Need Help With Albuquerque Birding (1 Viewer)

[WGPu]

Greetings! I will be travelling to Albuquerque at the end of Feb., and need some suggestions about where to find these three birds:

Western Screech-Owl,
Crissal Thrasher,
Chestnut-collared Longspur.

Thanks!

 

[Hamhed]

WGPu -
Did you read my trip report?

Steve

 

[WGPu]

Steve, I read a few of your entries but, regrettably, have not kept up.

 

[Hamhed]

The report gives you locations for the Thrasher, at Rinconada Canyon, and the Longspur, at Water Canyon. Per our contacts and eBird records, the Longspur will not likely be found in Bernalillo County (ABQ). The Owl can be, however we tried several eBird reported locations in all the areas that we visited but never found one. As that has been a nemesis bird for us, I'm not surprised. They may be calling later in the year when you are visiting as nesting season should be approaching.

For bird-finding contacts, I used Birding Pal (http://www.birdingpal.org/nm.htm) and sought out names of people using eBird. If you PM me, I can pass along some of the contact information.
I also bought "Birding Hot Spots of Central New Mexico" by Liddell and Hussey in 2011. In hindsight, I did not get much useful information out of the book. For bird species, up to date information can be gleaned from eBird. The trail maps may have been helpful but I didn't want to carry the entire book for a single trail. The ABQ Open Space Visitor Center has pocket sized trail maps for free as shown by the attached photo.

So many birding spots within Bernalillo County, we wanted another three days, especially in the Sandias.

Steve

 

[WGPu]

Steve, Thanks. I'm going to give Rinconada a try.

 

[cassowary]

the first two are easy (western screech is easy with playback - it comes straight in to calls - but don't over use) the 3rd takes a bit of work - see link

http://ebird.org/ebird/GuideMe?src=...ar=2016&eYear=2016&continue.x=45&continue.y=3