2019 Nov to Jan road trip - Windsor to Texas and back

It was an early start of 5:30 am and we headed in the dark to Bosque del Apache for the sunrise fly out of the Sandhill Cranes.  We waited in the twilight of night which gradually changed to the predawn lightening of the sky.  We heard a Great Horned Owl call.  Dawn was coming and we could see shapes.  The Sandhill Cranes were still and quiet.  It took a long time for the Sandhill Cranes that were close to us to wake up, raise their heads and start moving.  It was cool and a there was a steady wind.  As dawn came and the sun was climbing over the the horizon, it looked like the Sandhill Cranes that were in the far back and the sun touched first, left first.  The birds seemed to move to the right in a loose row and lift off and fly out to fields to feed for the day.  This great fly out also brought out both Bald and Golden Eagles to check out the flock of Sandhill Cranes and all the numerous ducks that filled this cell of the body of water....

It was a cool fresh morning with not even a cloud in the sky when we checked out of the Drury Inn in Albuquerque, NM by 8 am.  We were heading to Silver River in Albuquerque for the reported American Dipper.  This is the spot where the Rio Grande starts and it is just a small river called the Silver River.  Further on outside of the city, the river expands and it becomes the Rio Grande.  We parked and walked to the small trough of a river.  The highway is nearby.  We looked around on one side and some of the group noticed a duck acting funny by the bank.  They went down and looked and the fish had fishing line coming out of its bill.  One of the group went back to get scissors to help cut and shortly after another one went to get a box and cover to put the duck in.  We would try to get it to a rescue place.  Some of the group continued to look for the American Dipper.  The Dipper likes fast flowing splashing water and we really did...

We all met up at 8 am along with our guide Kim.  The day was cool but not cold.  We all dressed for cold weather as we would go to over 10,000 feet to Sandia Crest.  Our first birding spot was the lovely Embudito Canyon.  By the last house to the parking lot there are several feeders and there was a Lesser Goldfinch.  Going into the canyon we saw the Woodhouse Scrub Jay, Canyon Towhee and Spotted Towhee.  The birds were hard to locate but we were so lucky there was no wind this morning and some of quickly shed some layers of clothes.  There were a whole group of Bushtits that came through but they moved so fast it was hard to get a photo of even one.  There were other people hiking around the canyon.  We discussed the habitat and the Choilla bushes that birds seemed to enjoy.  There were also several grasses.  At the Nature Center which is run by the city, the purpose is to plant winter food for the Sandhill Cranes that winter t...

Fort Worth to Albuquerque, New Mexico. Friday January 3, 2020 This morning it was an early meet-up with the Fort Worth Audubon Society birding outing to New Mexico.   For me, this trip was totally a last minute thing.   One of my FW Audubon friends told me that there was one spot open when I met up with her on an local Audubon outing.   So I felt it was just waiting for me to take it.   I would join the group.   This morning, we got organized with the cars and we started the drive northwest to New Mexico.   The objective was to make it for Happy Hour at the inn in Albuquerque by 5 pm.   We had a sunny day for the drive, once the sun came out.   It took about 6 hours to drive out of Texas.   Texas is really huge, similar to Ontario.   One we crossed the state line, the scenery changed dramatically.   We could see a snow-capped mountain range.   Huge brush valleys and buttes in the distance.    We saw many Northe...