Over the past few weeks I’ve had a chance to get out and bird a time or two. I mostly went out to see some rare sightings that have shown up around town. I missed several, but managed to see a couple to add to my life list.
I visited Valle de Oro a couple times. I had heard there were a number of warblers there. It’s always fun to go find warblers, though my neck complains by the end of the day LOL!
When I arrived at Valle de Oro I saw a pair of coyotes out hunting. One disappeared right away, but the other stayed out long enough to let me get a few good pics.

Coyote
As always, I saw several Western Meadowlarks out singing. I love their beautiful voice.

Western Meadowlark
I walked along the main drainage ditch hoping to see some good birds. A scrub jay announced his presence.

Woodhouse’s Scrub Jay
Then almost right away I heard a lot of birds singing. I just started taking pics of everything that moved. As you know, songbirds are small and fast!!! When I looked at the pics I was surprised to see a several birds I don’t see often. Mainly my nemesis, the Lazuli Bunting. Try my hardest, I can’t get a good pic of this bird.

Lazuli Bunting

Black-Throated Gray Warbler

Cedar Waxwing
I heard several Summer Tanagers singing. It’s amazing how a bright red bird can hide among green leaves. But they can just disappear! I only got a few pics and they weren’t very good. But I did see a Western Tanager female closer to me.

Western Tanager Female
I had been told where a Common Black Hawk’s nest was near the Valle de Oro. So I went on a 2-mile hike to find this beautiful bird. Once I was in the general location, I looked for the nest. I found it way up high in a cottonwood tree. There was no seeing if anything was in the nest. I waited around for a while and eventually heard the hawk calling from a distance. Then to my delight the bird flew in and landed near the nest. A lifer for me! At first I barely saw him as he was deep in the leaves.

Common Black Hawk
Eventually he moved to a better location for photos. This is a magnificent bird. From what I understand there are only about 250 breeding pairs in the US. They are easily disturbed by humans and are known to abandon nests if bothered too much. So after getting a few pics, I quietly left the area to let them raise their young undisturbed.

Common Black Hawk
On my way back I saw a flycatcher along the ditch. I believe it’s a Hammond’s Flycatcher.

Hammond’s Flycatcher
Then I heard another bird calling that I only rarely hear – a Gray Catbird. Always a treat to see and hear! I only managed one pic and that was from behind.

Gray Catbird
While hiking along he ditch, I enjoyed the wild irises blooming.

Wild irises
While hiking at Valle de Oro I came across this interesting insect. I tried looking it up, but I can’t figure out what it is.

Not sure what this cute guy is….
I had heard about a very rare sighting in the East Mountain area that I just had to go find. There was a Golden-Winged Warbler sighted and it was practically in my back yard. After much searching I was rewarded with a short view of this bird. I took several photos before he disappeared into the deep brush. I managed to get a few decent pics. Another lifer!

Golden-Winged Warbler

Golden-Winged Warbler
While hiking there I was treated to some beautiful wild apple blossoms.

Wild apple tree blossoms
I visited the Rio Grande Nature Center. I hadn’t been there in a while, so it was a treat to see it in the springtime. Right away I heard a Yellow-Breasted Chat singing. I managed to find it in a tree on the island in the pond. So it was quite a distance away.

Yellow-Breasted Chat
I also saw the resident roadrunners in the parking lot. Always fun to photograph!

Greater Roadrunner
While walking the paths, I heard some Summer Tanagers talking back and forth amongst each other. This time I had more success getting photos of the pair.

Summer Tanager male

Summer Tanager female
There were several Black-Chinned Hummingbirds visiting the feeders. Whenever there are several hummingbirds at a feeder, there’s always fights defending their food. For a tiny bird, they are fierce!

Black-Chinned Hummingbird

Uh oh! He sees another hummer coming for him!

Defending the feeder!
Here are some of the other birds I saw on my visit.

Canada Goose

Western-Wood Pewee

Lesser Goldfinch

Ash-Throated Flycatcher
The gardens were beginning to bloom. The bees were happily gathering pollen.

Poppies

Shooting stars

Giant black bee
I was entertained by a resident White-Winged Dove that has become very tame. The gardeners told me his name was Lonesome Larry. He was so tame, he would take see from your hand. He stayed so close to me, that I barely got photos because my zoom lens had a hard time focusing on such a close subject. 🙂

White-Winged Dove

Lonesome Larry

Such beautiful coloring
I’ve been keeping an eye on a Red-Tailed Hawk’s nest not far from my house. When I visited recently, I saw the eggs have finally hatched. When I first looked, I thought there was only one baby. But the mother flew off the nest and I saw two babies!

Red-Tailed Hawk with babies
It’s been great getting out birding. It was nice to see all the summer birds returning to Albuquerque.
Lovely birds.
Thank you Sherry!
Nice hummingbird shots…I am waiting for their arrival. 🙂
Thank you Kathy! Hummingbirds are so fun to have visit your feeders 😊
Wow Kelly, another amazing showcase of birds and other wonders. That Hawk capture was brilliant, such a regal bird, but I have to say your Hummingbirds always capture my heart, and they way they sit. The action shot of the encounter is really cool too. I love the brilliant colours of your Tanagers, we don’t have birds like these. They would be another must see over in your neck of the woods. have most enjoyable weekend Kelly!
Thank you so much Ashley! Hummingbirds are amazing! You’d love them! I have to agree the tanagers are a must see.
Terrific series!
Thank you Belinda!
Brilliant shots! I don’t know what insect it is but it looks very interesting!
Thank you Fotohabitate!
Stunning images, Kelly, WOW! And congrats on the added lifers, WooHoo!!
Thank you so much Donna! Always fun to get a lifer!