the cliff wall. Once we got to Water Canyon, we saw a cliff chipmunk and a young rock squirrel (identified by JZ). They sure were cute to watch. The birds we saw were: bushtits, juncos, a ruby-crowned kinglet, white-breasted nuthatches, bluebirds, a couple of Stellar's jays, acorn woodpecker, red-naped sapsucker, and a Williamson's sapsucker. Many of these were lifers for me, and you can read more about these birds and the Water Canyon trip in Julie Zickefoose's and Bill of the Birds blogs. You'll also see photos of many of the birds that I did not get. Most of the birds were in areas that were too dark and/or too far for me to get any decent photos; so I didn't bother. While heading back to the cars I took this photo of a few birders - namely, my husband, Liam (JZ's and BT's son), and Linda (who we had carpooled with).

Below is the photo of the great-horned owl that was found perched in the cliff wall. We took this shot on our way out of the canyon since the lighting was better than when we first saw it on the way up to Water Canyon.

A short hike and a few birds

Last Sunday around 2 p.m. I decided to walk to the percolation ponds located about a mile from where I live. These ponds are a small portion of a larger area known as the Los Gatos Creek Trail, a part of the Santa Clara County Park System. As I was walking over the overpass of Hwy 17/Hwy 85 I could look down into the first few ponds and I saw these double-crested cormorants sunning themselves.

Reaching the first three ponds I saw this snowy egret in the middle pond.

As I was watching the snowy egret I noticed a large bird flying around about twenty feet above me. It looked like it was wanting to "land." Well, I guess it was picky where it wanted to land. As you can see from this picture the great blue heron chose to land here next to a snowy egret. What a great opportunity for a photo shoot, comparing the sizes of these beautiful birds. I couldn't imagine these two birds "socializing" with each other. Mmmm. But wait, there's something else in this photo that has me wondering. Take note that the snowy egret's bill is a pale color. Why is that? Is this a juvie? Is that why the bill is a pale color? But all the guides I checked on say the immatures have black bills. I'm really confused on this one.

As I looked across the way on the other side of the trail I saw this great egret. Looks like it just sat there waiting for its picture to be taken.

A little while later the great blue heron decided to move, and flew over to a brushier area, but still close to the pond. Another perfect photo moment. This bird did much the same as the great egret - it seemed to be posing. And it stood there for the longest time, so I was able to get shots of it from various spots. But this was the best shot of all. Isn't this an elegant looking bird, just as elegant looking as the great egret?

In another pond was this Canada goose - all by itself. I guess this bird wanted it that way. But again, I was given another good photo moment. The only problem I had was that this bird was dipping into the shallow water for whatever it is that they eat. So I would have to try and catch this bird in an upright position each time it came up for a breather, which was less than 2 seconds each time. Doesn't that water look serene? And to think there is this noisy freeway about 50 yards to the east of this "serenity."

Off the side of the pond where the Canada goose was I spotted this (I think) ring-billed gull - all by itself. He/she caught a small flat fish and was "playing" with its food. It was fun to just stand there and watch this bird. It would hold the fish in its bill, then drop it, then peck at it (even though it was totally dead), then pick it up and hold it its bill, drop it, and peck at it again, etc. You could say I was being totally entertained by all these "solitary" birds.

I then decided to walk the trail a little further, heading north. And on the trail I came across quite a few scrub oaks. And here is a shot of their fruit. I guess you can say it's fall around here - we have subtle ways of seeing the seasonal changes around here.

As you walk further down the trail it's like you are straddling between the ponds and you are on a higher road where the vegetation is drier, and the water is farther down the hill on each side. There are some power lines crossing over the trail and there are always some birds perched on these wires. Across the way were these double-crested cormorants. I wouldn't believe it if I hadn't seen it for myself. There were at least a dozen cormorants spread out, perched on the wires. Closer to me, just above me, were about the same number of rock pigeons. As I'm standing there taking pix of the cormorants I sensed something else flying around out of the corner of my eye. I stopped to see if I could ID the bird. Well, it finally perched itself in the top of a tree. The tree was about twenty feet ahead of me. I caught a beautiful sight of (I think) a sharp shinned hawk in my binoculars, but when I went for my camera, by the time I focused in on the bird.... Yes, we've all had these stories -- kind of like a fisherman's story of the big one that got away. ;-) Meanwhile, I looked up at the pigeons and told them that one of them will probably be his/her dinner for the evening.

I guess another good sign of fall around here are all the places we find lots of spider webs. I saw this on the trail not far from the power lines. This whole area of vegetation was full of webs. How about that blue sky for a background?

And here is another form of fruit from another plant growing in abundance on the trail. I think it is so attractive, even though it did have quite a bit of webby material around it. Click on it to enlarge to see the webby material.

In addition to the birds mentioned above, I also saw pied-billed grebes, mallards, American coots, killdeer, one black phoebe, several song sparrows, and a few red-wing blackbirds. Overall, I saw a total of 14 species. Not bad for a two-hour walk.

Tule Lake and Lower Klamath NWR

Here is a better view of the Lava Beds in the foreground and Tule Lake in the background. My husband and I drove over to the Tule Lake/Klamath Basin Visitor Center and saw a robin, a couple of Brewer's blackbirds, and a lizard. The lizard was sitting on the wall sunning himself and allowed me the privilege of getting a snapshot of him.

While touring around Tule Lake and Lower Klamath we encountered Western Grebes, Clark's Grebes, and even a horned grebe. We saw several flocks of ibises in flight. That was quite a sight to see. We also saw coots, a common merganser, a double-breasted cormorant, many yellow-headed blackbirds, and a northern harrier. Here are some other photos I took.
I think this is milkweed. Can someone verify this for me?
Another wildflower I cannot identify - but there were quite a few of these all around. It looks like something caterpillars and butterflies, or even dragonflies, etc. would make use of. As a matter of fact, throughout the entire trip there was a plethora of dragonflies, darning needles, and damselflies everywhere we went.
Clark's Grebes

White-faced ibis. Second photo also includes a Brewer's blackbird.
And here is a double-breasted cormorant with his "harem" of gulls.

And if you click on these photos you can get a better view of the red-wing and yellow-headed blackbirds on these tule reeds.