Bosque

Darn it! We’re done here. Done with Silver City. I think we need another job here so we can come more than once a year.

Finished up this morning, drove as far as Bosque del Apache. Spent a couple hours in the preserve. Eared grebes, white faced ibis, sharp shinned, coopers, swainson’s, ring-necked pheasants without rings around their necks. They were all white winged (Afghanistan) variety. Black necked stilts, american avocets, long billed dowitchers, snipe, black phoebes everywhere, a good look at a marsh wren, chipping, savannah, and white crowned. Plus all the usual suspects. Not enough time here. We stop for the night on the way through, then wish we had a couple days to spend.

Ah well, maybe next time.

Tomorrow, Colorado Springs. Becky, Brian and the kids are there on a spring break trip. Can you believe it’s spring break already? We hope to meet up with them for a day at the zoo.

Lordsburg

We don’t have much experience with soft water. We had it in Lordsburg though, and it makes me wonder….. How do you know when all the soap is rinsed off, if you’re still as slippery as when you first got soapy?

Birding

Of the three birds we were after, the juniper titmouse was the best one to not get. We’re not going to get the Mexican chickadee or the yellow eyed junco anywhere else, but we got them while we were in Arizona. The juniper titmouse? We didn't get him, but he has a range of four western states. Juniper oak forest, juniper pinion forest, that’s his habitat. We're in juniper oak right now. And Utah, Utah has tons of juniper titmice. I looked it up.

We might have to go spend the night at a place called Kodachrome Basin State Park in Utah to find them next chance we get. Now who would want to go to a place called Kodachrome Basin State Park? It’s either that or Coral Pink Sand Dunes.

Well, we’ll do whatever it takes.

Silver city

Fifty miles. Not much of a driving day, but here we are in Silver City, all settled and ready for work tomorrow.

We got a really good campsite at the RV Park. Great view, pulls right up to a cement patio, the bird feeders are out, the canyon towhees have come to visit already.

It's all good.

Chiricahuas

A good birding day. The Chiricahua mountains. Worked our way up through Portal, South Fork of Cave Creek, Rustler Park, and Paradise. High desert to high mountains. Had three target birds, got two of them, the mexican chickadee and the yellow eyed junco. Identified fifty birds altogether, including a couple more new ones we didn't expect, the olive warbler, and blue throated hummingbird.

Great fun. We'll plan a trip back here some time for another try at the juniper titmouse.

Tomorrow… Silver City.

Santa fe skies

Santa fe

The park we stayed at is called Santa Fe Skies. It is appropriatly named, with sweeping views: