Tag: Birds

Williams Lake, Hummingbirds, Doves, Flycatcher. 06-12-2024.

Geraint June 12, 2024 6 Comments

Greetings from San Cristobal, NM. This week an iPhone panorama of my first view of Williams Lake in six years. I was watching the birds in the garden again when I wasn’t out walking this week. Black-chinned and Broad-tailed hummingbirds along with the same family of cowbirds, magpies, western flycatchers, and doves.

The trip yesterday to Williams Lake was spontaneous, I was heading somewhere else and decided to go in a different direction… up! It’s not a long hike and the trail was clear of most of the snow banks. Muddy and wet but the crossings were easier than I expected, an observation I made, I went up here on July 4, 1994, with my four-month-old son on my back, and the snow was so deep I had to turn around and go back down. It’s June 12 and for the most part, the trail is clear of almost all snow. Click on photos to enlarge.

Williams Lake, NM — Williams Lake with Wheeler Peak on the left, NM.

And on July 23, 2011…

Back to the garden…

The hummingbirds are enjoying the new feeder, the Eurasian-collared Doves are reconstructing last year’s nest in the ash tree and the feeders are attracting all sorts of others.

The Western Flycatcher the Ash-throated Warbler and a Juniper Titmouse are back. The Tufted Titmouse has returned after two years of absence only to find I bunged up the hole in the siding on our home where it had previously made a nest. It will have to nest somewhere else this year, perhaps in a tree!

Below is one of two Broad-tailed Hummingbirds . I love the little tongue. I believe that this is an immature female.

Broad-tailed Hummingbird San Cristobal, NM — Broad-tailed Hummingbird, San Cristobal, NM

And the Broad-tail…

And the Black-chinned Hummingbird…

These Eurasian-collared Doves built a nest in the ash tree late last summer. They are earlier this year. The female sits in the nest and the male brings twigs to reinforce it to sustain it against the winds.

Eurasian collared Dove in nest — Eurasian collared Dove in the nest.

Eurasian collared Dove with nest twigs — Eurasian collared Dove with elm twigs.

Lastly, the Western flycatcher tweeting its little heart out.

As always, thank you for looking, comments, and compliments. I hope it’s a good week where you are.

Best wishes. G

Bighorn, Birds, Ute Mountain, Gorge. 06-05-2024

Geraint June 5, 2024 8 Comments

Greetings from San Cristobal, NM. This week, sleepy bighorn sheep rams in the morning sun, birds in the garden, and the Rio Grande Gorge with Ute Mountain.

The Rams were shot on a photo tour at the gorge rim and weren’t inclined to do anything more than fall asleep or chew their cud!

There were eight rams in total, most were uncooperative regarding pictures. Still, I marveled at their primordial-looking selves. Those horns!

This week we’ve had Brown-headed Cowbirds return to the garden, male and female. See below for a full list of other species. And, the hummingbirds are back in numbers since we planted lots of colorful flowers and filled the feeders.

Brown-headed Cowbird, male — Male Brown-headed Cowbird, San Cristobal, NM.

Female, Brown-headed Cowbird San Cristobal — Female, Brown-headed Cowbird.

This beautiful House Finch showed up for a singsong yesterday evening.

Today the Merlin Bird App recorded and confirmed a Warbling Vireo on a Taos Ski Valley trail. Unfortunately, there is no picture.

It’s greening up everywhere, and the Rio Grande below appears more grand. The runoff in the mountains is building as temperatures warm up. Some stream crossings I’ve made in the last few weeks are beginning to spill over onto the trails.

Here’s the list of birds this week in the garden and neighborhood.

Brown-headed Cowbird
House Finch
Bullocks Oriole
Pine Siskin
Western Tanager
Violet Green Swallow
American Crow
Common Raven
Black-billed Magpie
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
Black-headed Grosbeak
House Sparrow
Evening Grosbeak
Broad-tailed Hummingbird
Spotted Towhee
Mountain Chickadee
Northern Flicker
House Wren
Berwicks Wren (according to the Merlin App)
Yellow-breasted Chat
Ash-throated Warbler
Canyon Towhee
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Mourning Dove
White-breasted Nuthatch
Song Sparrow.

As always, thank you for looking and all the support, comments, and compliments. Have a great week. G

Western Tanagers In The Garden. 05-29-2024.

Geraint May 28, 2024 12 Comments

Greetings from San Cristobal, NM. Western Tanagers are back in our garden and neck of the woods this week. I observed their antics, fights, and general behavior for a few days. They are fun, playful, and not always nice to one another. Nature in all ways, always makes my day. I didn’t include pictures of the many bickerings, you know what that looks like. The photos are in no particular order, I hope you enjoy them.

Western Tanagers, San Cristobal, NM — Western Tanager, San Cristobal, NM.

Birds of summer, northern New Mexico — Female.

Some of my favorites from 600 images I paired down to a couple of dozen.

Tanager — Adult male, as far as I can tell.

western tanager SC 6673 — Breeding male.

Sometimes the lineup in the trees looked like the planes stacked up over the San Gabriel Valley waiting their turn to land at LAX or Burbank.

Click here to read more about Western Tanagers.

As always, thank you for looking, comments, and compliments. Have a great week. G

Big Birds, Happy Healthy World. 03-29-23

Geraint March 29, 2023 30 Comments

Greetings from the San Cristobal, NM. This week a series of images of some of the big birds that frequent our area.

I hope you enjoy the following gallery of big birds.

Some of the largest birds in the area are the Sandhill Cranes that pass through on their migratory route. I photographed the two below in the Bosque del Apache.

Sandhill Cranes big birds in flight — Sandhill Cranes, the big birds.

The Turkey Vulture below is about to return to our area. They are known as the harbingers of Spring. If you are interested, you can read more here.

I chose these images below out of a collection of photos that showed up when I searched my hard drives for large birds. It was hard to decide which to include, so I picked the ones I distinctly remember taking the shot. I went for feeling more than anything. I hope you like them. Click on an image to enlarge it.

Always remember the birds at the zoo like this Flamingo. I had a stunning picture of a captive eagle in the Albuquerque Zoo published in Raptors of New Mexico.

As always, thank you for looking. Keep looking up you may be surprised by what’s above and around you. G

Little Birds, Happy Neighborhood. 03-22-23

Geraint March 22, 2023 48 Comments

Greetings from the San Cristobal Valley, NM. This week a series of images of some of the little birds that frequent our area of the planet, more precisely, our valley.

I hope you enjoy the following gallery of little birds.

Mountain Bluebird, a little bird that frequents our valley — Eastern Bluebird, a little bird that frequents our valley.

Juvenile white crowned sparrow — Juvenile White-crowned Sparrow.

A Cassin’s Finch so I was told. It could be a glorious house finch.

Cassin's Finch little bird — Cassin’s Finch.

Brown Headed Cowbird — Brown-headed Cowbird.

For the last few years, we’ve had a solitary Canyon Towhee in our garden. This shot was taken in a canyon, no less.

Woodhouse’s or Western Scrub-Jay?

Woodhouse's Western Scrub-Jay — Woodhouse’s Scrub-Jay, I think!

This is a Pinyon Jay, that I’m sure of. They have arrived in large flocks in the valley over the last two years, groups of a hundred to a few thousand.

Townsend's Solitaire — Townsend’s Solitaire.

The Red-winged Blackbirds nest in the cattails. Right about now there is a frenzy of activity and nest-building. The males are kept on their guard protecting the nesting spot.

The Magpie is every dog’s nemesis. They taunt our dogs and of course, our dogs take the bait.

This Evening Grosbeak was stunned following a window strike. I put it on the fence to recover. It did. Ten minutes later, it flew up into the crabapple tree.

This Northern Pygmy Owl would fit into a teacup and is smaller than most of the birds above.

Northern Pygmy Owl one of the little birds — Northern Pygmy Owl.

Not one of the truly little birds but not large either. It’s about the size of an American Crow.

Finally one of the rare visitors to the valley. I only spotted one Lewis’s Woodpecker this last year. Two years ago there were three at one time in the Ash tree.

Little birds rock the valley, my heart and soul.

Happy Spring.

As always, thank you for looking, and for all the comments, compliments, and well wishes. G

Turkeys, Cranes, Raven and Magpie. 11-23-22

Geraint November 23, 2022 20 Comments

Greetings from San Cristobal. Happy Thanksgiving. I’ll start with a repost of these turkeys wandering in the old sunflowers at the Bosque del Apache NWR a couple of years ago. Seems appropriate for this week.

Wild Turkeys, Bosque del Apache, NWR, NM.

From the Bosque del Apache (Woods of the Apache) to the Monte Vista NWR in Colorado and an image from my book, Rio Grande del Norte: An Intimate Portrait.

Sandhill Cranes, Monte Vista NWR, Colorado.

Back in the Bosque del Apache for the evening ‘fly in’. It is a great opportunity to capture silhouettes against the warm light of the setting sunset.

Sandhill Cranes, Bosque del Apache, evening fly in! — Evening fly in, Sandhill Cranes, Bosque del Apache NWR, New Mexico.

At home in San Cristobal is the old cottonwood tree where the ravens and magpies congregate. On this evening there is only one of each. Often times there’s a milieu and fights over branches. I like to think these two get along or perhaps the space between them is the adjudicator.

Raven, Magpie, San Cristobal — Raven and Magpie in the old cottonwood, San Cristobal, NM.

As always thanks for looking. Happy Thanksgiving. Enjoy your turkeys. G

Taos Mountain Cloud, Mourning Doves, Wild Iris Meadow, Venus Moon

Geraint June 16, 2021 7 Comments

Another fun week in the field and a couple of instances from the deck! During one of the last snowstorms not long ago in memory but ages ago for the much-needed moisture. We can watch the storms build up over Taos Mountain from the deck. The mourning doves have been enjoying life and seem to be inseparable, hanging out side by side in the old cottonwood tree, also visible from the deck. We made a trip to join our friends Chris and Carla at their ranch in Black Lake, New Mexico a few days ago. The meadows were carpeted with millions of wild iris. I’ve seen similar fields of iris in the Valle Vidal but nothing like this. And this was only a square mile of it. On June 11, the waxing crescent moon swung by the planet Venus. I have a favorite parking spot to watch this particular sight when it occurs. Summer Solstice is coming up on Sunday, June 20th. Where to go for a Solstice moment photo? We shall see!

Taos Mountain cloud — Taos Mountain storm cloud building up, San Cristobal, NM

Mourning Doves in the old cottonwood tree, San Cristobal.

Wild iris, Black Lake, NM, in Lonesome Dove country near where they filmed the TV movie.

Venus, Moon, sunset — Venus, Moon and sunset across the Taos Plateau.

Enjoy the summer where you are and as always, thanks for looking. G

In the Garden with Buddha, the Birds and a Moth

Geraint May 19, 2021 18 Comments

Not a lot of words are needed here. Suffice to say I’m playing around with my new Sony 100-400mm lens, and what better place than the garden. The birds are willing accomplices and help me put the lens through its paces. I really like this lens a lot.

Garden Buddha with seashells, San Cristobal.

Black Headed Grosbeak — Black-headed Grosbeak.

Juvenile Black Headed Grosbeak — Female immature Black-headed Grosbeak.

Juvenile Evening Grosbeak — Female Evening Grosbeak.

Male Black-chinned Hummingbird, tasting the nectar or the air.

White-sided Sphinx Moth, often referred to as a hummingbird moth.

Thanks for looking. See you next week. G

Northern Flicker, Evening Light, Cottonwood Tree, San Cristobal

Geraint December 17, 2020 2 Comments

Northern Flicker in the evening light on top of the cottonwood tree, San Cristobal. I know for sure it saw the moon and planets at the same time I did. It had a slightly more elevated view over the rooftops but no closer to the cosmic events. Thanks for looking. G

American Robin, Portrait, Not Mary Poppin’s Robin

Geraint November 21, 2020 4 Comments

American Robin, a portrait, and not Mary Poppin’s Robin. I’ve always remembered the fact that a robin in Great Britain is much smaller, (everything’s bigger in the States), and Disney had an artistic license. But let’s not quibble. This sweetheart was enjoying the water in the birdbath. Thanks for looking. G