Upper Rio Grande
This quick and dirty blog entry is brought to you care of Leica. For some reason, I can only pick up a wireless signal at their booth--a clever plan to get people to come over and look at their optics.
Today was an AWESOME day--lots of new life birds for me. I was worried about heat, but we birded in the morning and it was cool and foggy along the Rio Grande River. The river is very swollen, they've had 40 inches of rain in the last six weeks. It was foggy and I loved seeing neotropic cormorants (above) and ringed kingfishers (they're HUGE) and green kingfishers (they're so tiny)!
We stopped at a trailer park to see an elusive brown jay that visits feeders there. No brown jay, but oodles of great-tailed grackles. For all those people who think they have it bad with common grackles, don't complain--great-tailed are MUCH bigger and MUCH noisier. One was feeding at a tray feeder and about a dozen house sparrows landed around it. The great-tailed hopped in the air and spooked all the sparrows away. So, they are good house sparrow control but only if you only want to have great-taileds at the feeder.
Eventually the sun did come out and I was amazed at how well all the birder khaki blended in with the sandy landscape. I did get some intriguing bug photos, which I will post later.
Side Note - Cinnamon, you are the best rabbit ever and I love you. You'll be getting a huge carrot top when I get home...and stay out of the kitchen.
I'm running into lots of Minnesota people here. One is Kim Eckert (one of the few Minnesota birders who doesn't have a blog).
Today was an AWESOME day--lots of new life birds for me. I was worried about heat, but we birded in the morning and it was cool and foggy along the Rio Grande River. The river is very swollen, they've had 40 inches of rain in the last six weeks. It was foggy and I loved seeing neotropic cormorants (above) and ringed kingfishers (they're HUGE) and green kingfishers (they're so tiny)!
We stopped at a trailer park to see an elusive brown jay that visits feeders there. No brown jay, but oodles of great-tailed grackles. For all those people who think they have it bad with common grackles, don't complain--great-tailed are MUCH bigger and MUCH noisier. One was feeding at a tray feeder and about a dozen house sparrows landed around it. The great-tailed hopped in the air and spooked all the sparrows away. So, they are good house sparrow control but only if you only want to have great-taileds at the feeder.
Eventually the sun did come out and I was amazed at how well all the birder khaki blended in with the sandy landscape. I did get some intriguing bug photos, which I will post later.Side Note - Cinnamon, you are the best rabbit ever and I love you. You'll be getting a huge carrot top when I get home...and stay out of the kitchen.
I'm running into lots of Minnesota people here. One is Kim Eckert (one of the few Minnesota birders who doesn't have a blog).
Labels: Bird Festivals, Rio Grande Valley Bird Fest
posted by birdchick at 5:40 PM
3 Comments:
i LOVE the little message to cinnamon in the middle of that post - like an easter egg for those of us non birders intro'd to your site by the call of the bunny wild... laughed out loud... and related to reprimand... i'd write more but suddenly have this urge for cilantro and celery...
-bilbo's mum
ps - am growing interested in birding too - fun to read :-)
Oh, you're in my home area--the Valley! (But I'm in PA.) Makes me miss home. Note that the extreme flatness of the terrain makes it seem like you can see the curve of the earth (see the photo).
I'm with Bilbo on the Cinnamon shout-out--you're such a good mommy.
I think I've been to that same trailer park. The folk there were a bit frightening, but I did see Brown Jay and Altamira Orioles there.
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