March 2026

 

The biggest news of the month is that I got back into watercolor painting. I'll start with news of the birds (this painting of a Vermilion Flycatcher male is based on one of my best sightings of the month), and move on to the paintings.

Ducks at Winter's End

The Cinnamon Teat have been hanging out at the Rio Grande Nature Center and being quite lovely.

 

The Gadwall are still around. Here they perform simultaneous dabbling, resulting in the quintessential duck butt photo.

 

 

On the other side of the bosque near Montano, I was happy to find not just one Mexican Duck, but a male/female pair. These ducks are found mostly further south, and the ones we find in Albuquerque are mostly somewhat hybridized with Mallards. The male looks overall like a female mallard, but with a bright yellow bill. The bill is also a good way to differentiate the female Mexican from the female Mallard. The Mexican Duck female is orange like the Mallard's but lacks the block mottling of the Mallard female bill. 

As we head into spring, most ducks will leave the Albuquerque area, with the exception of Wood Ducks and Mallards. These Wood Ducks have been enjaged in the early spring activity of looking for a suitable nesting cavity in the bosque trees. Here you see then returning from the trees and preparing to go back into the pond.

 

Vermilion Flycatcher

In the first part of the month, a brilliant red rarity appeared in a park in Albuquerque's NE Heights. The Vermilion Flycatcher is fairly common in southern NM, More and more vagrant Vermilions are showing up further north in the winter and spring. They often hang around for awhile, though so far they aren't known to nest here. 

 

 

 

As Spring arrives, the survey has been a fun time to observe the rituals that come with breeding breeding season. The Red-Winged Blackbird males, who have laid low all winter, are now pulling out all the stops to show off their colors.

 

 

We always check this nest box and a nearby cavity on the  northwest end of our route for roosting raccoons. This raccoon really knows how to relax.

 

 To end the bird section of this post: A male Belted Kingfisher at Tingley.

 

 Watercolor Painting 

 I took a 5 week watercolor painting class February-March with Sean Hudson. The focus was landscape painting, which is something I have found challenging. The class was great and I was happy with what I was able to do. Here are a few of the paintings that I did during the class.

 

 Brush Miles

The instructor talked  about how the main key to improving our skills was putting in "brush miles." To put in my brush miles at home, I pulled out a sweet little blank page book that my sister gave me awhile back. I was waiting for an inspiration for how to use it

 

 

So now I'm filling my "elephant journal" with watercolor paintings. It's not high quality watercolor paper, but I kind of wanted that so as not to be so precious about the products of my practice. I've been pretty happy with what I've done so far. Here are a few of the paintings in the book.  

 

 

Plein Air-The Next Frontier?

I've been so far working from photos for watercolor painting. Plein air is a whole other challenge. With my sketchers group the last Sunday of March, I decided to attempt a plein air watercolor at the Rio Grande Nature Center. This is the painting that I started there. Full disclosure, what I painted while at the Nature Center I thought was an unmitigated disaster. I worked on it more at home and was able to save it somewhat. You can see the difference though, from what I've done using a photo for a model. 

 

 

 

 

February 2026

 

February's blog will be a little short, but I do have a few birds and stories to show and tell. I started a watercolor class this month. My opening image is of a painting I did in the class. It's based on a photo from the City of Rocks.

Bird Survey-Rio Grande Nature Center

The weekly volunteer survey at the Rio Grande Nature Center can be counted on to get me out with the birds at least once a week. This month brought a few interesting ducks to the center, including this super-sharp Bufflehead male and this subtly-colored Lesser Scaup female that presented the team with a bit of an ID challenge. 

We continued to have a lot of Bluebirds, both Western and Eastern. The subtly-colored female in these photos was a little bit of an ID challenge also. Some of the team thought her belly and throat looked gray (Western Bluebird) while others thought white (Eastern Bluebird) She turned out to be a female Eastern Bluebird. What threw us off was that there was no hint of a rusty colored throat. But plumage is variable, and SIbley's guide shows an illustration of a "drab" female Eastern with a whitish throat like this one.

Out by the river, I watched this Northern Mockingbird foraging in the same area where I saw a Mockingbird in December. It seems likely to me this is the same bird, who must have wintered in this area by the Rio Grande. 

        Hairy Woodpecker male in the  Bosque.                                                                   

Sketchers Gathering-Los Poblanos Open Space

In mid-February my sketching group gathered at the Community Garden. Sandhill Cranes were foraging in the adjacent field. Most of us lined up our chairs at the edge of the field to sketch them. They stayed so close, unbothered by our quiet presence.

 

Further south in the fields, a lone Ross's Goose (similar species to a Snow Goose and a bit smaller) was hanging out with the Canada Geese.

 

And a Roadrunner was doing its barking "song" that we only hear during courtship and breeding time. This sound is mostly associated with the female, calling from a tree to attract her mate.

 A Walk at Tingley Open Space

 

Late in the month, I joined a friend to walk around the ponds at Tingley Open Space. At the Cormorant roost, most of the nests were occupied by pairs of Neotropic Cormorants. One pair was engaged in an interaction which I imagine is part of their courtship. The lower bird is in adult plumage. The upper bird is browner, still in juvenile plumage, so a first year bird. I know of other bird species (eg-Cooper's Hawk)  that retain juvenile plumage through their first breeding season, yet still are ready to breed. This must also be the case for Cormarants. 

 

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The south pond in the open space continues to host fewer birds than usual this winter.compared to past years. Past winters have found healthy numbers of Wigeon, each pair associating with an American Coot. The Coot will dive, and the Wigeon wait for the food that the Coot's diving brings to the surface. On this day, a pair of American Wigeon were associating instead with a Redhead male. Redheads, like Coots, are divers. We watched a while, and sure enough, the Wigeon were grabbing food that rose to the surface while the Redhead was under water. All went swimmingly until one of the Wigeon grabbed some food right out of the Redhead's bill. At that point, the Redhead swam off. The Redhead's presence in the south pond is another unusual thing this winter. This is the more shallow of the two open space ponds and does not normally host diving ducks. I wonder what has changed this winter: Are the water levels higher for some reason?

 

 

 

On the north pond, a Great Egret stood on the island in a lordly stance. This is probably the same Great Egret that has been ranging around the Albuquerque Bosque all winter, though I hadn't seen it since early January.

That's it for February. So long til  next time!

 

 

 

January 2026

This month has brought a few welcome events (amidst the much less desirable ones), including two snows in the Albuquerque area after such a warm and dry beginning to the winter. Another January surprise: I'm posting another blog entry! 

 

A Little Bit Of Art

The last day of wonderful exhibit Modern Art and Politics in Germany at the  Albuquerque Museum was January 4. I used that day to get just a few more sketches based on the paintings. 

 

 

That's it for the drawing I did this month. I need to find another inspiration, and am grateful for the inspiration of this exhibit.

 

Winter Birds: Vagrants and the Usual Suspects

There are several things that I love about birding in winter: The winter trees that have lost their leaves, which can make it easier to see the birds. I also love how things seem more relaxed out there in the bird world, without the bustling activities of breeding in the summer, and migration in the fall and spring. Finally, winter always brings a few rare birds who, unlike the migrating rarities of spring and fall, tend to hang around in one place for quite awhile. This winter, the Albuquerque Bosque  has been hosting a Harris's Sparrow at one hotspot, a Golden-Crowned Sparrow at another, and a Northern Yellow Warbler at Alameda Open Space. I got to see all of these birds this month, but only got a photo of one.

 

 

A little south of the Yellow Warbler, I got to observe an interaction between two winter residents: A Greater Roadrunner and a Ruby-Crowned Kinglet. The Roadrunner sat in the lower branches of a tree. In the upper branches, the Ruby-Crowned Kinglet made agitated alarm calls, with good reason. (A Roadrunner will go after small birds for food.) The Roadrunner didn't move from her spot as the Kinglet called her out. After a time, the Kinglet decided it was safe to resume foraging. Only when the small bird left for another tree did the Roadrunner start to ascend higher: perhaps there for some other purpose?

 

 A little further south by the Bachechi ponds, a Great Egret and a Great Blue Heron were sharing space. As far as I know this is the only Great Egret that's been hanging in the Albuquerque area this winter, and has been seen at various places along the river.

 

Further South, at Tingley Open Space

Early in January, I finally found a few more species of winter ducks in the TIngley Open Space Ponds: Northern Shovelers, Ring-Necked Duck, Canvasback, Lesser Scaup, and American Wigeon. The numbers are still so low compared to other years.  Where large numbers of Wigeon and Coots have historically foraged together in the south pond, this month there have been only a few pairs. 

 

 

A small group of Northern Shovelers were exhibiting their signature dabbling style.

 

    

 

Up in the north pond, Neotropic Cormorants were gathered on fallen tree limbs by the island. They were making their fascinating honking sounds, which I had noticed for the first time last winter. I captured some video mostly to record their sounds. Only when I looked at the videos did I see what the fuss was about, including squabbles over space on the branches (video one) and a tug-of-war over a long piece of reed (video two)

 

 

 

Also at Tingley this month: a gorgeous Lesser Scaup male, a Song Sparrow foraging on the ground, and a Red-Tailed Hawk that was annoying a couple of Ravens. 

Bird Surveys

The January Candelaria Wetlands and Nature Preserve surveys were delightful, with lots of Woodpeckers, Bluebirds, and a regular flock of American Goldfinches. On two different days, we found four different species of Woodpecker (Ladder-backed, Downy, Hairy and Northern Flicker) sharing the same tree.

Mixed flocks are characteristic in winter, as the birds are not competing for breeding territory and find safety in numbers. In this tree, we found a sweet trio: American Goldfinch, Eastern Bluebird female, and House finch male.  

 Both Eastern and Western Bluebirds are overwintering on the refuge. In these photos of male bluebirds, you can tell the two species apart by their throat color: Red for the Eastern, and blue for the Western.

 Climate Watch Survey

January also brings the Audubon Climate Watch survey, which was a great success with the help of my friend Patty. We had a number of Western Bluebirds (one of our target species), and three (yes, three!) Brown Creepers!  Though Brown Creepers have been hanging out in Albuquerque throughout this fall and winter, this was the first time I could get a photo of one as it foraged up a trunk. 

 

 

                                    American Kestrel Male

 

A Present from the Past 

After the Climate Watch survey, we headed to the nearby El Camino Dining Room for huevos rancheros. You may know this restaurant as the diner where Kim Wexler met up with Mike Ehrmantraut in Better Call Saul. I know it from a bit further back. I used to live down the street from it, and enjoyed walking there for breakfast. During the big Albuquerque blizzard of December 2006, I took this picture of the El Camino in the snow.

 

20 years ago, I gave a print of this photo to the restaurant's proprietor, Mandy Chavez. I haven't been to the El Camino in many years. I didn't expect Mandy to remember me or the photo, but when I told her that I used to live down the street, she exclaimed, "Oh! Are you the one who took that photograph? That famous photograph?" She told me that she'd had it framed and hanging on the wall for many years. She then showed me a hand-painted canvas bag in the display case by the register: Painted by a customer in 2022 and given to the restaurant, it included a very faithful reproduction of my photograph!

 

My friend Patty then told me she'd seen my photo on their website. She  sent me a link, which  brought back another forgotten bit of that photography-focused chapter of my life. Way back when, Gil Garduno of Gil's Thrilling (and Filling) Blog had used this photo on his review of the restaurant, with my permission. Well, he updated the review in 2022 with a focus on the restaurant's role in Better Call Saul. My photo is still at the top of the page, credited to "the fabulous photographer Deanna Nichols." What's currently thrilling me most is that my name is sharing space in this review with Rhee Seehorn (Kim Wexler of Better Call Saul, and Carol Sturka of Pluribus). Here's the link:

Gil's El Camino Review 

So what a way to end the long long month of January!  We'll hope for more of this kind of ice, and less of the other:

 You can see all of my bird photos from January, including a few that I didn't post here. 

Flickr: January 2026 Birds