AUDUBON THURSDAY BIRDERS SPRING SCHEDULE, 2015

[Rosyfinch]

AUDUBON THURSDAY BIRDERS SPRING SCHEDULE, 2015

MARCH 5
Walk in the Corrales bosque with Lannois Neely: 505-890-7881, [e-mail]. Meet at 8:50 a.m. for a 9:00 departure from the shopping area north of Alameda Road/NM 528 and east of NM 448/Coors/Corrales Road. After the walk, the group will carpool from there to one of the bosque locations. The group will meet at Village Pizza in Corrales for lunch.

MARCH 12
Tour the Bernardo Unit of the Ladd S. Gordon Waterfowl Complex with Becky Purvis: 505-877-2517, [e-mail]. Meet at 8:50 a.m. for a 9:00 departure from the parking lot behind the Hawthorne Suites located on Gibson SE and University Boulevard. The refuge is 50 miles south of Albuquerque on I-25. Take the exit to US 60, go under the overpass and get on the east frontage road. Drive north 0.5 miles to the entrance on the east. Bring lunch. The trip will end by mid afternoon. For those not driving the shared gas expense is $5 at five cents per mile.

MARCH 19
Walk around the Tingley bosque ponds with Leah Henzler: 505-280-2085, [e-mail]. Meet at 9:00 a.m. at the north end of the Tingley Beach parking lot. To reach the area, drive west on Central Avenue past Rio Grande Boulevard, then turn left on Tingley Drive. Take the first right off of Tingley Drive and at the stop sign, turn right to the dirt overflow parking lot. (The parking spots by the concession stand can be left for the anglers.) The walk will end before noon.

MARCH 26
Visit the Rio Grande Nature Center State Park with Lefty Arnold: 505-514-9398, [e-mail]. Meet at 8:29 a.m. by the parking lot blind. There is a $3 parking fee if you do not have a State Parks Pass or Friends of the RGNC Pass. Either pass may be purchased inside the Visitor Center after 10:00 a.m. The one-mile walk will end before noon.

APRIL 2
Drive to Pena Blanca, NM, and Cochiti Lake with Judy Liddell: 505-271-0912, [e-mail]. Meet at 7:50 a.m. for an 8:00 departure from the middle of the parking lot in the Far North Shopping Center on San Mateo, just north of Academy Boulevard. If you want to meet the group west of I-25 on NM 22 to Santo Domingo and Pena Blanca, contact Judy before March 31. Bring lunch. The trip should end in the mid afternoon. For those not driving, the shared gas expense is $5 at five cents per mile.

APRIL 9
Hike in the Manzano/Four Hills Open Space with Gale Owings: 505-255-8333. Meet at 7:50 a.m. for an 8:00 departure from the west side of the Four Hills Village shopping center on Central Avenue between Juan Tabo and Tramway. The open space is reached from Central by going south on Four Hills Road, then east on Stagecoach Road that turns south and ends at the trailhead. The one-mile walk will end before noon.

APRIL 16
Visit the Shady Lakes Fishing Ponds with Maurice Mackey: 505-897-0415, [e-mail]. Meet at the ponds at 8:30 a.m. To reach the ponds take I-25 north to the Tramway exit. Drive west on Tramway for 1.5 miles, and then north on NM 313 for 0.5 miles. The entrance is on the left. From the west side, take Alameda Boulevard to 2nd Street, go 1.4 miles north on 2nd Street over the bridge to the traffic circle. Take the exit north to NM 313 for 0.5 miles. The one-mile walk will end before noon.

APRIL 23
Visit Valle de Oro National Wildlife Refuge with Rebecca Gracey: 505-242-3821, [e-mail]. Meet at 8:30 a.m. at the south end of the refuge on Salida Sandia. To reach the refuge drive south on
I-25 and take the Rio Bravo Exit. Dive west on Rio Bravo to 2nd Street. Turn south on 2nd and drive four miles south to Salida Sandia. The group will have lunch at Abuelita’s at 6083 Isleta Blvd. SW, a bit south of the Gutierrez-Hubbel House. (North on 2nd, west on Rio Bravo, south on Isleta for 2.9 miles.)

APRIL 30
Travel to the Belen Marsh in Belen, NM, and the Whitfield Wildlife Conservation Area with Linda Heinze: 505-565-1441, [e-mail]. Meet at 7:50 a.m. for an 8:00 departure from the parking lot behind the Hawthorne Suites on Gibson SE and University Boulevard or 8:30 at the Belen Marsh. To reach the marsh, take the first Belen exit from I-25, Exit 195, drive east one mile, turn south and park behind the Taco Bell. Then the group will visit the Whitfield Wildlife Conservation Area on NM 47. The group will have lunch in Los Lunas at Teofilo’s on Main/NM 6 near the intersection with NM 314. For those not driving, the shared gas expense is $3.50 at five cents per mile.

MAY 7 & 8
Participate in the Thursday Birder Birdathon with Bonnie Long: 505-379-1985, [e-mail] and Judy Liddell: 505-271-0912, [e-mail]. This event is a fundraiser for Central NM Audubon and Audubon, NM, as well as 24 hours of birding fun. The Birdathon will commence at 10:00 a.m. on May 7 in the Ft. Sumner area. The group will bird at Ft. Sumner State Park, Bosque Redondo Lake and Melrose Trap and other areas where recent sightings indicate good birds, and will overnight in Ft. Sumner. On May 8, the group will meet at 6:00 a.m. at the Melrose Trap. To confirm participation and receive a detailed itinerary, contact Bonnie Long or Judy Liddell.

MAY 14
Hike in Otero Canyon with Barbara Hussey: 505-385-1165, [e-mail]. Meet at 7:50 a.m. for an 8:00 departure from the Sandia Ranger Station on NM 337 in Tijeras. The group will carpool from there to the canyon, 3.5 miles south on NM 337. It will be a 1.5-mile walk on uneven trails ending before noon.

MAY 21
Hike Embudito Canyon with Joe Schelling: 505-797-9018, [e-mail]. Meet at 8:00 a.m. in the trailhead parking lot. To reach the canyon, drive east on Montgomery past Tramway, then turn left on Glenwood Hills. Continue 0.4 of a mile, turn right on Trailhead Road and continue to the parking lot. This is an easy 1.5-mile walk ending before noon.

MAY 28
Walk around Turtle Bay on the NM Tech campus in Socorro, The Box and Water Canyon on US 60 with Rebecca Gracey: 505-242-3821, [e-mail]. Meet at 6:50 a.m. for a 7:00 departure from the parking lot behind the Hawthorne Suites on Gibson SE and University Boulevard. There will be a secondary meeting place at the McDonald’s in Socorro at 8:15, and a departure from there at 8:30 for the New Mexico Tech campus. Bring lunch to eat at Water Canyon. The trip will end in the mid afternoon. For those not driving the shared gas expense will be $10 at five cents per mile.

ADDITIONAL BIRDING OPPORTUNITIES:

Southwest Wings Annual Spring Fling in Sierra Vista, Arizona, May 6-9. http://www.swwings.org.

There will not be a PRAIRIE CHICKEN FESTIVAL in Milnesand, NM, again this year. For more information, read the automated reply found at [e-mail].

May through October, there are TUESDAY MORNING GUIDED BIRD WALKS in the different areas of the Sandia Mountains sponsored by the U.S. Forest Service. Birders meet at 8:00 a.m. at the Sandia Ranger Station, 1176 Highway 337, in Tijeras, NM.

Saturday and Sunday BIRD WALKS are held at the Rio Grande Nature Center State Park beginning at 8:30 a.m. There is a parking fee of $3 if one does not have the Friends of the RGNC Pass or State Parks Pass. Either pass may be purchased after 10:00 a.m. in the Visitor Center.

CENTRAL NM AUDUBON SOCIETY has occasional weekend field trips. These are found on the CNMAS web site http://www.cnmas.newmexicoaudubon.org.  

THURSDAY BIRDER TRIP REPORTS

Judy Liddell’s blog: https://windandsong.wordpress.com.
Joe Schelling’s blog: https://joeschelling.wordpress.com and photo website: www.sandianet.com.
NM Rare Bird Alert: http://www.nmbirds.org
Rare Bird Alerts for all states: http://www.birdingonthe.net 
To report NM rare birds, contact Matt Baumann at [e-mail], 264-1052.
WILDLIFE RESCUE for injured birds, located at the Nature Center: 505-344-2500.
To find where reported bird species have been sighted, go to http://www.ebird.org. Click on ‘Explore Data”, then choose one of the available options, such as ‘Explore Hotspots’, ‘Species Maps’, or ‘Bar Charts’.

To check for possible trip cancellations, visit the Audubon web site: http://www.cnmas.newmexicoaudubon.org. Click on TRIPS, then click on THURSDAY BIRDERS.