Category Archives: New Mexico

Field Notes – Great Backyard Bird Count

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February 13, 2015 7:08 am
Clear and Calm, 35 Degrees

Photo Credit: P. Nixon

Photo Credit: P. Nixon

Sunrise and I are not well acquainted, but nevertheless, I set my alarm for that early hour on Friday morning.  In the Audubon presentation about bird watching last week, Cheryl advised that the best way to see birds was to follow their habits.  I had my doubts, but dragged myself out of bed to find two cats thrilled that, for once, they would get an early breakfast.

I do most of my birdwatching from my desk, but in the spirit of the Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC) set up a lawn chair outside, a distance from the feeder and bird bath.  Notebook, field guide, binoculars, steaming cup of hot chocolate—I settled in. My first sighting was my favorite.  The canyon towhee, perky and cheery with his rusty crown, discovered the sprinkle of millet I had put out for him the night before.  He did his little hop, scratch, and bob dance in the dirt up until a spotted towhee shooed him away.

The morning quiet was broken when a western scrub jay registered my presence, swooping in low and squawking loudly as he landed on a nearby piñon tree.  Overhead ravens, or were they crows, glided by.  Unable to tell for sure I left them off my official list.

Thirty-five minutes later I had noted only four species, six birds (the jay had friends).  I doubt that my entry does much for the cause of science, but it was a lovely way to start the day.

Note:  There’s still time to participate in the GBBC.  It runs through Monday, February 16th.  They have apps for cell phones, but I had trouble with the Android version.  I found it much easier to register and submit my count from the website using my computer.  Don’t worry if you can’t identify every bird—I had two at the feeder  that I could not positively identify and left them off my list.

 

Weekly Roundup – February 8th

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Encuentro Beach, Dominican Republic Photo Credit: Steve Nixon

Encuentro Beach, Dominican Republic
Photo Credit: Steve Nixon

It wasn’t quite beach weather last week, but it was too warm for New Mexico in February.  I watched with alarm as the piles of snow from the prior week’s snowstorm evaporated within days.  The recent drought summary from NOAA indicated that conditions have slowly been improving.  We’ll see if that trend continues.  After all,  Punxsatawney Phil  predicted six more weeks of winter on Groundhog Day.

New Mexico has gotten a lot of press for its coyote-killing contests over the last few years so I was pleased to see a new billboard on Interstate 25 between Santa Fe and Albuquerque (visible from the southbound lanes near Algodones) that says, “End wildlife hunting contests.”  This week the state took a step toward that goal when a bi-partisan bill (SB 253)  cleared the Senate Conservation Committee by a vote of 6 to 3.  The  Albuquerque Journal  voiced their support of the bill in this editorial.

Next weekend is the Great Backyard Bird Count, a citizen science project that helps identify and track bird populations around the world.  Last year observers in 135 countries identified nearly 4300 different species.  The count takes place February 13th -16th and is open to birders of all ages and levels of experience.  I attended a presentation on Saturday by the Santa Fe chapter of  Audubon New Mexico  to brush up on  identification of our local birds and to learn more about the count.  It sounds easy enough, fifteen minutes (minimum) observing and counting and then, submitting results at birdcount.org.  More detailed instructions are provided here.

Have a good week and take some time to go outside!

 

 

 

Weekly Roundup – February 1st

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What are you going to do with what time you have left?
-Robert Redford

Photo Credit: R. Gartner

Photo Credit: Richard Gartner

After a week in warm, dry California, I didn’t relish coming home to Santa Fe to find  I needed to don my puffy jacket and get out the snow shovel.  It  was heavy and wet, perfect for making a snowman, but I was too tired by the time the driveway was clear. This morning  blue skies have returned; the storm has lumbered off, headed to the Midwest.

It’s Super Bowl Sunday.  Since I don’t have much interest in either team and am not a Katy Perry fan, watching the commercials seemed to be the excuse I needed to serve beer and Buffalo wings for dinner.  But it turns out you can watch those on YouTube–at least some of them.

This beer commercial has been heating up my Facebook news feed for several days.  Wildlife advocacy groups have taken exception to the snarling wolf threatening the puppy and have urged people to sign a petition asking Budweiser not to air the spot (it worked to get the GoDaddy commercial pulled).  Late yesterday the New Mexico Cattle Growers weighed in asking folks to let the beer giant know that they supported it.  I am focusing, instead, on the recent enthusiasm for “Je suis Charlie.”  I don’t like the spot and wolves don’t need more bad press, but if that’s the way Budweiser chooses to sell beer, so be it.  I will not be serving Bud Light at my Super Bowl party.

The Sundance Film Festival ends today.   Last week “Democracy Now” devoted one of its shows to an interview with Robert Redford, the founder of the festival.  He spoke about global warming, the Keystone Pipeline, and politics.  In this segment he talks about his new movie “A Walk in the Woods”.  Based on Bill Bryson’s 1998 book with the same name it tells the story of two middle-aged guys (played by Redford and Nick Nolte) walking the Appalachian Trail.  I remember laughing out loud when I read the book years ago and I look forward to seeing the movie.   It’s the East Coast counterpart to Cheryl Strayed’s book, “Wild“, about walking the Pacific Crest Trail–another movie I have yet to see.

And finally, my favorite story of the week.  A rare fox has been spotted in Yosemite National Park.  Biologists estimate there are only about fifty of the Sierra Nevada red foxes left.  This is the first time in one hundred years that one has been documented in Yosemite.  Thanks to my friend Lori for sharing this good news story.

Have a good week!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One Hundred

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Photo Credit: Kurayba via Compfight cc

Photo Credit: Kurayba via Compfight cc

Yesterday’s post about the California drought was my one hundredth.  A little late–I had planned to reach that goal by the end of 2014.

No matter.  I’m there now.

Thank you. Whether you subscribe, or follow on Facebook, or just check once in awhile to see if I have posted anything new, I appreciate it.

Your comments and observations are welcome and I’m still looking for guest posts.  Let me know if you have a story, or poem, or photo that you are willing to share.

Next up:  my cousin James and his backyard chickens!

Weekly Roundup – January 18th

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Photo Credit: Eli Nixon https://www.flickr.com/photos/really_still_photography

Photo Credit: Eli Nixon

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.
–Martin Luther King, Jr.

I’m off to a very slow start in the new year, but the news keeps on coming! I will try this for a week or two:  a roundup of stories and photos,  most nature-related, some as follow-up my prior posts.

It was hard to miss this story– 2014 was the warmest year on record according to both NASA and NOAA.

In northern New Mexico we had a couple of cold, foggy days early in the week along with two or three of inches of snow helping, I hope, our new piñon trees put down roots.  But according to this article in the Santa Fe New Mexican the long term outlook for the Southwest’s piñon forests is dire.  As temperatures continue to warm the prediction is that we will experience longer droughts and the loss of our trees along with wildlife, like the squawking jays at our backyard feeder, that depend upon them for sustenance and cover.

The other big news in our region was this press release from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) about changes to the management of the Mexican gray wolf recovery program.

Some of it was good news.  The wolves, a subspecies of the gray wolf (Canis lupus), got their own separate listing as an endangered subspecies (Canis lupus baileyi) which will allow them to receive continued protection under the law even if the gray wolf is delisted.  The bad news is that the lobos will not be allowed to roam and  establish territory north of Interstate 40 in areas like the Grand Canyon where prime habitat exists for them to live and hunt.  This editorial  favoring more robust protection of the wolves, as I do, was published at azcentral.com  and covers more of the pros and cons of the new rule.

In California a few days into Tommy Caldwell  and Kevin Jorgeson’s barehanded climb of El Capitan in Yosemite National Park, their story was covered on NBC Nightly News, capturing the world’s imagination.  I thought about them each day and was thrilled to hear that they succeeded.  Here is the New York Times article about their adventure.  And for another take on it, this poem published at PoetryFoundation.org.

And finally, how lovely is this soaring golden eagle captured on camera by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

Have a good week!

 

 

 

 

 

 

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A New Year’s Resolution

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Photo Credit: abejorro34 via Compfight cc

Photo Credit: abejorro34 via Compfight cc

One resolution in two parts.

Go outside.

Pay attention.

It’s simple, but I have to remind myself.

Even if it’s only the short walk to the mailbox.  Stop and listen–that sharp “peek peek” whistle–is that the ladder-backed woodpecker that was hanging off the seed cylinder this morning? I know him by sight, zebra-striped back and red crown, but not by voice.  No sign of him to confirm.

Before coming inside I stoop to look at tracks in the remnants of last week’s snow–two short and two long, A field guide confirms they are the tracks–front feet behind the back–of the rabbit who keeps a low profile in the scrub beyond the patio, showing only an occasional glimpse of the top of his ears or the flash of his white tail.

It’s a start.

 

 

 

 

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Reflections on the Death of a Tree

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Pinyon Tree 1901-2014 Photo Credit: P. Nixon

Pinus edulis 1901-2014
Photo Credit: P. Nixon

The forest stands at the door, a lone man in a light
green shirt. An owl sits in his hat, confessing
simple hymns that are scarfed into clouds.  The man
holds a small box of baby birds and insects covered
in leaves. The pathway he took to town
is a small umbrella of gems:  bloodroot and hickory,
trillium and oak, an avalanche of wise eyes sighing,
the constant monologue of hummingbird wings.
Stiff from walking such a distance through autumn’s
altar, his many limbs are twisted. He salutes me,
then gently stomps muddy feet on the doorstep.

From The Forest Man by Lauren Camp*

It wasn’t disease or drought that killed the old piñon tree last summer.

Dave and I tried to save it. An arborist took a core sample and counted the rings—113. In the end, to resolve a long-running dispute, we let it go. I didn’t watch the bulldozer knock it down.

The contractor brought in two trees from up north to replace the old pine and planted them a few feet away from the new driveway.

The transplants with no history of this place remind me of us twenty years ago.  It was a cold January afternoon and the sun was low in the sky, but one long look at the mountains in the distance and a deep breath of the pine-scented air convinced us. It has taken time, but we’ve made this quiet little corner of New Mexico home.

Last night, Christmas night, a few inches of snow fell, blanketing the trees and the earth beneath them.  The moisture will help the newcomers spread their roots and settle in.

*Many thanks to Lauren for allowing me to use an excerpt of her poem.  I recommend reading the entire poem  in About Place Journal where it was published in the spring of 2013.

 

 

 

Gina’s Chipmunk

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Photo Credit: P. Nixon

Photo Credit: P. Nixon

Chipmunks were a novelty when I was a kid. They don’t live in western Kansas, so we first got to know them on our family vacations to the Rockies.  The tiny ground squirrels with their racing stripes and bushy tails never failed to entertain, scampering around the campsite, eluding our efforts to catch them.

They are frequent visitors to our backyard in Santa Fe, drinking out of the birdbath and chasing each other around the yard looking for stray seeds.  But lately there seem to be more of them and I was amazed last week to find one sitting on a window bird feeder fifteen feet off the ground.

The feeder is filled with oiled sunflower seeds for the finches and chickadees, but the chipmunk has taken over, sitting on the tray and gorging while Gina, the cat, watches and I rap on the window.  It scares him off for a moment, but as soon as I turn my back he returns.

I suspect there are two of them–a tag team–launching themselves off the nearby portal (deck) to the narrow window ledge.  Yesterday they cleaned us out.

No sign of the chipmunk this morning, just a spotted towhee picking through the hulls.  When I refill the feeder later today, I’m going to move it to another window–beyond the leaping range, I hope, of the average chipmunk.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Longest Night of the Year

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Will there really be a morning?
Is there such a thing as day?
Could I see it from the mountains
If I were as tall as they?
–Emily Dickinson

Photo Credit: Larry1732 via Compfight cc

Photo Credit: Larry1732 via Compfight cc

At 4:03 pm in the mountain standard time zone, where I live, the sun passed directly over the Tropic of Capricorn.  That was the moment when the North Pole was tilted furthest away from the sun, the winter solstice.

As I write this the last sunlight of the day brightens the clouds hanging low over the Jemez Mountains.  It’s a darker, quieter, slower time of year.  I try to pay closer attention to the details:  a  small drift of piñon pine cones scattered across the snow that fell last week, a cheery canyon towhee splashing in the heated birdbath.

I am always in a hurry to spot the first sign of spring, but here’s to taking a moment to appreciate the unique beauty of winter!

Wolves and Public Opinion

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There are only 83 Mexican gray wolves left in the wild. I think that makes them worth fighting for.  I am 13 years old, and I want to help save the lobos of the Southwest. 
Faith Kindred, Parker City, Indiana
Letter to the Editor in the Rio Grande Sun–Española, NM

Photo Credit: Mark Dumont via Compfight cc

Photo Credit: Mark Dumont via Compfight cc

Letters matter.  I’ve written several–to the editors of the Santa Fe and Albuquerque daily newspapers, to the New Mexico Game and Fish Department, and more than one to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service(USFWS)–all in support of the Mexican gray wolf.  Before this year ends there is one more opportunity to register an opinion with the USFWS about ongoing efforts to reestablish the lobo in the wild.

USFWS has been working for more than a year on changes to the rule that governs the Mexican wolf reintroduction effort, conducting public hearings and soliciting comments.  In late November they issued this press release along with the final Environmental Impact Study and draft Record of Decision (ROD).

The ROD outlines the four alternatives under consideration and explains the rationale for the one USFWS has selected to pursue.  This article from the Arizona Daily Star (reprinted on the Lobos of the Southwest website) from November 26th explains and summarizes the decision and also includes reactions from environmentalists and ranching organizations.  USFWS will finalize the ROD in January and is accepting public comments through December 27th.

Lobos of the Southwest provides this guide to submitting comments along with a link to the USFWS website.  For a better understanding of the opposing viewpoint I found it helpful to read about Arizona Cattlemen’s Association’s  Fight & Fix Campaign on their website.

And now it’s time I started working on that letter.