Almost as soon as I got back from an Arrey-Derry survey, I was off by myself to Armenderis. No one needed the survey camera that day, so I got to take it along and play around with some photography. I got a few more county birds that day. a Sora (NM bird # 246 and Socorro bird #129) called just after dawn from the huge expanse of reeds near the site. A Hairy Woodpecker (#130) perched across the diversion ditch for a few minutes. On the way out of the site, I spotted a Swamp Sparrow (NM bird # 247 and Socorro #131) and a pair of Western Bluebirds (Socorro #131).
First, the artistic images so this doesn’t get too boring.
Now, some birds. Song Sparrow:
Bushtits. One male showed very dark auriculars. This trait is most common in the Mexican subspecies of Bushtit, but can occur in all populations.
A Double-crested and Neotropic Cormorant flew up the ditch together, offering a nice comparison. The two differ in size but more importantly in shape. The latter has a longer tail, almost as long as the neck.
I only did a survey in the morning, but I stopped by Bosque del Apache and San Antonio on the way home.
The Yellow-throated Warbler found the previous week was still in San Antonio in its favorite tree. Despite these better pictures, I’m still uncertain whether it was the yellow-lored long-billed southeastern subspecies or the white-lored shorter-billed western subspecies (which can also often show some yellow in the lores).