Thursday Birder and CNMAS Field Trips, Spring 2012

[Rosyfinch]

From the Central New Mexico Audubon Society Burrowing Owl newsletter

AUDUBON THURSDAY BIRDERS SCHEDULE for SPRING 2012

Check for updates or additional field trips on our website:
http://www.newmexicoaudubon.org/cnmas 

SUPPORT THE THURSDAY BIRDER TEAM IN THE CNMAS BIRDATHON!
This is a fund-raising effort for Audubon. Mail your check to CNMAS,
PO Box 30002, Albuquerque, NM 87190. Your contribution is a tax deductible
donation.

MARCH 22
South Valley birding with Becky Purvis: 877-2517, [e-mail].
Meet at 8:20 a.m. for an 8:30 departure in the southeast quadrant of
the Rio Bravo and Coors S.W. intersection near the Panda Express.
The group will drive to various locations from there. The trip will end
before noon.

MARCH 29
Walk the bosque east of the Coors and La Orilla intersection, north of
Montano, with Paulina Inigo: Cell 269-8963, Home 899-9316, cpinigo@
yahoo.com. Meet at 8:30 a.m. in the southeast corner of the church
parking lot on La Orilla. The one-mile walk will end before noon.

APRIL 5
Pena Blanca and Cochiti Lake with Gary Shirk: 717-330-7063,
[e-mail]. Meet at 7:50 a.m. for an 8:00 departure in the
middle of the parking lot in the Far North Shopping Center, north of
Academy and east of San Mateo. A secondary meeting place will be
at 8:40 at the Phillips 66 gas station on NM 22 just after exiting I-25.
Bring lunch or buy a sandwich at the Stone Kiva Bar and Grille at the
Cochiti Golf Course Clubhouse where the group will be birding. For
those not driving the shared gas expense is $5 at five cents per mile.

APRIL 12
Tingley bosque ponds south of Central SW on Tingley Drive with Lefty
Arnold: 514-9398, [e-mail]. Meet at 8:27 in a
parking lot south of the fi shing ponds parking area. The lot is south
of Lead Avenue SW and across from the blue zoo building on the east.
Lunch afterwards at the Red Ball Café on 4th Street.

APRIL 19
Alameda Open Space with Kathleen Rhoad: 225-9747, kathleen.
[e-mail]. Meet at 8:30 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 new Bachechi Open Space
located nearby where Kathleen is a volunteer in the arboretum. The
walk will end before noon.

APRIL 26
Whitfield Wildlife Conservation Area and Belen Marsh in Belen, NM,
with Linda Heinz: 565-1441, [e-mail]. Meet at 7:50
a.m. for an 8:00 departure in the parking lot behind the Hawthorne
Suites on Gibson and University or 8:45 a.m. at WWCA on NM 47.
Lunch at Teofilo’s in Los Lunas 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 3, The Thursday Birder Birdathon
Led by Rebecca Gracey: 242-3821, [e-mail].
Meet at 4:50 a.m. for a 5:00 departure in the parking lot behind the
Hawthorne Suites on Gibson and University, or at 6:15 a.m. at the
McDonald’s in Socorro. This will be an intensive day of birding that will
end at dusk. The itinerary will be Turtle Bay on the NM Tech campus,
Water Canyon in the Magdalena Mountains, the Box on US 60 and the
Bosque del Apache. At 7:30 p.m. the group will have dinner at Sofi a’s
Kitchen in Socorro to tally the number of species seen. After dinner
participants are on their own to either spend the night in Socorro or
return to Albuquerque that evening. The shared gas expense is $10.
Anyone planning to be on the team should contact Rebecca and she
will email you plans for the birdathon and any possible changes that
might arise.

All members of the team are encouraged to make a financial contribution
to Central New Mexico Audubon Society in this fund-raising eff ort
to benefi t education and conservation projects in New Mexico.

MAY 10
Manzano pond and Quarai National Monument with Bonnie Long:
379-1985, [e-mail]. Meet at 7:50 a.m for an 8:00
departure in the Four Hills Shopping Center from near the Carl’s Jr. on
the south side of Central between Tramway and Juan Tabo, or at 8:50
a.m. at the junction of Highway 337 and Highway 55. Bring lunch. For
those not driving, the shared gas expense is $5 at five cents per mile.

MAY 17
Birding along NM 41 east of Moriarty and Galisteo creek and bosque
with Rebecca Gracey: 242-3821, [e-mail].
Meet at 6:50 a.m. for a 7:00 departure from near the Carl’s Jr. in the
Four Hills Shopping Center on the south side of Central between Tramway
and Juan Tabo. The group will make a brief stop at McDonald’s
in Moriarty at 7:30 for those wanting to meet the group there. Bring
lunch. The trip will end in mid afternoon. For those not driving, the
shared gas expense is $6 at fi ve cents per mile.

MAY 24
Hike Otero Canyon with Gale Owings: 255-8333
Meet at 7:30 a.m. at the Sandia Ranger Station in Tijeras, NM, located
on NM 337 to car pool to Otero Canyon. There will be a 1.5 mile walk
ending before noon.

MAY 31
Hike Embudito Canyon with Donna Royer: 869-6882, [e-mail]
Meet at 7:30 a.m. in the trailhead parking lot. To reach the canyon, drive
east on Montgomery past Tramway, then turn left on Glenwood Hills.
Continue .4 of a mile then turn right on Trailhead Road. Drive to the
parking lot. This is an easy 1.5 mile walk.


Thursday Birder Trip Reports

Judy Liddell’s blog: http://www.wingandsong.wordpress.com

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

Matt O’Donnell’s blog: http://abqbirding.wordpress.com

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

NM Rare Bird Alert http://www.nmbirds.org click on “Hotline”

Rare Bird Alerts for all states http://www.birdingonthe.net

To report NM rare birds, contact Matt Baumann at [e-mail],
264-1052.

CNMAS Weekend Field Trips - Spring 2012

Check for updates or additional field trips on our website:
http://www.newmexicoaudubon.org/cnmas

Sunday, April 15
Shorebirds & other Migrants at Bosque del Apache
Meet at 6:30 AM at the southwest corner of University and Lomas, or
meet the group at Turtle Bay park in Socorro at 8:00 AM. We’ll check
the park for migrant songbirds before continuing on to Bosque. At
the refuge we’ll focus on getting good looks at shorebirds and other
waterbirds. Depending on the weather we may check a few spots on
the way back to town, most likely Bernardo WMA and/or Belen Marsh.
Leader: Cole Wolf, [e-mail]

Friday - Sunday, April 20-22nd
Warblers, Shorebirds, and Prairie –Chickens, OH MY!
Raymond VanBuskirk and Michael Hilchey will be leading a weekend
trip to the southeastern plains of New Mexico from April 20th through
the 22nd. Rattlesnake Springs, Brantley and Avalon Lakes, Tatum
Sewage ponds, and Melrose Trap are among the many places we plan
to bird on this trip. We will also be visiting an active Lek near Tatum for
some up close and personal looks at Prairie-Chickens! Targets for the
trip (besides Prairie-Chickens of course) will be Painted Bunting, Orchard
Oriole, Brown Thrasher, Snowy Plover, Least Tern, and as many
migrants as we can get our bins on!

The leaders will be leaving on Friday (4/20) at 1pm from the Four Hills
Shopping Center (Central and Tramway). Participants are encouraged
to meet the leaders there at 12:45pm for carpooling. We plan to bird
Bitter Lake NWR in Roswell on our way down. We will spend Friday
night in Carlsbad, and start birding Saturday morning at Rattlesnake
Springs south of Carlsbad around 8am. From there we will make our
way to Tatum where we will be staying on Saturday night. Sunday
morning we will start very early at a nearby Prairie-Chicken Lek and
from there we will bird our way back towards Albuquerque, arriving
home sometime early Sunday Evening.

Anyone not able to carpool is encouraged to call and meet up with the
group anywhere along the way. Contact the leaders for times and locations
to meet up.

Please contact one of the leaders for more info and to RSVP
Michael Hilchey [phone], [e-mail]
Raymond VanBuskirk [phone], [e-mail]

Saturday, May 5
Percha Dam State Park and Animas Creek
We’ll spend most of the morning at Percha where we hope to fi nd good
numbers of migrants along with the resident Vermillion Flycatchers,
Lucy’s Warblers, and Phainopeplas. After checking Caballo Lake and
below the dam we’ll bird Animas Creek (time permitting) in hopes of
seeing Acorn Woodpecker and Bridled Titmouse. Meet at Percha at 9:00
AM, or those interested in carpooling from Albuquerque should meet at
6:00 AM at the southwest corner of University and Lomas. Bring a lunch,
we do not expect to get back to Albuquerque before dark.
Leader: Robert Munro, [e-mail]