Birding with Kelly

I recently took a trip to New Mexico.  One of the things I wanted to do was go birding, and I was lucky enough to meet up with a New Mexico birder! Through our blogs I met Kelly, and she was gracious enough to take me into the mountains to visit two of her birding spots.  First, we met in Cedar Crest, New Mexico and traveled up to a secluded spot in the mountains.

Dark-eyed Junco

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Western Tanager

Steller’s Jay

Spotted Towhee

Ruby-crowned Kinglet

Red-napped Sapsucker

Red Crossbill Male

Pine Siskin

Northern Flicker

Mountain Chickadee

Cassen’s Finch

Band-tailed Pigeon

The next day my friend Peggy and I went to the Albuquerque Botanic Garden. It was a wonderful area with lots of beautiful flowers.  In the garden I was able to photograph several different bird species. I also was able to get a good photo of a house sparrow, to up my sparrow photographs to seven different species.

Wood Duck

Wood Duck

White-winged Dove

Lesser Goldfinch

House Sparrow

House Finch

Black-crowned Night Heron

On Sunday Kelly was kind enough to take us on on another birding adventure and her beautiful dog Scarlett joined us.

Scarlett

This time she took us to Petroglyph National Monument.  It was so much fun hiking in this dessert habitat.  Not only were we able to spot some interesting birds and a few rabbits, but we also viewed some amazing petroglyphs.

Jack Rabbit

Black-chinned Hummingbird

Canyon Wren

Roadrunner

Rock Wren

Say’s Phoebe

I also captured sparrow species number eight.

Black-throated Sparrow

Before leaving Albuquerque Peggy and I took a quick trip to the Rio Grande Nature Center.  It was very hot and buggy, so we didn’t stay long. On the last trail we took I was able to capture a photo of a yellow-breasted chat.

As we were driving out of the area we spotted this beautiful roadrunner. I stopped the car and grabbed my camera in hopes of getting some good shots.

Roadrunner

Roadrunner

I had a fantastic time in New Mexico.  One of the best things about the trip was meeting my new friend Kelly! I hope that one day we will meet up again.  Until then, I will be following her on her blog New Mexico Birder. If you haven’t seen her blog, you should check it out!

Kelly and Me