April 2025: Spring Migration and Other Special Events

 April is that very special time where the birds that breed in the area begin to arrive, and birds migrating further north stop to rest on their journey.

Rio Grande Nature Center

This is a time when the weekly bird survey at the Rio Grande Nature Center wetlands gets especially fun. After a winter of pretty predicable sightings of the birds who spend the cold months near the bosque in Albuquerque, we get to track the new arrivals as they come in, as well as the ones just passing through. Many of these are predictable and expected. For instance, we look forward to seeing when the Swainson's Hawks who nest at the nature center will first show themselves, and to our first Lucy's Warbler and Western Kingbird. Others are more unexpected, which makes things especially exciting. 

Early April 

I wanted to share the cool birds I saw  at the Nature Center in April, but many of my photos  just weren't that good, with branches and other things obscuring their view, something I could take care of with illustrations. I started with some quick and loose smaller sketches. 

One early April morning, we had not one, but two Peregrine Falcons on the survey. The one illustrated here appears to be a 1st year bird, with immature feather patterns on the chest, and mature coloration/pattern on the head. A Red-Tailed Hawk also soared overhead. 

That same morning we were happy to find a Yellow-Headed Blackbird male with a flock of Red-Winged Blackbirds. Walking the ditch west of the Nature Center afterwards, we found a Wilson's Snipe at the edge of the water. 

Flycatching in the Clear Ditch

For maybe a week in early April, a  female Vermilion Flycatcher was hanging out on and near the Nature Center grounds, seen most often fly-catching from the clear ditch just west of the Nature Center. This is a bird that breeds in southern New Mexico, and is considered rare here, though they've been showing up more and more during migration. I walked along the ditch a few times without finding the Vermilion Flycatcher (pictured center), but there was plenty of flycatching activity, between the Say's Phoebe's, the Black Phoebes, and the Yellow-Rumped Warblers.

A couple of  times, I was caught off-guard by a streaked brown bird sallying out to catch midges in the air. I had a few double-takes before figuring out that it was a female Red-Winged Blackbird! Something I've never seen before, for sure. Several Blackbird females were foraging and drinking at the edge of the water, but I guess with the air full of midges, one or two of them decided to try something different. (No photo or draawing of the blackbirds by the water, so this tree full of Red-WInged Blackbird females from Los Poblanos will stand in for illustrative purposes.

Shortly after people quit seeing the female Vermilion Flycatcher, this spectacular male appeared in the field right off Veranda St, east of the Nature Center. He was seen for only two days, and as far as I know right now, boy and girl Vermilion never connected.

Speaking of southern vagrants, this female Phainopepl
a is sti
ll hanging around eating berries in the Nature Center Garden. Last Wednesday I saw her in the Russian Olives over the visitor center pond. Today, the bird survey group found her by the parking lot pond. It's a curious thing that she is still hanging out so far north, for more than a month now. She should be down at her breeding grounds by now. At least she plenty to eat in the Nature Center trees.

 Many birds that wintered with us are still hanging around, but not for long, like this beauty of a White-Throated Sparrow.

 

Wrens at Embudito

Last month I reported on two visits to an area where Canyon Wrens seemed to be nest building. I visited again in mid-April, sitting awhile by the rocks where the nest building had been observed. After 15 minutes, I heard Canyon Wren song. Shortly after, one landed below the crevice where I first saw Canyon Wren activity. The wren foraged along a horizontal crevice, then went up a vertical crack. Then she or he surprised me by coming to the rock surface right in front of me, circling the rock and coming within a few yards. What was going on? A male guarding his territory perimeter? He took off, and thereafter I heard Canyon Wren song coming from further down the Canyon. A friend lives near Embudito  reported she's only been seeing and hearing the Canyon Wrens more towards the base of the canyon. What we see of the lives of birds are just snapshots: We rarely get the whole story. But we love to try!

Outside the Canyon at Embudito, a Cactus Wren was bringing nest materials to add to their nest in the Cholla. He would stop to sing just above the nest before heading out for more, which is when I caught this photo. In the same area, this gorgeous Black-Throated Sparrow was singing. 

Round About Town as Migration Takes Off

At My Neighborhood Golf Course 

I spent a lot of time birding the UNM North Golf Course during the early days of the pandemic,
connecting with several neighborhood birders. I rarely go there anymore, but was enticed out by my neighborhood birding buddies one day in mid-April.  Three Sage Thrashers were in the scrub area west of the golf course. A male Indigo Bunting was moving between the law school building and the green.

 Near a Cooper's Hawk nest on the golf course, I was surprised to find three Cooper's Hawk fledglings, flying quite awkwardly around the area. (This seems early to me for Cooper's Hawks). A parent brought what looked like it might be the leg of a chicken, and this lucky fledgling got control of it. 

 

Los Poblanos Open Space

It's always a good day when I get to see a Merlin. This one was in a tree with an American Kestrel, which offered a good size/shape comparison, which offered a good size/shape comparison, The Merlin is a small falcon, slightly larger than an American Kestrel.  

At Tingley Open Space:

The very unexpected sight of a Loggerhead Shrike in a tree by the river!  Only in migration would you see them in this habitat.

 

And Back at the Nature Center

 A Great Egret was hanging out near a Snowy Egret, giving a good perspective on the enormous difference in their size. Wood Ducks are here all year, but this pair was too pretty not to include them here.  

Welcome back to our Summer Nesting Birds, newly arrived from their wintering grounds: A tree full of Brown-Headed Cowbirds at Los Poblanos (guard your nests, birdies!), Western Kingbird at Los Poblanos, Summer Tanager male and Ash-throated Flycatcher in Corrales.

A Couple of Sketches That Aren't About Birds

My Sketchers group had a lovely morning at Los Poblanos Ranch, where I did these two sketches. (OK-there is a bird in the first sketch. There wasn't meant to be, but the peacock moved in after I started drawing and insisted on having his display included. 

The Last Word

I'll give the last "word" (or bark) to this Roadrunner (likely female) who was barking away on the east side of the river, in a call and response with a male calling back with his mournful dove-like song. Unfortunately, the sound of the response wasn't captured in the video.