Migrating Birds at Sulphur and Cienega Canyons

The air was cool and there was a slight breeze as approximately 20 Thursday Birders piled out of cars at Sulphur Canyon picnic area in the Sandia Mountains. It was not yet 9 a.m. and tiny insects still swarmed over the wet area adjacent to the parking lot. We watched fascinated as Broad-tailed [...]

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Late Summer Birding in the Ponderosa Valley

The morning was refreshing as our Thursday Birder’s caravan drove past the Jemez Pueblo and through the Ponderosa Valley. We were glad we had gotten an early start. Our first stop was at the riparian habitat surrounding the reservoir just beyond Ponderosa. Violet-green Swallows coursed over the low water in the reservoir [...]

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Bird Research at the Rio Grande Nature Center

I watched while Steve Cox delicately removed a Black-chinned Hummingbird from one of the mist nets at the Rio Grande Nature Center. “These nets were not designed to catch hummingbirds,” he explained. Because the volunteers from Rio Grande Bird Research are not licensed to band hummingbirds, it would be released.
“Open your hand,” [...]

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Summer Birds at Capulin Springs

“I saw an Orange-crowned Warbler when we first arrived,” trip leader Lannois announced to the rest of us as we trickled in to Capulin Springs.
It doesn’t get any better on a hot summer day than watching the birds as they come to drink and bathe at ‘the log’ at Capulin Springs Picnic Area [...]

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