Bosque - Ross's Goose

In the previous post, I suggested looking at the last photo (repeated below)  very closely for a "different species." Just to the left of the Snow Goose coming in for a landing is a goose which is smaller, with a rounded head, stubby bill, and "sweeter" look - Ross's Goose.

Left of the Snow Goose which is landing is a "sweeter" goose - Ross's Goose

The photo was a piece of luck. I scanned the hundreds of Snow Geese, and thought I had found a Ross's Goose. Then I could not find it again. Search again - find it, try for a photo, but unable to find it through the lens.

So I sat on the ground, scanned, tried for the photo, and continued ... until the Ross's Goose finally took pity and remained visible.

Smaller Ross's Goose between Snow Geese in foreground and background

Ross's Goose behind white juvenile Snow Goose

Several years ago in the Champlain Valley in Vermont, the Snow Geese were close to the viewing area; Ross's Goose was also present, in a ratio of about 1 in 1000. But some good views were possible. In other words, I have not had a lot of experience with Ross's and felt particularly satisfied at finding geese which are very similar in appearance to Snow Geese.

2 Ross's Goose among Snow Geese

Close up - Ross's Geese

There is a small grain of doubt which wonders if the Ross's might be Ross x Lesser Snow hybrid; I will stay with Ross's Goose, but if anyone thinks otherwise, please let me know.

Good Birding!!

Bosque - Snow Geese 2

Setting the context: Snow Geese fly from the distant end of the grain field and join others in or near the open water ...

Somehow, the new arrivals find room to splash down without colliding with those already in the water or on the ground ...

Behind the white adult Snow Goose is a "dark juvenile."

Dark adult Snow Goose, once considered a separate species known as "Blue Goose." Behind the adult is a juvenile.

Snow Goose lands among other Snow Geese. But look closely ... there is another goose species present in the photo. More soon ...

Good Birding!!

Bosque - Snow Geese 1

Snow Geese roosted with Sandhill Cranes, but took to the wing very early, heading to grain fields to graze.

By 7:30am most had taken off, but this one lingered ...

Context photos are appropriate. Distant Snow Geese are a white mass in a field. By 10am, they were beginning to move toward water for bathing, preening, and socializing. Note: in the distant there are Canada Geese, Sandhill Cranes, and a murder of crows ...

By 2s, 3s, and often dozens, they moved from the distant field to the water ...

More soon. Good Birding!

Bosque del Apache - Sandhill Cranes

Here is a second sampling of the Sandhill Cranes at Bosque del Apache.

We visited the refuge just after sunrise (about 7am). The cranes roost at night in shallow ponds. The ponds protect the birds from night predators, such as coyotes. In the morning, they take flight, a few at a time, and head to fields where they forage for grain.

By the time we arrived, hundreds had already departed, but hundreds more remained. Here is the context ...

... a family group ...

... many just hang out ...

... morning stretches ...

... take off ...

Good Birding!!

Bosque del Apache - Cranes in Flight

Sooner or later, a birder, bird watcher, or nature lover needs to find his/her way to Bosque del Apache Nat'l Wildlife Refuge on the Rio Grande in New Mexico during the winter. Managed for wintering waterfowl, it is a spectacle. When we visited in early February, there were an estimated 8,000+ Sandhill Cranes, 40,000 Snow Geese - the "signature" species. But they were hardly alone.

And ... they were accessible. Just inside the refuge boundaries, there were roosting ponds filled with cranes. It was a photographers delight, and there were photographers present with all levels of equipment. The problem is, with all those photographers, you know that there are lots of good photos being taken. So sifting through the hundreds of photos that one takes has the added challenge of trying to find those which may be above average.

I'm not sure if I have made those judgments correctly, but following is a sampling of the results.

We arrived at the first roosting pond very shortly after sunrise. The spectacle held us until the sun had climbed well above the horizon.

Sandhill Cranes in flight ....

Good Birding!!

Sandia Crest - Rosy-Finches - 2

Sandia Crest east of Albuquerque is one of two must visit winter sites in New Mexico. (The other is Bosque del Apache; I am still processing photos from Bosque, but will be posting some soon).

We drove to the summit (10,600 ft) on a Sunday morning. Only problem was that we arrived too early. The lodge did not open until 10am, so we had to spend about 20 minutes outside watching birds - (life can sometimes be difficult).

During the winter months when the Rosy-Finches are present, the Rosy-Finch Project does bird banding on Sunday, so we had a considerable additional plus to our day.

One of the banding team assesses the health of a Mountain Chickadee ...

Mountain Chickadee

A Brown-capped Rosy-Finch is about to receive a radio transmitter which will enable researchers to track its movements and where it roosts at night ...

Brown-capped Rosy-Finch

Birds are not caught in mist-nets, as is typically done when banding songbirds. They are trapped in a manually triggered metal cage. This Black Rosy-Finch has already been banded. Re-trapping banded birds over years helps to determine life span, and within a single season and from year-to-year assess the health of individuals and populations.

Black Rosy-Finch

A banded Brown-capped Rosy-Finch considers whether it can grab a seed from inside the cage and get out before slow human reflexes can trip the trap.

Brown-capped Rosy-Finch

Red-breasted Nuthatch wears aluminum jewelry, compliments of the bird banders ...

Red-breasted Nuthatch

Stellar's Jay begs for anthropomorphizing - intelligent, curious, cautious, sassy - but definitely gorgeous ...

Stellar's Jay

Two more photos ... just because ... Black Rosy-Finch ...

Black Rosy-Finch

Brown-capped Rosy-Finch ...

Brown-capped Rosy-Finch

 Good Birding!

Sandia Crest - Rosy-Finches

Sandia Crest is one of two unquestionable reasons for birders to visit New Mexico during the winter months. Only a short distance east of Albuquerque, there is a paved, well-maintained forest service road to the crest - elevation 10,600 feet. At the crest there is a deli-type eatery and gift shop. There is also a bird feeder, making Sandia Crest the most dependable place (anywhere, from all I have read) to see all three species of Rosy-Finch.

I have heard accounts from birders of long hikes in the tundra of mountain tops in the hopes of seeing these birds. During the winter they flock together, and a mixed flock dependably visits the feeder maintained by the operators of the Sandia Crest lodge.

I made the pilgrimage on a Sunday when the Rosy-Finch Project was doing banding (more in a future post).

It almost seemed too easy - sipping hot chocolate and sitting inside while the flock made multiple forays through the pines, and visits to the feeder. But guilt over such a situation no longer bother me in the least.

I saw the Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch almost thirty years ago in Montana. One Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch was in the flock, and it only provided me with one opportunity to photograph it.

Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch

The other two Rosy-Finches were life birds for me, and each provided many excellent photo opportunities.

Black Rosy-Finch ...

Black Rosy-Finch

Black Rosy-Finch

Black Rosy-Finch

Brown-capped Rosy-Finch ...

Brown-capped Rosy-Finch

Brown-capped Rosy-Finch

 Note the "jewelry" worn by this Rosy-Finch ...

Brown-capped Rosy-Finch

 Good Birding!

A New Mexico Sampler - 2

I'm still working on the photos from Bosque del Apache and Sandia Crest, so please keep coming back for Sandhill Crane, Snow Geese, Ross's Geese, and the Rosy-Finches.

Those are great birds, but a trip to the southwest could arguably be defined by this one bird with a name that is impossible to say - Pyrrhuloxia - a bird which may arguably "out-beauty" its relative the Northern Cardinal (both Genus Cardinalis)

Pyrrhuloxia

Pyrrhuloxia combines terms for two birds - Pyrrhula (bullfinches) and Loxia (crossbills), terms which come from Greek and Latin and mean flame-colored, or red, and crooked. So you now have a new trivia answer, should you ever need one.

Pyrrhuloxia

Both meadowlarks are found year-round in New Mexico, according to the range maps in my guides. I have very little experience with the Western Meadowlark, but based on the yellow malar, I am identifying this one as Western Meadowlark. If anyone with more experience thinks otherwise, please tell me (and why) - this is a continuing learning experience.

Western Meadowlark

Gambel's Quail is always a treat on a southwestern trip. Love the plume!

Gambel's Quail

Last winter in Vermont, I tried to photograph wintering Horned Larks. They are quite common, especially around barns and in hay fields. I did not get any photos that I would care to share. But, at White Sands National Monument, this Horned Lark posed very cooperatively. (Against the white sand, I can pass this lark off as a wintering
Vermont bird if necessary.)

Horned Lark

Horned Lark

As of January 1, this young Red-tailed Hawk made the transition from "hatch year bird" to "after hatch year bird." Hopefully, it is on its way to becoming a healthy breeding adult.

Red-tailed Hawk

Good Birding!