The Legislative session in 2024 was a short, 30-day session solely focused on the state’s budget. But in that short time, we saw huge successes for conservation funding, which will ensure restoration and protection work will happen on the ground at a far greater scale than New Mexico has ever been able to do.

New Mexico’s 2024 legislative session ended with a historic $300 million appropriation for the Land of Enchantement Legacy Fund. This will support land and water conservation, agriculture, and outdoor recreation projects.

Rosy-faced lovebirds are charismatic, petite parrots. They also aren’t afraid to use their heads — literally — to get around an awkward situation. A new study offers the latest evidence of the problem-solving prowess of the clever birds. “They’re these incredibly smart animals who are really good problem solvers, and that also extends to the way that they move,” said Edwin Dickinson, a biomechanist at the New York Institute of Technology.

A new study has shown why Cooper’s Hawks and Sharp-shinned Hawks can share the same backyard when hunting at bird feeders. The research analyzed more than 1,000 observations of accipiter predation from Project FeederWatch, a partnership between the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and Birds Canada

North America’s three rosy-finch species – Black, Brown-capped, and Gray-crowned – nest along talus slopes and snowfields up to 14,000 feet, among the highest altitudes for any birds in North America. Now, the threat of climate change is spurring new urgency throughout the Southwest to learn more about the health of rosy-finch populations.

The winter 2024 season of Climate Watch runs from January 15 through February 15. Birders throughout north-central New Mexico are needed to participate in this Audubon community-science effort. We already have observers in 12 areas around Cerrillos, Pecos, Santa Fe and White Rock, but need many more for easily accessible birdy areas including Galisteo, Lamy, Los Alamos, Española, Las Vegas, Taos and all parts north to Colorado.

In a victory for Lesser Prairie-Chickens, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recently announced it will protect this iconic grassland bird under the Endangered Species Act. Two populations of the Lesser Prairie-Chicken will be protected by the decision: a Texas and New Mexico population that is being listed as endangered, and a separate northern population in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Colorado that is being listed as threatened.