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Sangre de Cristo Audubon Society

Santa Fe & Northern New Mexico

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Will you try for a Big Year in 2026?

by | Dec 25, 2025 | Upcoming Field Trips

A Big Year is a competition to see how many birds you can see during the calendar year. New Mexico Department of Wildlife (formerly Game and Fish) has announced the 2026 New Mexico Birding Big Year in an effort to bring attention to wildlife and conservation throughout the state.

Are you up for it? Go to the NMDW website for more info and to register. There will be prizes, and certainly bragging rights for those with the biggest lists.

 

 

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Upper Los Alamos Canyon — Field Trip Report

by | Jun 2, 2025 | Past Field Trips

May 24, 2025 — Rene Laubach, Leader

Six registrants, my wife Christyna and myself enjoyed stellar weather conditions, lovely scenery, and fine birding during this field trip. Although detecting birds mostly by sound in the beginning, we were eventually treated to good looks at a variety of colorful and interesting species–43 in all, including Acorn Woodpecker, Warbling and Plumbeous Vireos, a rare-flagged Gray Catbird, Hermit Thrush, Northern House Wren, Olive-sided Flycatcher, Bullock’s Oriole, Western Tanager, Black-headed Grosbeak, and five species of warblers–Virginia’s, MacGillivray’s, Yellow, Grace’s, and Wilson’s. 

eBird checklist: https://ebird.org/checklist/S242140912

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Pecos Monastery — Field Trip Report

by | May 19, 2025 | Past Field Trips

Leaders: Albert Shultz & Rick Rockman
 
Sixteen chapter members enjoyed a beautiful spring morning on Saturday, May 17, 2025, for a leisurely birding walk around the Monastery grounds. Bird activity was fairly good, and we were rewarded with views and songs of many summer birds and a few lingering migrants. The new leaves of the cottonwoods kept Yellow Warblers and Warbling Vireos mostly hidden, but Bullock’s Orioles made a good appearance. Circling swallows put on a great airshow over the more open parts of the trail — and scope views of perched birds revealed a couple of Northern Rough-winged Swallows among the dozens of Violet-green Swallows. Western Wood-Pewees were numerous, but except for a very obliging Black Phoebe at the riverside, other flycatchers were scarce, perhaps not yet returned from the tropics. Red-winged Blackbirds and Great-tailed Grackles loudly dominated the cattail pond and marsh, and flyover Great Blue Herons and Pinyon Jays were a pleasant surprise. Near the end of the walk we spotted a pair of Northern House Wrens, busy tidying up a potential knothole nest cavity, unbothered by us onlookers.   — Albert Shultz
 
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