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.

House Finch video, by request

Here is the video as is. I have not learned yet how to edit them, or if that is even possible. Just a word of caution for those who may have a slow connection - it may take a while to upload. Enjoy.

Fledgling? or LBJ?

Yesterday, around dinner time, this LBJ stopped by my window feeder. It sat there in the feeder for the longest time doing absolutely nothing. It just sat there, not even bothering to eat any of the seed, and I was thinking something might be wrong with it.

I got up from my computer and stood there at the window watching the bird, expecting it to fly off, but it didn't. So I slowly backed up to retrieve my camera, returned to the window and started snapping away. I couldn't believe it wasn't bothered by what I was doing. From what I could tell it looks like a recently fledged female housefinch -- those of you who may know better, please correct me if I'm mistaken. Just click on the photos to get a larger view.It finally began to eat some of the seed. I kept looking around for mama or papa, but didn't see either of them. Actually, this LBJ was all by itself. There didn't seem to be any other birds around at the time, except for a hummingbird. I thought it would be fun to capture this little critter on video, and so I got started. As I was filming, one of our cats decided she wanted a piece of the action and rubbed up against the lens of the camera. And in the midst of this comical scene Red's laughter (my daughter) is recorded and we both can be heard talking about the cat. I was hoping to figure out how to edit the recording so I could post it. But I'll have to leave that for another time.

Around the house

For the past couple of days I have seen this little fledgling house sparrow visit my feeders. Imagine trying to get a photo from inside the house, with at least one cat, and usually it was two cats trying to attack it at the window feeder. I know the pic from inside the house isn't very clear, so I was glad to see the little bird go to the other feeder.
Then I rushed outside to see if I could get a decent shot of this fledgling at this feeder which is surrounded by my morning glories and cannas.

Earlier in the day I was out in the front yard and I happened to be at the right place at the right time with my trusty little camera. I've been experimenting with my camera, too. And I decided to try using the "action" or "sport" mode to see if I can get a better shot of these birds in action. And apparently I did just that.
This shot was later in the day and taken at one of my hummingbird feeders in the back yard. Too bad it's only his back, but again I managed to get an action shot.
If you click on this photo to enlarge it, you will see a male house finch at the same feeder the fledgling sparrow was at. This pic was taken late in the day, getting close to sundown.