{"id":949,"date":"2019-12-10T00:50:25","date_gmt":"2019-12-10T00:50:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/michellebrodie.com\/?page_id=949"},"modified":"2019-12-10T00:50:25","modified_gmt":"2019-12-10T00:50:25","slug":"new-mexico-may-19-21-2010","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/michellebrodie.com\/?page_id=949","title":{"rendered":"New Mexico: May 19-21, 2010"},"content":{"rendered":"

Albuquerque is a city with no soul– a slightly dangerous and depressing place. Even the Whole Foods was small and inadequate, though it appeared to be the hang out for the local alternative people. I only went there to drive up to Sandia Crest to look for Flammulated Owls but was so tired by the time the sun set that I left before hearing one. Before the sun went down I drove to the summit and saw many Broad-billed Hummingbirds at the feeders. I lost the muff to my camera’s microphone which was annoying because it was extremely windy the entire trip. Around the trees there were lots of Plumbeous Vireos, Warbling Vireos, Black-headed Grosbeaks, and some Western Tanagers. I camped at a noisy campground where there was only a White-winged Dove to look at and left early in the morning driving four and a half hours to the Gila National Forest. I found a nice camping place at Cherry Creek Campground and looked around there the rest of the day. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"New<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

There were plenty of birds to look at–Cordilleran Flycatchers, Plumbeous Vireo, Greater Pewee, Red-faced Warbler, Swainson’s Thrush, Acorn Woodpecker, Pine Siskin, Grace’s Warbler, White-throated Swift. Two weird people in a white van pulled up and ruined my solitude so I left and drove to the Mangas Creek area on Highway 180. There I found a Summer Tanager, Yellow Warbler, Red-winged Blackbird, Bullock’s Oriole, and Western Wood Pewee. Next I drove to Bill Evans Road that goes along the Gila River looking for a Common Black-hawk but decided it needed to come back early in the morning. However, I decided to park for a while under a large sycamore tree where a lot of bird activity was going on. Cassin’s Kingbirds were going back and forth and there was a Willow Flycatcher on a nest, a Broad-tailed Hummingbird stopped by and a Bridled Titmouse. There was another Summer Tanager, Vermillion Flycatcher, Tree Swallows and a Spotted Sandpiper. Before I left I made one more stop and found a family of Scaled Quails. I had given up on the hawk but as I was about to turn off Bill Evans back onto Highway 180 there perched up in a tree was a Common Black-hawk! I tried to call in an owl before falling asleep but was unsuccessful. However, as I dozed off I heard many Whip-poor-wills calling all around the CG. I awoke at 2:00 AM to the mournful call of the Flammulated Owl!<\/span><\/p>\n

In the morning I drove the short distance to McMillen CG and found another Red-faced Warbler and Grace’s Warbler. Back at Cherry Creek there was a Painted Redstart. It was hot and windy. I left Gila NF and drove to New Mexico’s most famous birding spot, Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge. I took a walk on a desert trail and saw only one Black-throated Sparrow. On the refuge I saw American White Pelican, Ladder-backed Woodpecker feeding chicks in a nest hole, Green Heron, Summer Tanager, Vermillion Flycatcher, Neotropic Cormorant, and Gambel’s Quail. From the refuge I drove west to Water Canyon. I passed a herd of antelopes on my way up to the campground. As I set up my tent a Gray Flycatcher came and perched in a tree above the picnic table. During the night I heard another Flammulated Owl way off in the distance.<\/span><\/p>\n

I looked in Box Canyon the next day but it was way too windy and before heading back to Albuquerque I stopped again at Bosque del Apache but due to high winds saw only some Black-chinned Hummingbirds at the visitor center. Then I went home.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Albuquerque is a city with no soul– a slightly dangerous and depressing place. Even the Whole Foods was small and inadequate, though it appeared to be the hang out for the local alternative people. I only went there to drive up to Sandia Crest to look for Flammulated Owls but was so tired by the time the sun set that I left before hearing one. Before the sun went down I drove to the summit and saw many Broad-billed Hummingbirds at the feeders. I lost the muff to my camera’s microphone which was annoying because it was extremely windy the entire trip. Around the trees there were lots of Plumbeous Vireos, Warbling Vireos, Black-headed Grosbeaks, and some Western Tanagers. I camped at a noisy campground where there was only a White-winged Dove to look at and left early in the morning driving four and a half hours to the Gila […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":856,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-949","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/michellebrodie.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/949","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/michellebrodie.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/michellebrodie.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michellebrodie.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michellebrodie.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=949"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/michellebrodie.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/949\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":952,"href":"https:\/\/michellebrodie.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/949\/revisions\/952"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michellebrodie.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/856"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/michellebrodie.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=949"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}