john@nmtsun.nmt.edu (John Shipman) (12/20/89)
My neighbor Phil saw a Rufous-backed Robin yesterday about 15 miles south of here. Apparently it has been hanging around the Bosque Bird Watcher's RV Park, just north of Bosque del Apache NWR, for at least a couple of weeks. Guess where I'll be tomorrow morning! I've also heard reports of a Northern Shrike and a Brown Thrasher a few miles from there. These are pretty good birds for New Mexico. To finish this quick report, here's a list of the birds Phil and I saw on the Sevilleta NWR Christmas Bird Count last Saturday. This refuge is normally closed to the public; aside from the CBC and Audubon-sponsored trip once a year, nobody but the employees ever get to see this spot. It's a huge refuge, roughly rectangular, about 45 miles east to west, centered on the Rio Grande, and about 20 miles north to south, between Belen and Bernardo. This refuge is gorgeous, at least to a desert fan like me---someone from Pennsylvania would probably consider it stinking desert, but it's actually pretty lushly vegetated for a place that gets about 6" of rain a year. This place was a shock to me; until I saw it, I didn't realize that all the other similar prairie habitats I've ever seen have been moderately to severely overgrazed. Sevilleta hasn't been grazed since 1973. One of the common grasses of arid flatlands around here is called muhly, and you usually see it as a small ring of scruffy vegetation cropped to about a quarter inch. I had never seen it with 6" seed heads before; I thought it was afraid to grow vertically! Here's our list for the day. I have never seen so many Townsend's Solitaires or Evening Grosbeaks in one day; the latter are apparently staging a big invasion this year. harrier, northern eagle, bald---1 adult at La Joya State Game Refuge hawk, Cooper's hawk, red-tailed kestrel, American woodpecker, ladder-backed flicker, red-shafted jay, scrub chickadee, mountain---some in low bushes far from the trees titmouse, plain verdin bushtit wren, Bewick's kinglet, ruby-crowned bluebird, western bluebird, mountain solitaire, Townsend's---60+! robin, American thrasher, sage thrasher, curve-billed thrasher, crissal shrike, loggerhead towhee, canyon (formerly Brown) sparrow, sage---about 30 sparrow, white-crowned junco, Oregon (incl. Pink-sided) meadowlark, western finch, house finch, Cassin's---4 grosbeak, evening---60+, at water and feeding on junipers -- John Shipman/Zoological Data Processing/Socorro, New Mexico USENET: ucbvax!unmvax!nmtsun!john CSNET: john@nmtsun.nmt.edu ``Let's go outside and commiserate with nature.'' --Dave Farber
kehoe@hpfcso.HP.COM (Jeff Kehoe) (12/22/89)
/ hpfcso:rec.birds / john@nmtsun.nmt.edu (John Shipman) / 11:23 pm Dec 19, 1989 /
Here's our list for the day. I have never seen so many
Townsend's Solitaires or Evening Grosbeaks in one day; the
latter are apparently staging a big invasion this year.
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Interesting, in September I had a flock of Evening Grosbeaks in my yard here
in Northern Colorado (elevation ~ 5000). I was suprised to see them that
early in the year.
Jeff Kehoe
kehoe@hpfcla
Ft. Collins, CO