Wow…October was a very busy month for me.  All throughout the year I didn’t realize I was scheduling everything in October.  I had something planned for practically every weekend!

So the last time I posted it was the first weekend of October and I was in Denver.  I called it Part 1.  I will write Part 2 soon, but I just had to skip to the second weekend in October.  Every year my husband and I go to Truth or Consequences (TorC) for our Anniversary.  We ride our ATVs and he hunts for gold and I go exploring and birding.  This year was our 19th anniversary! (For our 20th I want to change things up and do an Alaskan cruise…..)

Anyway…we left later on Friday than we originally planned so didn’t get to explore a box canyon my husband told me about in the area.  I guess we will save that for next time we visit the area.  So I talked him into stopping at Elephant Butte Lake on the way to TorC.  I was hoping to see some birds there as the fall migration has begun.  We stopped a marina and saw right away lots of Western Grebes.  One was looking down and all around him.  So I was curious what he was doing.

Western Grebe

Western Grebe

And I was able to catch a funny photo.  This grebe looks like it has a fish tail.  🙂  The carp in the lake are very large and this one must have been biting at the grebe’s feet.

Western Grebe with carp under him 🙂

The dock master saw me taking photos and came over.  I asked him if he had seen any Clark’s Grebes.  This would be a new bird for me.  He said he has seen them but they tend to stay out on the lake and not near the shore.  He said a rental boat was coming in shortly and if we wanted to wait for it he would take us out on the lake to the grebes.  Of course I happily agreed to wait.  I thought that was very kind of him to offer.

And sure enough there were lots of Clark’s Grebes out away from the shore.  I was so excited to see them!  My husband said he couldn’t tell the difference of these from the ones at the dock.  So I explained that the Western Grebes have black on their heads that go down to the eye while the Clark’s have white around the eye.

Clark’s Grebe

While at the lake I enjoyed seeing a couple of American Coots snooping around the dock and a very tame Ring-Billed Gull.

American Coot

Ring-Billed Gull

Neotropic Cormorant

When we got to TorC we decided to walk down to the park along the Rio Grande River.  There’s a pond there that sometimes has water and with all the rain we’ve had this year that pond was pretty full.  We had fun looking for all the pretty green frogs coming to the shoreline to sun themselves.  I had hoped to see some birds in the cattails but no luck. But we did see several birds along the river’s edge.

I’m guessing, but I think this is a Northern Leopard Frog

Great Blue Heron…love the knobby knees

White-Winged Dove

Pied-Billed Grebe

The next day we headed to Caballo Lake for the day.  Now in the past I have said how I hated the Caballo Mountains as they are just hot, dry, and full of plants with thorns.  It’s an awful place.  Well….I changed my mind once I got my own ATV.  I could now explore to my heart’s content without getting stabbed every 5 steps!

I started my day exploring around the shore of the lake.  I usually see quite a few birds in the cottonwood trees at the lake shore.  I wasn’t dissappointed.  On my way to the shore I saw a whole bunch of Yellow-Rumped Warblers.  They were so pretty foraging in a field of yellow flowers.  I stood very still and eventually they ignored me and I was able to get good close-up photos of them.

Yellow-Rumped Warbler

Yellow-Rumped Warbler.  Here you get a good look at that yellow rump!

Yellow-Rumped Warbler I especially liked this photo as you get the yellow flowers blurred in the background.

After spending a good while enjoying the warblers I made my way to the beach.  There I saw lots of Ruby-Crowned Kinglets but couldn’t get any decent photos as they wanted to stay high up in the trees.  But I did manage to get a Verdin.  These birds are so cute.

Verdin

While at the lake shore some bushes were blooming that drew in lots of bees and a few butterflies.

Queen

Tarantula Hawk Wasp.  These guys actually catch tarantulas for their young

I believe this is a blue-winged wasp.

While at the shore I saw a variety of birds including one very shy Red-Naped Sapsucker and a couple of Turkey Vultures eating something that had been dead so long it looked like leather.

Snowy Egrets

Chipping Sparrow in winter plumage

Turkey Vulture…ugly aren’t they?

Red-Naped Sapsucker

Scaled Quail…these guys were fast!

White-Crowned Sparrow

I then headed to an arroyo that I enjoy visiting.  It has a natural waterfall that flows when it rains.  We have had a lot of moisture this year and the waterfall did have a trickle of water running down it.  This usually brings in some nice birds.  I did see a rock wren and one of my favorite birds, the Black-Throated Sparrow.

Rock Wren

Black-Throated Sparrow

I also saw my first American Snout butterfly.  It landed on my ATV as if saying “here i am!”

American Snout

After exploring the natural waterfall area, I started heading back to find my husband and see if he found any gold.  I stopped along the way to try and photograph a butterfly that had landed in the road in front of me.  I had turned off my ATV so it was quiet.  As I was focusing in on that butterfly I heard rocks tumbling down the steep side of the arroyo.  I thought maybe it was cows as I see them often on these sloped sides foraging.  But I didn’t see any cows.  I kept hearing one or two rocks tumbling and I was starting to get creeped out.  Then suddenly I saw what was making the rocks move.  Big Horn Sheep!!!!!!

I slowly walked toward them so I could get some photos.  They were just beautiful! I was so excited to see not only a ram with ewes but a young one too!  I took a bunch of photos in hopes of a few good ones.  They knew I was there but grazed for awhile.  I kept creeping closer and eventually they decided to move on.  I will never forget the first time I saw these majestic animals.  I wasn’t expecting to see them so it was an amazing surprise!

In this photo you can see how they are easily overlooked. They blend right in to the scenery. One of the ewes had a radio collar on.

Big Horn Sheep – mother with a young one

Big Horn Sheep

Big Horn Sheep Ram – beautiful!

Big Horn Sheep

I couldn’t wait to meet up with my husband to tell him what I saw! And he did find some gold 🙂

Can you see the flake of gold? Personally, I have no idea how he sees those small pieces!

While watching him search for gold I captured a couple more butterflies that day.

Black Swallowtail

Common Checkered Skipper

Orange Skipperling – this guy was super tiny and quick!

On the way back to the hotel that evening we saw some deer foraging in the fields.  Always a beautiful sight.

Mule deer – doe and buck

Common Raven