Sandia part II

After driving as far from chicken death land as I could we got up and drive back to Sandia Crest to try again. This was a much better day. The sun was shining and it was going to be 70 degrees that day. We rolled into the crest house parking lot around 11:30 and went in to find 20 other birders awaiting the birds. It's true that there really is no doubt when you see other birders that they can be spotted a mile away. A sea of khaki clothing, big hats, North Face, Patagonia and Marmot wear mixed with Columbia and Under Armor, every size, brand, weight and design of binoculars and loads of camera equipment. And of course we sort of fit in. They had been waiting since the building opened for the stars to show but so far only mountain chickadees, red-breasted nuthatches and Stellar's jays were visable. A red-tailed hawk and a sharp-shinned hawk floated on the updrafts over the feeder area in the cloudless blue sky. 

An interior white-breasted nuthatch put in an appearance while we had lunch from the cafe. After about an hour the leader of the tour group that was monopolizing the cafe says "here they come" like one of the alien attack movies with an urgency in his voice that induced a ripple of panic from the group. They all shifter and jockeyed for a closer section of window which apparently makes the birds uncomfortable and the flock flew in and out almost immediately. They did however make multiple passes at the window. Black rosy-finch was easy to spot but the other two were not as easy. Finally after another 20 minutes of near misses and a lovely young couple taking selfies on the deck the birds came in. Gray-crowned and Brown-capped along with the Black rosy-finches all made an appearance. Gasps, camera shutters galore, muffled cries of jubilation and a lot of shifting and swishing fabric was enough for me. Time to move on. 

We explored the different areas down the mountain but few birds were seen. But many picnicking families enjoyed the day playing in the small areas of remaining snow in the 50 degree weather on the mountain.  

Along a few more residential roads we tracked down pinyon jays, Townsend Solitaite, Cassin's finches, scrub jays, and doves. We spent the remainder of the day just cruising around and making our way east again finally stopping in Santa Rosa for the night. Sleep came easy and morning comes quick on this trip.