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This post was updated on .
This trip report appears
in the November 17th post to our ROSYFINCH RAMBLINGS blog.
Many
birders were disappointed this past winter when the Sandia Crest House,
located atop the Sandia Mountains in New Mexico, closed its doors. As
related in Seeking our Signature Species, we started
a bird feeding program there back in 1999. It attracted all three North
American rosy-finch species. Each of the species (and the distinctive
Hepburn's subspecies of the Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch) breed in separate
ranges, often on mountaintops.
Sandia
Crest, just east of Albuquerque, is the only easily accessible site at
which they all may be seen together. In September, the Crest House
reopened under new ownership and management, with plans to stay open
all winter.
After
visiting our son and his family in Canyon, Texas, we drove to
Albuquerque on Monday (November 4), and spent two nights there. Before
getting into town we stopped at Sandia Crest to meet the new Manager,
Nick Harada. As we started up the 14 miles to the Crest, we noted that
the temperature was 55 degrees (F) at the base of Crest Road (about
7,000 ft elevation). The skies were clear and there was little wind, a
perfect day.
Our
first stop along the road was at Doc Long Picnic Area, where we heard
the warbled song and brief whistled calls of a Townsend's Solitaire.
This drab member of the thrush family breeds on high mountains
throughout western North America. Northernmost populations from Alaska
and Canada migrate south into the US and to lower elevations,
supplementing the numbers of local birds during the winter.
On our way up we stopped at several pull-outs hoping to hear or see
some birds such as crossbills or other winter finches. This is the view
from 10K Trailhead, with smoke from a forest fire evident on the
horizon to the north.
Up at the top, at an altitude of over 10,600 feet, the temperature was
32 degrees! There had only been a dusting of snow the previous week,
and no snow cover, so it was not surprising to find that the
rosy-finches had not yet arrived. Typically, they fly in with the first
real snow storm, which was expected to hit that night and continue into
the next day. This is the entry to Sandia Crest House Gift
Shop and Restaurant.
We were hungry after the 4 1/2 hour drive from Amarillo, so we had
lunch at one of the tables next to the glass wall that overlooks the
deck where the rosy-finches will soon visit the hanging feeder. We
talked to the other workers and enjoyed Green Chile Cheeseburgers. The
famous bowl of green chile is still on the menu. I feel confident that
the staff will continue to be very birder-friendly, and I hope that
visitors reciprocate by purchasing food and drinks as well as
merchandise.
I
created this 180 degree panoramic view of the interior of Crest House
with my new iPhone. The kitchen is to the left and the west-facing deck
is at the right. The two windows in the center background are on the
east wall of the Gift Shop section of Crest House and they overlook a
second feeder. It is easy to understand the popularity of this
location, where birders can sit in comfort and tick off three new bird
species that brave the harsh mountaintop winters.
The deck provides a marvelous view of the City of Albuquerque a mile
below.
This
is the southwest-facing view from the deck. Sandia Mountain courses
away to the south (far left), and the Manzano Mountains are in the
distance, behind the Manzanita foothills. These mountains are
considered to be the southern extreme of the Rocky Mountain chain, all
consisting of sedimentary rock uplifted by collision of tectonic
plates. To the far right is Mount Taylor (elevation 11,301
feet), the cone of an extinct volcano, 80 miles to the west, but
visible on this clear day.
The feeders had been put up a few days previously and were hosting
Steller's Jays, both Red-breasted and White-breasted Nuthatches,
juncos, a Downy Woodpecker, and Mountain Chickadees.
Steller's
Jay on the deck feeder:
Red-breasted Nuthatches flew in and quickly removed one seed at a time,
retiring to the trees to either eat or hide them:
My photos were taken through the glass, so they are not of very good
quality. This White-breasted Nuthatch seems to defy gravity as it
strolls up the trunk of a tree.
The second feeder is positioned downhill, just to the southeast of the
Crest House.
It is readily visible from the picture windows.
Although Nick had just started his job as Manager and had never before
heard about the rosy-finches he was very interested in learning all he
could about them and the other feeder birds. We reviewed pictures of
the three rosy-finch species and the Hepburn's variant.
That
evening we had a very pleasant meeting and dinner with the Crest House
owner, Andy Mayer. He has given a lot of thought as to how to make
birders feel at home, and is supportive of the scientific and
educational value of the banding program. The banding team is working
out the details of how banding will be conducted. He also
plans to put up hummingbird feeders on the deck after the rosy-finches
depart, which also should attract much interest from the general
public.
The
weather indeed took a nasty turn the next day. When we set out at about
8:00 AM there was light rain and the temperature was 45 degrees in
Albuquerque (5200 feet elevation). The Sandia Mountains were shrouded
in clouds and the weather reports predicted that the snow that started
there during the night would continue until around noon. We therefore
decided to first visit Rio Grande Nature Center State Park in
Albuquerque (more about that in a subsequent post).
At
about 11:00 AM we decided to venture up to Crest House for lunch. The
sky was blue and the road was clear until we got near the ski area, at
about 9,000 feet elevation. Clouds and blowing snow caused episodes of
near white-out conditions. The road was snow-packed above Nine Mile
Picnic Area, but we continued up in our rental Toyota Camry. At Crest
House, the temperature was down to 24 degrees (F) with high winds.
We could barely see the lower feeder from the picture window, and the
hanging tray feeder on the deck was swinging wildly. The only birds we
saw were Steller's Jays, White- and Red-breasted Nuthatches, Mountain
Chickadees, ravens and a few juncos. With those wonderful
snow conditions we knew that the rosy-finches would be there on the
heels of the storm. We were right! At about the same time we were
boarding the plane to return to Florida, John and Thelma
Dalmas of Nacogdoches, Tx saw 4 Black and 2 Gray-crowned Rosy-Finches
at the feeder. Later in the day, Alan Mickelson, feeder program
coordinator, went up to fill the feeders and saw a single Gray-crowned
Rosy-Finch.
I
must dig into my archives to find one of my photos, this of a Black
Rosy-Finch at the deck feeder:
From the window of our aircraft as we climbed over the Manzanos, we got
our last view of Sandia Crest, poking up conspicuously in the distance.
It is nice that we at least have
a pixelated photo of this season's rosy-finches. At
this range, hundreds would fit into a single pixel!
...with
this one, announcing arrival of the finches!
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