Nicole’s brother, Alex, came to stay with us for a little over a week. On our work days he enjoyed a few things that we’d already seen like Three Rivers Petroglyphs and a few things that we hadn’t like the Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument.
For his first few days there was still a good bit of snow on the ground (which he was quite excited about) and the temperatures were a bit frigid at times (which he was not all that thrilled about but didn’t let it stop him). Eventually, the well timed weather warmed just as we were encountering a nice long five day Holiday weekend and we all got out to explore together.
One of our first adventures was birding at Bosque del Apache NWR. It was a great day for it. Our feathery (and a few other) friends were also recovering from the recent cold and snow surprise so they were all out and about enjoying the sunshine and warmer temperatures. It was a multiple “Lifer” day for all of us. Here’s some photos.
Trumpeter Swan - a new one for all of us.
Although we’ve all seen plenty of Sandhill Cranes before...
we hadn’t seen a leucistic one.
(Think albinism but only partial and not affecting the eyes.)
The Harrier is a new bird for us.
Even in a partial picture, it is easily identified when flying due to a white spot on its butt.
Up close it has more of an owl shaped head which is also pretty cool.
Snow Geese were plentiful.
We hadn’t seen them before nor had we seen any bird in such numbers!
It was quite something to watch both from afar
and up close.
Super cool new bird for us - the Northern Shoveler
Not new but always pretty - a Mallard
Say’s Phoebe - Frequently seen since arriving to NM
There’s probably a bird in there somewhere but we really just took it because it is pretty.
Didn’t get a great shot of this one but how could you not love something with the name of
Bufflehead?!
An Eastern Meadowlark vacationing in the west.
We saw our first Female Kestrel which was really cool because a week before we had seen
our first Male Kestrel.
While we were photographing the female kestrel something kept popping up out of a hole in the ground.
It was a Gopher! We’d never seen one in the wild.
You talking ‘bout me?
Identifying raptors is not a strong suit so we’ll just call this one beautiful.
Javalina! Another first for all of us.
And although we’ve seen plenty of Great Blue Heron...
We cannot say we recall ever seeing one in this position.
Hang on tight we’ve got some more excitement coming your way soon!
