Following the Rio Grande

View of Bosque del Apache NWR from the top of the Canyon Trail.

We left the Canyon Trail in Bosque del Apache and made one last stop at the Prairie Dog town. I really liked this cute mammal. While there Andy spotted an interesting hawk so I put my camera down and relocated the hawk to only realize it was ANOTHER Red-tail Hawk. Yes, we saw many on this trip. So in the car we jumped and off to the interstate south to our next destination we went.


While entering the on ramp we noticed a peculiar sound on the car but gave it little notice. Ten or fifteen miles later I realized that my beloved Olympus Stylus Tough was left on the top of the car. That sound on the ramp must have been it sliding off. After a delicate search of the road we found the camera. AND it worked! Really, I feel like the Tough part of the name is totally accurate.


Our next stop was Caballo Lake State Park. Andy was exhuasted despite his nap and collapsed on a dock. I somehow managed to rouse him when a gull came by. We didn't identify it but most likely it was a Ring-billed Gull. Since there were few birds so we decided to head out but on the way I saw an interesting bird and pulled over. It was a Cactus Wren. With that news we decided to try a nearby trail within the park and lucky me that we did because it produced my lifer Black-throated Sparrow. That's one good looking bird. We decided that we should thoroughly give the park a go so we headed over towards the dam where a picnic area was located. We found some Gadwall on the river and my lifer Gambell's Quail. So for a pretty shoddy looking park we were making good stops.


Next we headed to the Percha Dam State Park. The area didn't really look that productive but it proved to live up to our stereotype that bathrooms and parking lots at parks prove to be damn fine birding habitat. Andy heard a familiar call and managed to locate my lifer Phainopepla. The photo above doesn't do justice to this fine silky-flycatcher. We found male and females throughout the park. We also managed to find the river and dam but it was pretty dry on both sides. Interesting enough we did see quite a few Spotted Sandpipers. Those little humping birds have a soft spot in my heart.



Before leaving the park we also found a beautiful Vermillion Flycatcher, Black Phoebe, Western Scrub Jay, and my lifer Red-naped Sapsucker. We ended the day with 65 species and celebrated by drinking at a really cool, old bar in Mesilla, NM.