New Mexico

So after a whirlwind trip through Oklahoma we pushed on westward through the top hat of Texas. We didn't stop much so I can't really add any birds but the drive was pretty cool. Historic route 66 was a magnet for us and we stopped a lot along the way. The best stop was at the Cadillacs in the dirt. These things have to have more paint on them than the New York subway walls in Brooklyn. The caddies were pretty neat to see, but some of the more memorable things at that location were the herd of cattle just hanging out a few feet from the cars. They seemed to watch the people walking across the field to the cars with curiosity, or maybe they just like the smell of spray paint. Everyone ( except me) had a can or five to paint their mark on the cars. The disgusting part is that every one of those people pretty much just chucks those cans and lids and bags out into the field. Some of them think it's funny to spray paint piles of cow crap too. It's was all kind of gross to me. Although I will say that fluorescent green and pink cow piles are easier to see than the natural variety which are like land mines in the field. We watched the pilgrimage of litterbugs for a while before I decided I had seen enough and we continued our west bound haul into New Mexico.
We stopped for the night outside of Albuquerque and got up early the next morning. We drove a short way back to the east and up to the top of Sandia Crest to the Sandia Crest House at over 10000 feet above sea level. A single tray feeder at the top of the world was empty when we
arrived. I was disappointed because I was hoping to see some life birds at this feeder. After
checking out the gift shop and buying a t shirt and some post cards I walked back over to the
windows. The wind outside was blasting out of the west and it was pretty cold. I saw some
movement in the trees and watched two gorgeous Stellars Jays come in and inspect the empty
feeder. A second later a small brownish bird appeared in the tree above the feeder. A single
brown capped rosy finch. One of my hoped for target birds. As I fumbled to get my camera out
of my pocket the bird dropped put of sight. Shit!
Not a minute later a flock of over 150 birds seemed to drop from the sky. They fluttered on the gusting wind and balanced on heavily swaying branches 12 feet in front of me. All three
rosy finches were in the flock. They landed on the deck and in trees all around the empty
feeder. I decided to try going outside to avoid the window glass for some pictures. Every bird
took to flight as I went outside but immediately returned and landed in a huge line on the
railing and in the trees below. After a few seconds I think they realized I didn't have the
food for them and took off again. I waited a little while longer and then decided to move on.
It was an amazing time up there and I hope to get back there sometime to spend more time.

On the way back down the mountain we found mountain chickadees and juncos galore. Robins were everywhere and a single Townsends Solitaire flitted from tree to to tree top. It was a great stop.

Oklahoma

From St. Louis we continued west into Oklahoma and spent the night near Oklahoma City. The next morning we headed to the Wichita Mountain Wildlife Refuge. This is a really neat area. The mountains just seem to come up out of nowhere. Once we entered the refuge we saw our first bison of the trip and also longhorns. We stopped at a small lake and took some pictures and as soon as we were out of the car I heard a bird singing in a small shrub near the edge of the hill. It turned out to be a Rufous-crowned Sparrow, a new bird for the year. I also found Spotted Towhee and Canyon Wren in this area.
We drove around checking out the terrain and spotted a prairie dog town near Holy City ( a church in the middle of the refuge made entirely out of stones...pretty cool).
We watched the little guy dive into their holes every time a car passed and run around when they felt safe enough. The are fascinating to watch. After a little while I noticed some small birds in the dirt and grass behind the dogs. Seven in total worked the area, sometimes flying around and settling down again not far from there they started. Their flight calls and motions were enough to tip me off but the single male, in very near full breeding plumage, was the clincher. Chestnut-collared Longspurs. I tried like hell to get digiscoped photos, but between the wind barreling across the plains and bad angle of the sun I ended up with just one passable photo. Oklahoma added just four birds, but I was pretty happy with that since we only spent about an hour looking.

St. Louis, MO - Sparrow Success

We got to St. Louis last night and got up and moving early this morning. We checked out the crazy big arch and then headed to Horseshoe Lake State Park in IL to hunt out a sparrow or two.
After about 15 minutes of driving around I heard the chattering of sparrows and tracked them down to a tree at the egde of the lake. There they were - Eurasian Tree Sparrows.

Woodcocks and more!

So with the rain setting in I picked up Prettybird to do a little birding before the woodcock hunt.  A post on Ohiobirds pointed us to Wayne County where a flooded field apparently held some goodies. We arrived to find a couple of others birders searching the water in the rain. We set up scopes and looked over the area. There was an amazing amount of diversity in that flooded field. 15 species of ducks, coots, American Pipits, Wilson's Snipe and lot of Killdeer. I finally found the bird we were looking for in the taller grasses: Eurasian Wigeon. This bird has eluded me for years now on failed attempts and one-day-to-late chases. Even though the weather was awful, we soaked it in, litterally and enjoyed this bird.
As it was almost dark, we pulled into Prettybirds drive we heard my first Woodcocks of the year. We watched one fly a few feet in front of us and then two more doing their skydance. It was a great ending to a great and unexpected day adding two new year birds and three new Ohio birds for the year.
Year: 268
Ohio: 132

Rambling through March

Well since the return from the Texas trip, I have been back to Memphis for a wedding and am now at home for one more day until we jump in the car and head west to Vegas for an event. I will however spend some time to and from birding around the route. I am planning to hit Colorado pretty hard as well as possible side trips to CA and into NM.
To recap the last few weeks:
I added 129 new birds for the year in Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas and Tennessee.  Fifteen life birds were added during this trip which is a whole lot more than I had expected-
Lark Bunting, Audubon's Oriole, Aplomado Falcon (not and ABA bird, but cool) Mountain Plover, Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl, Crimson-collared Grosbeak, Fulvous Whistling-Duck, Green Parakeet, Black-vented Oriole, Altamira Oriole, Olive Sparrow, Sprague's Pipit, Yellow-faced Grassquit, Clay-colored Sparrow (which I swore I had already!), and Seaside Sparrow.
Ladybird added a ton of lifers and year birds too so all in all it was a killer trip. Now back in Ohio for a day and the snow has pretty much dissappeared and its a pleasant 40 degrees outside. tonight I am meeting Prettybird for a little while to hopefully add woodcock to the year list before hitting the road again tomorrow morning!

I promise to try to be better about posts followers....it is just kind of hard after a huge long day...

Here are a few more of my favorite pics from the Texas trip.

Whoopers and Skimmers

Texas. Does anyone NOT love it here?

Well it's been a great trip so far. Louisiana was amazing but Texas has been awesome. We have added a ton of new year birds and quite a few life birds. The next couple of posts will be photos from the trip thus far.
A little bit of a recap: We went to Anahuac NWR, Aransas, Goose Island, a bunch of places around Kingsville and ended today at Bentsen Rio Grande State Park. WeAther has been amazing, the birds have been in our faces and all around it has been a fantastic trip.