Embudo Canyon and ABQ foothills open space

I had the opportunity to meet another blogger who lives in Albuquerque. We arranged to meet each other in the early afternoon at the parking lot of Embudo Canyon, an open space preserve on the west side of the Sandia mountains. There are several canyons coming down from Sandia Peak that can be explored, and most of them are open space areas used for hiking, and some even have picnic tables near their parking lots. These canyons have a beauty of their own, and it's amazing how wildlife can abound knowing you are still within or just outside of the city limits of ABQ. Judy and Dave and I headed up the canyon hoping to find some birds, especially a few I may not have seen before. Knowing it was early afternoon and that's when birds seem to be least active, I still was hopeful to come across a few birds. Below is a photo I took of Embudo Canyon from the parking lot. (You can click on any of the photos for a larger image.) In the distance you can see what appears to be a water tank (center left) and another piece of concrete (center right). These structures are part of ABQ's arroyo flood control.

Here is a close-up view of the chute or channel. I'm not sure of its proper name. During the monsoon seasons fierce thunderstorms can occur and water rushing down from the canyons can be quite devastating and forceful, causing flash floods on the plains.
Prickly pear cactus found on the trail.
And a cholla found on the trail. But where were the birds?
We did see a few birds; canyon towhee, house finches, scrub jay, and a ruby-crowned kinglet that was impossible to get a photo of. Below is a white-crowned sparrow who was more accommodating. One bird that we should have seen, but had no luck finding was a Crissal thrasher. Oh well, maybe next time. It would have been nice to have seen any kind of thrasher. Sage thrashers and curve-billed thrashers are also to be found in New Mexico.

When we decided to call it a day, Judy also recommended to look around the residential area of the foothills where there is still some open brushy areas. On our way back down the hill from the parking lot we came across this bird feeder someone had set out across from their home. I never knew that scaled quail would come to feeders. I used to see them on my neighbor's roof when I lived in ABQ, but I never thought of putting a feeder out for them. The smaller brown birds feeding with the quail (I think) are female house sparrows.

There was a canyon towhee who came to visit the feeder, too. But he seemed to be camera shy. This was the best shot I could get of the canyon towhee.

Here is a close-up shot of the scaled quail. Be sure to enlarge the image so you can see the finer details of his feathers. I got a kick out of their behavior while watching them at the feeder. There was one quail (possibly this one) who was agressive at times and would chase the other birds away, and if they didn't get out of its way it would peck at them (like a chicken) on their heads. Too bad I didn't get a video of that.

As the daylight hours were waning we realized that there was an alpenglow around us.

Here is Sandia Peak just before sunset.

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.