The road to Sandia Crest was clear of snow and ice most of
the way. Near the top there was at least
one curve that was partially covered with packed snow and ice but had sand on
top of the snow and ice. Negotiating this required
care to steer clear of the icy spots.
When I arrived at the top, the parking lot was completely covered with
packed snow and ice and required care.
There was one other car there, and the Sandia Crest House was not yet
open. There was one woman birder there who was out walking about. I asked if she had seen anything but she
said no. If I wanted, I could walk
carefully up to the look-out and could just barely see a feeder on the deck
behind the Sandia Crest House. It was
treacherous to walk up to the look-out, and I could barely see the
feeders. Consequently, I drove down to
the lower parking lot and sat in my car watching the feeder. Only Mountain Chickadees and maybe a
White-breasted Nuthatch seemed to be coming in.
I met another birder, a graduate student, who had driven from
Mississippi, and had been there for a while.
He had seen a flock of finches fly by earlier that may have been Rosy-Finches. Soon it was 10:00, and I drove back up to the
upper parking lot as did the birder from Mississippi. The Sandia Crest House was open, and there
were additional cars already in the parking lot. When I got inside, the couple in front of me
turned around. To my pleasant surprise,
it was Isaac Sanchez and his wife Patty from Austin, Texas. Isaac and I were in graduate school together
at the University of Delaware and were birding buddies then. It was great to see them again. Isaac was doing a Photographic Big Year in
2013. See photo of Isaac and me at Sandia Crest.
 |
| Jay and Isaac Sanchez, Sandia Crest House |
During my Big Year, I had meet Isaac and Patty one other
time on a pelagic trip out of Bodega Bay with Deb Shearwater on September
20. See photo of Isaac, Neil Hayward and
me.
 |
| Neil Hayward, Isaac Sanchez and Jay, Bodega Bay, Shearwater Journey's Trip |
While we waited for the Rosy-Finches to show up, I ordered a
bowl of green chili stew to enjoy while I caught up with Isaac and Patty. As a continuation of Isaac's photographic Big Year, he and Patty had driven with a non-birding
friend to Albuquerque from Austin, TX to stay in Albuquerque at the friend’s
casita for five days. Isaac and Patty
had been to Sandia Crest two prior days to see three Rosy-Finches. Isaac had photographed Black and Brown-capped
Rosy-Finch, but he still needed to photograph Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch. Mountain Chickadees and White-breasted and
Red-breasted Nuthatches came into the feeders while we chatted. Isaac just returned from a trip to Phoenix,
AZ where he added Rosy-faced Lovebird, Gray Vireo and Mountain Plover. He flew there and spent one day. I still needed Gray Vireo. Isaac showed me his photos and gave me the
directions to the location. I gave Isaac
my most recent update with White-cheeked Pintail now countable, giving me a
total of 725.
Soon a flock of about eight Rosy-Finches flew in to the
feeders and sat on the trees just below the deck. I enjoyed seeing these birds again. Black Rosy-Finch and Brown-capped Rosy-Finch
raise my total to 726 and 727. See
photos below.  |
| Black Rosy-Finch |
 |
| Black Rosy-Finch |
 |
| Brown-capped Rosy-Finch, no gray head band, brown back, nape, face and breast |
 |
| Brown-capped Rosy-Finch, no gray head band, dark on front of crown, brown, back, nape, face and breast |
With both of my sought species accounted for, I decided to
stay a little while longer to catch up with Isaac and Patty and wait with them
to see if a Gray-crowned Rosy Finch would soon show up. I had another bowl of green chili stew while
we waited. This was their third and last day at
Sandia Crest House looking for Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch. I also spent
some time talking with the birder from Mississippi. He was headed to Bill Williams NWR to look
for the Nutting’s Flycatcher, which I had seen and photographed on December
12. I shared my experience and knowledge
with him. He was continuing to
California, his home state, and after Bill Williams NWR to northern California
to try for the Little Bunting. I asked
him if he had any information about seeing Black Rail near San Francisco during
the highest tides of the year in December.
I still needed Black Rail for the year.
His information was helpful, but it seemed that I had missed the optimum
time at full moon. Therefore, I would not
chase to California for Black Rail.
Below are photos of the scenery at Sandia Crest.
 |
| Sandia Crest House and snow at over 10,600 feet |
 |
| View to northeast from Sandia Crest |
 |
| View North from Sandia Crest showing lower parking lot |
The Google Maps GPS location took me east on US 60 to a
fence along the road and a gate beyond which there was golden grassland near
Black Butte on the south side of US 60.
Black Butte is volcanic cone visible from great distances, because it
rises from the flat grasslands that from a valley between the Los Pinos
Mountains to the east and the more distant Bear Mountains to the west.
 |
| Black Butte from US 60 when the grass is green, internet photo |
From Google Maps, the location of the eBird
report of November 30 of 90 Chestnut-collared Longspurs was about two mile
ahead on the dirt road leading south behind the gate. From the Google Map, it looked like the
border of Sevilleta NWR was some distance inside the fence. The gate was unlocked and there were no
signs. However, I am reluctant to go
beyond an unlocked gate and fence in a state where I do not know the laws. In many western states, it is against the law
to enter private property without permission.
I decided to drive back to I-25 and continue the short distance south to
the Visitor Center of Sevilleta NWR to get information about this gate and
location. The volunteers at the visitor
Center told me that there was no entry allowed at the location that I described. They suggested that I try La Joya a small
town near the grasslands. I decided to
drive the roads in the area to see if I could get close to the grasslands.
First, I drove south on NM 304 just east of I-25 and off of
US 60 to La Joya, a very small place with less than six hoses and a few out buildings,
to see if the grasslands were close to the road. No success there. I drove back to the gate off of US 60 in
hopes of seeing birds beyond the gate and fence. There were two reports in eBird of several
Chestnut-collared Longspurs on October 24 and 26 of 2013 within about a quarter
of a mile of this gate along US 60. At the gate, I
spished and squeaked and briefly played the calls of Chestnut-collared Longspur
but succeeded in only attracting a Meadowlark, possibly Eastern at this
location, and an American Kestrel. Then I
noticed that the grassland habitat behind the fence continued on the north side
of US 60. There were public roads as
named streets north of US 60 across from the gate. The grasslands to the north extended as far
as I could see and grasslands came right up to the edge of the streets. It seemed like an ideal place to look for Chestnut-collared
Longspur. There were a few rather rundown
houses and ranches with corrals and a few trailers near US 60. But beyond these, it was open
grasslands. I drove north, turned east
for about a half mile and then north again until I was about a mile from US 60. It was open grasslands for as far as I could
see north and a long distance east and west.
The sun was starting to get low in the west. I spished and squeaked for a while, but saw
only a few distant ravens and a few fly-by Mourning Doves. I played Chestnut-collared Longspur
calls. Very soon I noticed about six
small finch-like birds fly up out of the grass, fly toward me and land in the
grass hidden from view. I looked to the
west and saw a swirling flock of longspur-like birds, flying around and landing
in the grass. I grabbed my camera,
bundled up and walked out in the grass.
There was scattered grass less than knee high and much lower vegetation that
looked like flowering plants that now had had seed heads. Everything was golden tan. There were two separate flocks that sometimes
joined and then separated. When the
flock flew over me I heard the distinctive call of Chestnut-collared Longspurs,
“killic”, two syllable or “kit-tal-kit tal, which is unlike the other potential
longspurs to be found at this location.
I saw several birds fly up from the grass not too far ahead of me,
showing the white on the outside of their tails and the cone shaped dark
triangle in the center of the tail. These
were Chestnut-collared Longspurs mostly in a flock of about 60 to 70 birds with
some Horned Lark mixed in. I followed
them around and tried to get some photographs for identification. I did manage to get three photos, but they were
silhouettes against the sky and did not clearly show confirming details. I also managed a zoomed in view of the golden
grasslands with a few silhouettes against the sky. See photos below. |
| Chestnut-collared Longspurs? in flight, wings closed, hint of supercilium streaked breast, short primary projection on lower right bird |
 |
| Chestnut-collared Longspurs? difference in length due to positions in the air? upper bird shows faint signs of barring |
 |
| Grasslands and distant mountains, indistinct blobs are out of focus flying birds |
White-cheeked Pintail (now accepted in Florida), Black
Rosy-Finch, Brown-capped Rosy-Finch and Chestnut-collared Longspur raises the
total to 728 plus two provisionals Common Redstart and Eurasian Sparrowhawk as
of December 20. (See the final total
for the year, 733 + 2 provisionals, reported on January 3, 2014.)
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