My husband and I have no immediate family here in New Mexico. And with the forecast showing a big storm heading our way, we decided to stay home for Christmas.

We made plans to drive to Conchas Lake for the day. The weather was nice and sunny but the wind was blowing 40 mph! So most of our day was spent driving around in the car. But we still had a nice day. I had never seen Conchas Lake and my husband hasn’t been there since he was young.

Driving out I40 we came upon the exit for Cuervo (which means crow in Spanish). We’ve driven by this ghost town many times in the past but have never stopped.  Since we didn’t really have a schedule today, we decided to pull in and drive around town.

There are quite a few abandoned homes, a church and a school. I love photographing old buildings. It was very windy out and muddy so I had to take photos from the car or the road. But I still managed to get a few nice pics.

Next stop was the lake.  As we drove up to the dam and our first view of the lake I was excited to see a pair of bald eagles. They were soaring over the water right overhead. I quickly jumped out of the truck and was able to get one photo before they soared away. I found it was difficult to get a sharp shot in 40 mph winds.

After crossing the dam we pulled into a park area. There were lots of deer grazing on the grass and relaxing. A beautiful sight to see.

I heard and saw a lot of small birds feeding in the trees, but I only managed to get one pic.

As we were leaving the park a flock of European Starlings came flying in fast on the wind and managed to grab a perch in the tree nearby.

Next we drove down to the water’s edge. We walked around some and explored the beach. We took a selfie but the wind and direction of the sun made it difficult.

Leaving the beach we saw a huge flock of Mountain Bluebirds. They were very skittish and the wind was making it difficult for them to feed on the juniper berries.

By now my husband has gotten into looking for birds. He spotted several for me.  Which was good because the roadrunner really blended into its surroundings.

We drove through the small neighborhood to see the houses. We think it would be nice to have a little weekend property here….someday…

Since it was the “off” season there were lots of deer in the yards…even right up to the front porch. 

There were also lots of red-winged and brewer’s blackbirds about.

They were feeding on corn the residents had put out.

As we were leaving we saw another bird soaring. I had hoped it was the bald eagle again but instead it was a hawk. I had never seen one soar and hold its head down like this.

We had a fun day regardless of the wind. It’s always a great day spent with my husband.