D Nichols Photoblog: December 2025: Looks Like We Made It

So I made it through an entire year without dropping this monthly blog post project. Many months, I felt like my life was just not generating enough "content" and that I may not be able to come up with a good post for the month. I tried to relax about the idea of generating content, because that was the last thing I wanted to focus on, My main aspiration was to experience and appreciate whatever arises. The experiences always came through. As 2025 ends, I want to let you all know that I don't expect to continue with the monthly blog post framework next year. Not as a commitment at least. I appreciate all of you who have followed me and expressed your enjoyment of my posts. If and when I do post, I will still send out and email for those on my list.

Birds In Winter

Many birds in winter go into a less colorful non-breeding plumage, as is the case with these American Goldfinches. They arrived in the area in force at the beginning of December, and have continued throughout the month at the Candelaria Nature Preserve. We seldom get to see them in their bring yellow breeding plumage in Albuquerque. They breed further north.

Speaking of breeding plumage, the Neotropic Cormorant to the left in this photo from Tingley Beach doesn't seem to know that it is winter.The white feathers streaming behind his bill are associated with breeding plumage. According to Sibleys, Neotropic Cormorant adults are in breeding plumage only April-May, and lack these white feathers the rest of the year.

Here's a bird that is not seen too often here in the winter. When I do see a Northern Mockingbird in Albuquerque in December, it is usually a single wanderer, like this one that I came across by the river early in the month.

I show this photo mostly to show an interesting behavior of small songbirds. They will often perch close to a large predator that goes for larger prey. Presumably this protects them from the raptors that prey on them, including Cooper's and Sharp-Shinned Hawks. Here we see a flock of House Finches lined up to the left of a Red-Tailed Hawk.

Rosy-Finches at the Sandia Crest

Now here's an iconic winter bird in my area. They can only be found in the winter at elevations over 10,000 feet. Hence, the Crest is the only suitable habitat for them in Bernalillo County. I went up to the Crest with Dar and Mike to see them mid-December. I was surprised that such a large flock was hanging around, given the mild winter. But where else would they go? Birds who thrive in cold weather are in a tough position as the climate warms, and habitat at the colder end of the scale diminishes. Happily, we got to watch a large flock circling, then landing in trees near the feeder area. And we got to see all three Rosy-Finch species: Black, Gray-crowned, and Brown-capped. One of each species is featured below.

A Walk on Christmas Day

Walking with friends in the Bosque on December 25th, I didn't have my binoculars or camera. But there is always plenty of natural wonder available to observe if we're paying attention. Susan found this beautiful fallen branch cluster. We propped it up in a stump and I was able to get this composition with my cell phone camera.

We also came across some discarded parts from a Crow, including these feathers. There was lots of coyote scat nearby, and we concluded it was likely a coyote that left these feathers behind.

Sandia Christmas Bird Count

The Christmas Bird Count has a long history, beginning in the year 1900, and now happens all over the world this time of year. I usually end up participating in one of them. This year I did the south end of the Sandia count with my friend Patty. We had a great day of birding on December 26, with a count of 31 species.

Townsend's Solitaires called from virtually every area we visited.

Northern Flickers were also everywhere.

We got to watch this sweet Abert's squirrel eating nuts close by at Carlito Springs.

Our "birds of the day" were Sapsuckers, two Red-naped Sapsuckers at the Sandia Ranger Station, and a female Williamson's Sapsucker making a sweet purring sound in Hondo Canyon.

December 31: Ending the Year with a Bang

At the very end of our last Candelaria Nature Preserve survey of the year, on New Year's Eve Day, we found this Merlin (prairie subspecies). We had to work hard to get a good view and ID on this small falcon. Merlins are always an unexpected treat, and it seemed like the perfect way to end the birding year.

Finishing with a Few Portraits

I was glad to rekindle a little motivation for sketching again. At our Sketcher's group holiday party, we took turns posing for quick five minute sketches. It is such a fun group activity, and it was encouraging to see what I could do with just five minutes to capture a sense of the person and their pose. Not all of them worked, but here is a compilation of several that I liked.

Reminded how much I like portrait drawing, I visited the fantastic exhibit at the Albuquerque Museum, Modern Art and Politics in Germany 1910-1945, twice last week to sketch portraits from some of my favorite paintings. I decided to use a limited palette of colored pencils to dip my toes again into color. I liked this approach, and think I'll continue it for awhile. If you haven't seen the exhibit and you live in Albuquerque, it closes on January 4. Well worth the visit.