Sunday, October 5, 2025
7:00 am – Leave Santa Fe; 8:00 am – Meet at Los Luceros Visitor Center
Leader: Jerry Friedman – jerry_friedman@yahoo.com
This is an easy walk at a restored historic ranch featuring gardens, pastures, orchards and riparian woodland trails that make it an Important Bird Area (IBA), north of Española on the Rio Grande. Species should include migrants, especially songbirds and probably waterfowl, as well as residents such as Lewis’s Woodpeckers. We will meet at 7 am at DeVargas Mall in Santa Fe, in front of Starbucks, or at 8 am at Los Luceros. There is a limit of 12 people on the number of participants for this field trip.
A list of species observed month by month is available here. Entry is free for New Mexico residents (you may be asked for your zip code or even to show an ID) because it’s the first Sunday of the month, when the site also opens early to accommodate birders and others. In Pojoaque, take US Hwy 285 north to Espanola. At the intersection near Dandy Burger, continue straight despite the detour signs, which apply to people going west toward Los Alamos or Chama. Take State Rd. 68, north about eleven miles to Alcalde. On your left, you’ll see the sign for Los Luceros Road, County Rd. 48. Turn left off 68 to Los Luceros, in Alcalde. The trip should be over by 11 AM, but some people may want to stay and do the self-guided tour of the ranch house and other buildings. Picnic tables are available. For first-timers, the trip will be an enjoyable introduction to an area that provides good birding year-round, including a small flock of Sandhill Cranes, November to February, the closest wintering cranes to Santa Fe and parts north. Contact Jerry Friedman at jerry_friedman@yahoo.com or (505) 929-6925.