Audubon Thursday Birder SPRING Field Trip Schedule

[Rosyfinch]

AUDUBON THURSDAY BIRDERS SCHEDULE

  For SPRING 2013

 

MARCH 7

Visit the Rio Grande Nature Center State Park with Lefty Arnold: 505-514-9398, [e-mail]. Meet at 9:00 a.m. in the parking lot. There is a $3 parking fee if you do not have a State Parks Pass or Friends of the RGNC Pass. Both passes may be purchased insdie the Visitor Center after 10:00 a.m. The one-mile walk will end before noon.

 

MARCH 14

Bosque del Apache NWR with Rebecca Gracey: [e-mail], 505-242-3821.  Meet at 7:50 a.m. for an 8:00 departure from the back parking lot of the Hawthorn Suites on Gibson, just west of University Blvd. Very little walking is involved, as the group will view the refuge mainly by car. Bring lunch. A $5 entrance fee or Federal pass is required per car. The group will return in the late afternoon. For those not driving, the shared gas expense is $10 at five cents per mile.

 

MARCH 21

Visit the Durand Open Space in the South Valley with Becky Purvis: 505-877-2517, [e-mail].  Meet at 8:30 AM in the open space parking lot at 4736 Isleta SW. From I-25, exit on Rio Bravo. Drive west on Rio Bravo and turn south onto Isleta Boulevard. Drive two miles to the property on the east. The walk will be about one mile in length and will end before noon.

 

March 28:
Walk the Los Poblanos Fields Open Space with Maurice Mackey: 505-897-0415, [e-mail]. Meet at 8:15 a.m. in the open space parking lot. To reach the fields turn north on Tierra Viva, east of the of the Rio Grande River, from either west or east bound Montano. There will be a sign for Rio Grande Community Farm.
This is a change in location from the Open Space Visitor Center on Coors which will be closed to the public from March 4 - April 5 so that water-permeable paving stones may be added to the entrance road into the center.

 

APRIL 4

Walk in the Willow Creek Bosque that is part of the Rio Rancho Bosque Open Space with Lannois Neely: [e-mail], 505- 890-7881. Meet at 8:30 a.m. in the Willow Creek Bosque parking lot. For people not living on the west side of the river, go north on I-25, take the exit to Bernalillo and US 550. Drive west on US 550 to the traffic light where the highway intersects with NM 528. Turn south for 1.8 miles. Turn east at the traffic light on Willow Creek Road. Drive 0.1 mile, take the road on the left, and drive 0.2 miles further to the bosque parking lot. The walk will be about one mile in length and will end before noon.

 

APRIL 11

Walk in the Corrales bosque with Judy Liddell: [e-mail], 505-271-0912. Meet at 8:20 a.m. for an 8:30 departure from the shopping area north of Alameda Road/NM 528 and east of NM 448/Coors/Corrales Road. McDonald’s is on the south side of NM 528 and the parking area is directly north of McDonald’s across NM 528. People should park away from the businesses there. The group will carpool from there to the bosque. Join the group for lunch after the walk at Village Pizza in Corrales.  

 

APRIL 18

Walk in the Alameda Open Space with Kathleen Rhoad: 505-225-9747, [e-mail]. Meet at 8:30 a.m. in the Open Space parking lot on the south side of Alameda Boulevard, just east of the Rio Grande River. The group will also look for birds in the Bachechi Open Space located nearby where Kathleen was a volunteer in the arboretum. The one-mile walk will end before noon.  

 

APRIL 25

Walk in Otero Canyon with Ashli and Larry Gorbet: [e-mail], 505-301-2294. Meet at 7:50 a.m. for an 8:00 departure from the Sandia Ranger Station on NM 337 in Tijeras. Ashli and Larry have spent the last three years studying the breeding biology of Black-throated Gray Warblers there. The Black-throated Gray Warbler, Virginia’s Warbler, Gray Flycatcher, and Plumbeous Vireo will be target species on the fairly easy two-mile walk along the bottom of the canyon. Bring water. The only bathroom accommodations will be at the Ranger Station. The walk will end before noon.

 

MAY 2

Travel to the Randall Davey Audubon Center in Santa Fe with Barbara Hussey; [e-mail], 505-385-1165. Meet at 7:20 a.m. for a 7:30 departure from the center of the parking lot in the Far North Shopping Center located east of San Mateo and north of Academy. If you live north of Albuquerque make arrangements with Barbara to meet the group elsewhere. Bring lunch. For those not driving the shared gas expense is $6 at five cents per mile. The group should be back in Albuquerque in the mid afternoon.  

 

MAY 9 & 10

Join the Thursday Birder Birdathon Team lead by Rebecca Gracey: 505-242-3821,  [e-mail]. The goal of the Birdathon is to see as many bird species as possible in a 24-hour period. This year the Thursday Birders will go to many Fort Sumner, NM, birding locations and the Melrose Trap. The trip will last from 10:00 a.m. on Thursday to 10:00 am. on Friday and will involve a one-night stay in Fort Sumner. People may want to continue south after 10:00 a.m. on Friday to Bitterlake NWR in Roswell and/or Rattlesnake Springs near Carlsbad for more birding on their own after the birdathon is completed.

Meet at 10:00 a.m. on Thursday, May 9, on NM 203 to Sumner Lake past the turn off from US 84. This is a 2 ½ hour drive from Albuquerque. The group will bird at Sumner Lake State Park on both sides of the river, Sumner Lake, Bosque Redondo, Fort Sumner Monument and the Melrose Trap.  

All team members are encouraged to make a contribution to this fund-raising effort for Central N.M. Audubon Society. One may make a flat donation, pay 25 cents to $1.00 per species, or get pledges from friends and family.  

For those not driving the shared gas expense is $20 at five cents per mile.

Contact Rebecca if you plan to participate. She will send you the names of hotels in Fort Sumner, the itinerary, and other details.          

 

MAY 16

Hike Embudito Canyon with Donna Royer: 505-869-6882, [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 then turn right on Trailhead Road. Drive to the parking lot. This is an easy 1.5 mile walk  ending before noon.  

 

MAY 23

Visit Carlito Springs, a Bernalillo County Open Space, with Robert Munro: [e-mail], 505-730-7762.

Meet at 7:50 a.m. for an 8:00 departure in Tijeras, NM, in the Senior Center parking lot, adjacent to the Tijeras library. To reach the Senior Center, turn north from NM 333/Route 66 on Tijeras Avenue to reach the parking lot. We will carpool from there since there is limited parking at Carilto Springs. It is located beyond a locked gate.To gain entrance to the area the group will be accompanied by an employee of the Bernalillo County Open Space. The Open Space office requests that closed-toed shoes and long pants be worn because of Poison Ivy in the area.

The trip will end before noon.

 

MAY 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 7:20 a.m. for a 7:30 departure from the parking lot behind the Hawthorn Suites on Gibson and University or 8:00 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 Belen at Pete’s Café at 105 North 1st Street, off Reinken Avenue.  For those not driving, the shared gas expense is $3.50 at five cents per mile.

 

 

2012 THURSDAY BIRDER DONATIONS

Circle A Ranch, Cuba                                                      20.00

Friends of the Bosque del Apache NWR                         75.00

Friends of the Rio Grande Nature Center                       76.00

Friends of the Whitfield Wildlife Conservation Area         75.00

Hawks Aloft, Inc.                                                               75.00

Randall Davey Audubon Center                                       75.00

Ryan Beaulieu Memorial Education Fund                         100.00

Salinas Pueblo Mission / Quarai                                         30.00

Talking Talons Youth Leadership                                      148.00

Teacher Resource Grants of CNMAS                               148.00

Wildlife Rescue at Rio Grande Nature Center                   100.00

TOTAL DONATIONS: $922.00

 

The group has not been collecting donations in 2013 because no one has volunteered to tackle the job. It involves attending regularly to collect the donations, arriving a few minutes before the meeting time, keeping a spread-sheet of the donations, and dividing up the collected money in January of 2014 to selected organizations. The treasurer of CNMAS will cut the checks to each organization. If you want to help the Thursday Birders in this task, please step forward! Lefty Arnold has said he will be your substitute if you are out of town.

 

 

ADDITIONAL SPRING BIRDING OPPORTUNITIES:

 

April 19 - 21,12th ANNUAL PRAIRIE CHICKEN FESTIVAL in Milnesand, NM.

Information available at www.wildlife.state.nm.us  Click on “recreation”.  The contact person is Tish McDaniel: 575-762-6997, [e-mail]. The number of participants is limited to 100 people and the quota is quickly filled.

 

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

 

March, April and May, Saturday and Sunday BIRD WALKS at the Rio Grande Nature Center State Park. The walks begin at 8:30 a.m. in March and April, 8:00 in May.

There is a parking fee of $3 without a Friends of the Rio Grande Nature Center pass or a State Parks pass.  Both may be purchased after 10:00 a.m. in the Visitor Center.

 

CENTRAL N.M. AUDUBON SOCIETY has occasional weekend field trips. These are found on the Central Audubon web site www.newmexicoaudubon.org/cnmas. The trips are also listed in the CNMAS publication, The Burrowing Owl.

 

THURSDAY BIRDER TRIP REPORTS

Judy Liddell’s blog: http://windandsong.wordpress.com 

Joe Schelling’s blog: http://joeschelling.wordpress.com and photo website:  

 www.sandianet.com

Phil Trine’s photographs: www.flickr.com/photos/thbirds

 

NM Rare Bird Alert                           www.nmbirds.org    

Rare Bird Alerts for all states            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 www.ebird.org. Click on ‘View and Explore Data’, then ‘Range and Point Maps’, and type in the species name and general location. To get a listing of birds reported in a given location, after clicking on ‘View and Explore Data’, choose ‘Bar Charts’, and select the location.