Oct 27, 2008

Here are some pictures from the trip

Buff-bellied Hummingbird
Mission, Texas
Golden-fronted Woodpecker
Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge-Alamo, Texas

Great-horned Owl
Tucson, Arizona


Oct 13, 2008

Transitions-October 13th, 2008


Now we are really back home. Teslin and I started school on August 22 at a charter school called Rio Gallinas and dad is working at El Centro, a Health place. It feels weird, stopping in one place more then a week. The guy we bought the house from is a birder and has a whole bird habitat in the backyard. We have 14 acres, all scrub-land, and there are plenty of sparrows and bluebirds. When we got here on August 2nd, there were lots of Black-headed Grosbeaks, Lewis's Woodpeckers, and Lesser Goldfinches. Now there is just occasionally a Red-winged Blackbird or White-crowned Sparrows. I've seen a couple lifers (Lewis's Woodpecker and Lark Bunting) and plenty of old ones.
Before we came here we were on Cape Cod with my grandparents for a month. I saw 2 new lifers there, Saltmarsh Sharp-tailed Sparrow and American Oystercatcher. Of course I saw plenty of seabirds and shorebirds, but not many new ones. We had a great time on the Cape and celebrated mom's, dad's, and grandma's B-day in July. One of the highlights was 18 miles offshore, were I caught a 90-pound Bluefin Tuna off my grandpa's boat! It me half-an-hour to reel it in and when I finally got it in the boat, my arm was aching! Teslin and mom came to New Mexico on a Southwest flight on the 2nd of August and dad and I rented a Penske moving truck and packed up all our stuff and left for home on July 28th. I saw a lifer on the trip, a Mississippi Kite over a Ramada Inn in Oklahoma! We got to Las Vegas (New Mexico) on the 1st and then we started unpacking.
Now we have almost everything unpacked and we are finding old items every day! We kept most of our stuff but some we are going to give away. The house does not look anything like what it did when we got here and we are going to expand the house soon. When we got here my room was lime-green and then dad and I painted it orangish-yellowish. Aside from other things happening around here, Teslin got gerbils and 2 cockatiels (named Bernie and Arwen)and I got a pair a parakeets that are very much in love with each other named Verde and Coco! I think the parakeets will mate this winter or spring because they have been hanging around their nest box a lot and are very into each other. We also have a 8-week old Golden Retreiver named Zia after New Mexico's symbol that is very cute!
I joined the Santa Fe Sangre de Cristo Audubon and the first bird trip was a couple weeks ago to the Las Vegas NWR and to a private ranch (Ruby Ranch). I saw 4 lifers which were Lark Bunting, Sabine's Gull, Western Grebe and Clark's Grebe! We saw Clark's and Western Grebes on the same lake!
On the downside of things, I broke my wrist 6 weeks ago falling off our neighbor's trampoline. And on the good side of things, I get off my darn cast this Wednesday!

Updates:

Life List- at 595!
School-have done about 7 weeks
Where we live-Las Vegas, New Mexico
Books I've read recently-Brisingr, A Wizard of Earthsea
Animals-2 Parakeets, 2 Cockatiels, 2 Gerbils, 1 Siamese, and 1 8-week old Golden Retriever



Home in New Mexico!

Home in New Mexico!
Las Vegas

Common Black Hawk

Common Black Hawk
Rio Lagartos, Yucatan

Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl

Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl
Bacalar

Pale-billed Woodpecker

Pale-billed Woodpecker
Kalakmul ruins

Dark-eyed Junco

Dark-eyed Junco
Home

Red-tailed Hawk

Red-tailed Hawk
In my backyard-Las Vegas,NM

Me on Hermit's Peak

Me on Hermit's Peak
Las Vegas, New Mexico

Zia Being Cute

Zia Being Cute
Home