See Species List from the Outing
Jump to "What birds might we see?"
Taos County is rich in avian habitat. Altitudes ranging from 6,000ft to 13,000ft, cut everywhere with rivers and streams, acequias and agricultural lands, provide for great diversity of bird life.
Because of the rural nature of Taos, bird diversity within the town itself is extraordinary. The wetlands where Camino del Medio crosses the Río Fernando or anywhere along the Río Pueblo support plentiful and interesting birdlife.
Great Blue Heron has been observed in the Río Pueblo right in front of the Martinez Hacienda. Soaring raptors and Ravens or noisy flocks of Piñon Jays in flight are common sights. Getting out of town to Pot Creek or up towards the Ski Valley brings in a new range of species.
And then there is the Río Grande! Besides providing critical breeding and wintering habitat for many species of birds, the Río Grande is a major flyway and stopover for migratory birds.
Our outing will focus on the Río Grande in the Orilla Verde Recreation Area. Now part of the Río Grande del Norte National Monument, the area offers interesting birding in all seasons. At the time of our outing, it will be near the peak of the Spring migration! We will explore both riparian and piñon-juniper habitats and keep our eyes out for soaring raptors and falcons.
To give you some idea of what species we might see, lists from walks in Orilla Verde last May are provided. Since the lists are from May 10th and 14th, they are representative of species that might be around this year on the 13th.
The lists contain photos of the species, range-maps, some commentary and links to more information:
Lists from two walks last year on May 10, 2014
List from a walk last year on May 14, 2014
Here are links to a couple of my blog entries discussing spring migration last year. You might find them interesting:
Migration Peak Detection (Spring, 2014)
A Migration "Fall-out" due to an overnight snowstorm. (May 12-13, 2014)
Finally, here is a PDF of data from eBird showing occurrence graphs for each species that has appeared in Taos county from 1990 to 2014*:
Taos County - 1990-2014 (Opens in Separate Tab)
*Note: The height of the green boxes is proportional to the abundance of the species.
Note: Some of the birds on this list are higher altitude species that we are not likely to see in Orilla Verde.