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Photo credits: Photos courtesy of agencies or businesses shown.
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August 31 Bird Sightings Report
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Southwestern New Mexico Audubon Society Bird Sighting Report
August 31, 2008
Read the current issues of Ravens.
This is the eighty-sixth in an on-going series of twice-monthly bird sighting reports of local interest in the four counties of southwestern New Mexico. Please contact me if you have sightings to report (species, location, and date); and feel free to inform others that they can receive these reports if they send me their e-mail address.
Photographs appearing in these Reports are the result of the generous contributions of subscribers, and may not be used for commercial purposes without their consent.
Summer vacation
plans will slow the frequency of these reports in the next few months. There
will be one Report in mid-July and one in mid-August. The regular
twice-monthly schedule will resume in September.
Thank you.
David Beatty
On the web at: http://swnmaudubon.org/index.html
Learn more about the SW New Mexico Birding Trail
A short report this month, as we are in the midst of the period when many nesting birds have completed their activities and the full Fall migration period is not yet upon us, and few recent reports have been received.
This archive photo by Robert Shantz of a bird found in Steeple Rock Canyon in Hidalgo County in June is a familiar species to experienced birders and may be seen in most months of the year. Beginning birders will have a little more trouble with it. See the end of this Report for its identification.
At the front lawn of Frances Land’s Spirit Canyon Lodge café, next to Lake Roberts, a pair of Montezuma Quail were cavorting on August 26. A new yard bird for Frances!
On a trip to Lake Roberts via Highway 35 on August 21 Paul Stuetzer and I counted about 150 Western Bluebirds along the northern Mimbres Valley.
Pretty soon hummingbirds will start getting scarce. Here is a male Rufous in his prime. The photo comes from Jim Rogers on August 16 near Highway 152 in San Lorenzo.
Paul Boucher had a Blue-throated Hummingbird feeding on Agave flowers in his Silver City yard (as reported by Dale Zimmerman) on August 21. This species is quite rare in town.
This is a photo of another species soon to be very hard to locate in Silver City as the seasons change. This is a bird that David Morehead photographed in Bayard in mid-April. I thought it was worth another look.
Hooded Oriole
An August 24 report from Gene Lewis at the Tyrone ponds produced 38 species. Here are some of his highlights: 17 Northern Shovelers, 10 Wilson’s Phalarope, and a single Solitary Sandpiper at the ponds. And nearby were 8 Lark Buntings, 17 Lark Sparrows (beginning birders may want to check their reference book to note the difference between these two “lark” species), and 8 Brewer’s Sparrows. Thanks, Gene, for keeping up your data base on the Tyrone Ponds so assiduously. You have a wealth of information that could benefit any ornithologist or even casual birders interested in Grant County birds.
Generally Lazuli Buntings are usually found in overgrown weedy fields with small trees nearby. This fellow showed up at Jim Rogers’ San Lorenzo feeder on August 16.
Ken and Colleen Poole are continuing the censusing of Buckhorn Ranch, through which the (now) fast-flowing Mimbres River passes. The property is just south of State Game and Fish land. In their most recent report (8/27) they counted 34 species. Among them were 89 (!) Turkey Vultures, 76 Western and 21 Cassin’s Kingbirds, 45 Lark Sparrows, and a single Western Tanager, and a Hairy and Downy Woodpecker.
The species in the photograph at the beginning of this Report is a Lark Sparrow. Robert Shantz took the picture on June 12, 2005 near Virden.
SWNM Audubon’s next Program Meeting is also its Annual Meeting and will be held at the Little Walnut Picnic Area on Friday September 5 starting at 5 p.m. It is a pot luck so bring something to refresh yourself. Following an informal meeting Roland Shook will lead people around the picnic grounds to identify nearby birds. (Drive into the main picnic grounds area – don’t stop at the Gomez Peak picnic grounds which you will encounter first.)
Conservation Chair, Nancy Kaminski, wants to remind us that “The Wolf and You” exhibit is being held from September 6 through September 14 at the WNMU Fine Arts Center lobby. Please stop by and see the wonderful displays that depict the challenges and opportunities affecting this noble species. You can reach Nancy at kaminskinancy@hotmail.com.
Please check the Gila River Festival brochure for birding and other environmentally related activities that are occurring between September 18 and 21: www.gilaconservation.org.
You can check our web address at: http://swnmaudubon.org/index.html
The next Southwestern New Mexico Audubon Society Bird Sightings Report should reach you some time after the middle of the month.
DB
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