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Following a birding trip through west Texas we spent a few days visiting family in Carlsbad. We didn't have much time for birding, but we did have part of two days plus casual observations in town. Compared to the severe drought evident in the Chisos and Davis Mountains of Texas, Carlsbad was reporting 1.84" of rain for the year and conditions seemed more normal, though with less bloom than last spring. The high for the 4th was 94°F. which seemed a little high for early May, but the lows were still in the low 50s.
In the yard we saw only one certain migrant, a Yellow Warbler on May 3. The feeders attracted the usual three species of doves: White-winged, Mourning and Inca, but Blue Jays were strangely absent though we did see one in town (they are usually easier to see across the river in La Huerta.) One American Robin frequented the neighborhood, a species we only see in town. At night we always check for nighthawks and on the 3rd we saw 2 Lesser Nighthawks with 8 present the next night.
On May 5 we got out to three Pecos River reservoirs,
but there were not a great many birds. One Western Grebe was on Lake Avalon and a Clark's Grebe was at Brantley Lake but we missed any loons. Following up on directions of fellow Ohio birders from last fall we found a Barn Owl in the same location and a couple of Burrowing Owls were on fenceposts. A male Northern Harrier was in the desert near Brantley and an Osprey was at the lake. There were only a few herons, shorebirds and ducks, one Forster's Tern, 4 Eared Grebes, 7 American White Pelicans and 1 Double-crested Cormorant at Six Mile Dam. The only Cassin's Sparrows of our whole trip were in the desert grassland between Avalon and Brantley, singing and skylarking as we expect of them in that area in May.
Rattlesnake Springs was more exciting the morning of May 6.
We saw a Red-eyed Vireo and Black-and-white Warbler found by Gary Parker from Albuquerque and we heard a Northern Waterthrush. Other warblers included Townsend's and MacGillivray's, other vireos Bell's, Plumbeous and Warbling. Many of the songbirds were harrassing what was probably a small owl that we were never able to see. The many Summer Tanagers were augmented by 3 Western Tanagers, there were Black-headed and Blue Grosbeaks, several Painted Buntings and a Lincoln's Sparrow. Over the years we have seldom found other birders in the field in New Mexico but Rattlesnake Springs had several this day as evidence of its deserved reputation as a hot spot, especially at the peak of migration.
Check the Trip List 1998
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Send comments to: Dick and Jean Hoffman at djhoff@ix.netcom.com
URL: http://www.oocities.org/Yosemite/4413/nm-98rpt.html
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