Catching up on my New Mexico sightings…this is mostly to show off some more decent pictures than I usually take with my own camera.
I spent another weekend in southern Sierra County counting birds and eating green chile cheeseburgers at Sparky’s in Hatch.
The male Belted Kingfisher remained in his usual spot
Chipping Sparrow in winter plumage
Vesper Sparrow
Northern Harrier giving a nice show
A Verdin and a Greater Roadrunner became birds 94 and 95 for Sierra County.
Sunday morning brought the usual hundreds of Sandhill Cranes with a very few Snow Geese and Ross’s Geese (Sierra County bird 96). A Canvasback (bird 97) and a Bald Eagle (98) flew past the survey spot.
A Canvasback flew north
Lincoln's Sparrow from the back
I don't recall this dark morph Ferruginous Hawk
After the survey, Matt Jones wanted to record some Sandhill Crane vocalizations for his thesis project. Lesser Sandhill Cranes give different calls than Greater Sandhill Cranes, and he is looking at trachea morphology and vocalizations in the two populations. Lesser Sandhill Cranes winter further south in New Mexico and can be distinguished by their smaller size overall. Their bills are generally about the same length as their heads.
A Harlan's Red-tailed Hawk? Probably not
