Seen from Sandia Crest - part 3

Ta da! And here are my photos of the rosy finches I saw at the feeders at the Sandia Crest House. I had to "enhance" most of these (in PhotoShop). You will probably want to click on the photos to see a larger image, especially the ones where the birds were down in the rocks. I'm not sure I can attempt to ID the species, except the white-breasted nuthatch in the last few photos.

Seen from Sandia Crest - part 2

I may have mentioned in my previous post that I took three separate trips up to Sandia Crest. The first time was a gorgeous late morning, full of sunshine and it felt good and warm, with no wind (which is unusual) at Sandia Crest. But because it was close to noon, birds were not active and plentiful. But the views as seen in my previous post were really nice. All three trips my husband and I saw Steller's Jays. They may be robber barons, but they are beautiful robber barons. I love their coloring and their crests are so prominent. These birds are approximately 12-13 inches, so you can imagine they are quite easily seen and they certainly can intimidate smaller birds.

We spent about an hour or two at the crest that first warm day; and since we didn't see too many birds, we decided to head down the "hill." While driving down the hill we were approximately a thousand feet lower, around the ski area, and I saw a hawk perched in a pine tree. Excitedly I asked my husband to stop so I could try to identify the bird. Oh, he was so beautiful, so regal looking. I had to quickly change lenses so I could get a few decent shots of him/her. Be sure to click on the images to get a larger view. With the photo below you can see that this hawk was looking at me, probably wondering "what are you looking at lady?"
This next shot makes it look like he/she was quite annoyed with my picture taking. I wonder if I was disturbing him/her from finding its next meal. I was thinking it must be a red-tailed hawk, but I wasn't sure.
And then ... there was no doubt as it took off. Sorry about the blur - I must not have had a fast enough shutter speed on my camera. But at least I got a shot of this beautiful bird in flight.
The next time we returned to Sandia Crest it was after our trip to the Bosque del Apache. We drove up in the afternoon, but it was terribly windy and I was uncomfortable hanging around outside. So I don't think I got any bird photos that day. Instead we returned for a third trip and decided it would be best to see more birds if we go in the morning. There were dozens of birds flitting around all over the place. Many of them were red-breasted nuthatches, like these little ones in the photos below. Other birds I saw, but didn't get any decent photos of, were mountain chickadees and white-breasted nuthatches.


Did I see any rosy finches? Finally, on the third day I did! And I got to see all three species. Stay tuned for photos in my next post.

Seen from Sandia Crest - part 1

Since we stayed overnight in Albuquerque the first few nights of our vacation, we had the opportunity to drive up to Sandia Crest more than once. So the following photos are a scenic collection of those few trips we took. Sandia Crest is the highest point of Sandia Peak; the ski area is a thousand feet lower, and the aerial tram is also below the crest, located on the west side of the mountain. The crest is where one can see Albuquerque, the Rio Grande River running through the Duke City, and Mount Taylor to the west. To the east, one can see the high mesa that is the southernmost part of the Sangre de Cristo mountains. As you glance at the photos I will describe them more thoroughly. (Click on the images to enlarge them). Below is what one would find as they arrive in the parking lot. These are radio and microwave towers. Most or all radio and TV stations in Albuquerque have a tower up here on the crest since this is the highest point that will easily transmit for many miles.

This photo was taken with a 70mm lens to get an overview of what could be seen west of Sandia Crest. If you have enlarged the photo you can see downtown ABQ in the center.
Here is a shot taken at 300mm. Now you can definitely see downtown Albuquerque.

This is viewing the Rio Grande River on the north end of ABQ, better known as Los Ranchos de Albuquerque on this side (east side) of the river and Paradise Hills and Corrales on the west side of the river.

This shot was taken at 300mm, giving you a closer view of Paradise Hills on the west side of the river.

In the distance is Mount Taylor, the highest peak of the San Mateo mountains. This is about 80 miles west as the crow flies and reaching over 11,000 feet in elevation. Click on the link to learn more about this mountain which is considered sacred by the Navajos.

Here is another link to follow, giving you more detail and history about Mt. Taylor.

This is what I saw when looking east from Sandia Crest. The mountain in the foreground is called South Mountain. The flat area between South Mountain and the next mountain ridge is a couple of 7,000 ft high mesas. To the north it's called Wildhorse Mesa and to the south it's called El Cuevo Butte. And the mountain ridge in the distance is the southernmost end of the Sangre de Cristo mountains.

In the foreground beyond the trees there is a ridge named Monte Largo, and that is South Mountain behind it.

Here is another view of Albuquerque, the Duke City.

My next post will be photos of the birds I saw at the crest and just below the crest. Stay tuned!

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.

Taos Pueblo, New Mexico

Taos, New Mexico is so rich in its culture and history. Dave and I visited Taos Pueblo before we saw Kit Carson's home (previous post). We drove north from Albuquerque up to the Taos area, and on the way we could see some of the mountains had snow on them. This was the view we saw from State Hwy 68, before turning onto State Hwy 64. This is the southern part of the Sangre de Cristo mountain range. This range reaches up into Colorado and is the same range where the Great Sand Dunes are located at the foot of the west side of Kit Carson Mountain.

Weather for our entire trip was beautiful; days were sunny and warm (around 60-65F), and early mornings and evenings were quite chilly, getting down into the 30s. In the past we have visited the Taos Pueblo, but it has been several years, and times have changed. Entrance into this beautiful, cultural and historic site is quite different now. We parked outside of the walls that encase the pueblo, described as a "high mountain desert oasis" by the native people here.

We paid our entrance fee plus $5.00 camera fee. As we entered into the walls we first saw their cemetery, which was the original site where their church once stood from the 1600s through the mid-1800s. Notice the bell tower in the middle of the picture. This was the only part of the original church left standing after its destruction by U.S. troops. Historically, the native people were forced into Catholicism and slavery by the Spanish/Mexican people who then governed the southwest. Charles Bent was appointed first governor of New Mexico in 1834 when it finally became an American territory during the Mexican War. Bent was then killed in 1847 by some local townsfolk and some Native Americans who at the time revolted and wanted to overthrow the US Government. This cemetery has been in existence since 1847 when many lives were lost in the church's destruction.
There are two main structures in this pueblo, one is called the North House and the other South House. These people speak the Tiwa language who call these structures Hlaauma (north) and Hlaukkwima (south). The photo below is part of the North House. Note some of the doors and windows are painted turquoise to keep out the evil spirits. If you click on the photo to see a larger image you will also notice brown circles near the top of the roofs. These are wood beams called vigas which support the roof which is generally flat. Would you believe this "building" is actually many structures of individual homes built side by side having common walls to connect each home, but no connecting doorways? This reminds me of "row homes" back on the east coast where there are "common walls" attaching each separate home. These homes are supposedly more than 1,000 years old. Kind of hard to believe that any structures made out of earthen material can last that long. Also, take note of the snow dusted mountain in the background. I think this is Pueblo Peak, an apropo name.

This is also part of the North House, obviously closer to the foot of the mountain. Notice the wooden structures, called "drying racks" in front of the homes, and a beehive looking structure, called a horno, under the drying racks. There is a larger view of a horno in a photo below; it's made of adobe (straw and mud, etc.) and used as an oven. The drying racks are multipurpose structures used to dry their wild game meats so they can make jerky out of them and for drying animal hides used for clothing. The racks are also used for drying their fruits and vegetables - pumpkin, corn, squash, beans, wild berries.

This photo shows their source of water and what they call "The River." Its actual name is Red Willow Creek, named after the willows that grow along the banks. This is the pueblo's sole source of water which flows from Blue Lake, known as a sacred site to these people. They cherish this life-giving source. Maybe there's something to be said as to how we Americans should consider our water sources, too.

I took this shot just to show that there were places within this pueblo where the snow was still visible. Taos Pueblo stands at 7,000 feet elevation.

This structure sits by itself; it is not attached to the rest of the North House. Notice the drying racks. This particular residence is also one of several that are used for selling their crafts, etc. That's my husband, Dave, looking at some of the items on the table that were for sale. This place is called Redhill Flower & Gift Shop. The artist makes and sells pottery and jewelry. Did you also notice the ladder on the second floor? Hundreds of years ago these adobe dwellings did not have doorways. The only entryway was through an opening in the roof accesible only by ladder which was their only source of light - better known today as skylights. ;o) These openings were the natives' way of protecting themselves from intruders/enemies. If the natives felt threatened they could easily pull the ladder inside.

Adobe structures are made of earth, straw and water mixed and poured into forms. These forms become sundried bricks which are then stacked and bonded together with more adobe mixture. Walls are quite thick which keeps these homes warm in the winter and cool in the summer. This historic site does not have electricity or running water, but some of the homes do have wood stoves used for cooking. Many of the native people still use their fireplaces for cooking. This is a shot of the South House with the "river" and footbridge in the foreground.

Here is the photo of a horno, Spanish for "oven." These ovens are used for baking bread and processing their meats. Have you ever tasted Indian Bread? Mmmm! Good! The way it's done is that the women build a hot cedar fire, then remove the ash before placing the bread or other pastries in the oven to bake. The opening is usually covered with a thick piece of wood, or large rocks.

Here is another view of the creek with the North House off to the left and looking toward Pueblo Peak.

This is the more "recent" San Geronimo Church, built in 1850, and registered as a National Historic Landmark. Mass is conducted at 7 a.m. every Sunday by a Catholic priest from the town of Taos.

Here is a shot of one of the church windows, taken from the north side of the church.

Click on this photo so you can read the inscription. It is acknowledging the business who recently refaced the church.

And I couldn't pass this up. As we were leaving the village and headed for the parking lot I saw this sign. I was amused by its name and pondered what caused someone to name such a road. Any thoughts?