Sorry for the very long space between posts. I was so caught up with my life that I forgot all about my blog!
Since my last post (July 5, 09) I have turned fifteen and have progressed in many ways. I have also been on many birding excursions to places such as Bosque del Apache NWR, Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado, and other exciting spots. I am not sure of the amount of birds I have seen between July and now but it is probably a lot! I have also taken a bunch of pictures which I will post as soon as I can. You are probably wondering why this post is called "Rosy-Finches and Roadrunners". Here are three possible answers to why it is called that:
1. Rosy-Finches and roadrunners started interbreeding and created a new species- the Pink Roserunner.
2. I have seen Rosy-Finches and roadrunners in the past 7 months and wanted to reflect on my sightings.
3. My mom misidentified a Greater Roadrunner for a Black Rosy-Finch and I wanted to make fun of her.
Well, the answer is #2 my friends. But I do wish that there were Pink Roserunners in this country...
There are two places where I have seen Rosy-Finches: Sandia Crest, (near Albuquerque) and in my own backyard! At Sandia Crest I saw all 3 species of Rosy-Finches outside the restaurant on the Crest. A group of people band them every Sunday, so if you are ever in Albuquerque and want somewhere to go, I'd suggest nipping up to watch the banders band Rosy-Finches.
Today I was looking out my window at my feeder when I saw a bird that didn't quite look like a junco. I whipped out my bins and discovered, to my delight that it was a Rosy-Finch. I spent the next 2 hours trying to decide what species it was! After I contacted a friend who bands Rosy-Finches I decided it was a Brown-capped. They have less extensive gray on the crown than Gray-crowns and are paler than Blacks.
And for the roadrunners...
Well, I've seen them pretty much everywhere! I saw them at the Bosque del Apache NWR, the Las Vegas NWR, and everywhere in between. I was with my dad at Bosque when we saw the roadrunner. It was by the side of the road by a boardwalk and was VERY impressed by our Prius! We had stopped the car alongside the roadrunner and it started to display it's crown and puffed up it's feathers. For at least 10 minutes it was "challenging" our car and in quite a mood. We finally left it in peace (much to the roadrunner's delight).
Well, that's about it from the past 7 months. I'll try to be more consistent with my posts in 2010...
Here are some statistics from 2009:
Total Species: 234
Life Birds: 34
Number I'm at on my Life List: 632
Did I have fun?
YES!!!
