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 ...
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| 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 ...
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| Brown-capped Rosy-Finch |
Red-breasted Nuthatch wears aluminum jewelry, compliments of the bird banders ...
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| Red-breasted Nuthatch |
Stellar's Jay begs for anthropomorphizing - intelligent, curious, cautious, sassy - but definitely gorgeous ...
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| Stellar's Jay |
Two more photos ... just because ...
Black Rosy-Finch ...
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| Black Rosy-Finch |
Brown-capped Rosy-Finch ...
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| Brown-capped Rosy-Finch |
Good Birding!
