Learning the Birds
of the
Río Embudo

A set of tools to help you learn the local birds.

A collection of lists with photos, range maps and other resources, grouped by season.

Within each season, the lists begin with the most common and familiar species, then move to the less familiar.

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Rio Grande near Rinconada, May 2, 2017:
Already sitting on eggs?

Greater Roadrunner
Rio Grande Nature Center, Albuquerque, NM, March 30, 2017:
Click Photo to Enlarge

• Blog Archive: 2014
• Seasonal Variation: Spring Fed Arroyo
• Spring Migration Peak Detection
• Spring Migration Songbird Fallout
• Spring Migration Count, Taos County May 10 - 15, 2013

• Blog Archive: 2013
• Conexiones: La Junta del Río Pecos y el Río Grande; La Boca del Río Grande
• Spring Migration Texas/NM, April 5-19, 2013
• Spring Migration 2013: Update April 2
• Spring Migration 2013 Begins
• Immature Bald Eagles: Photos by Sarah Nelson (La Bolsa)
• Dixon Christmas Bird Count: 2012

• Blog Archive: 2012
• Lewis's Woodpecker feeding on Russian Olives
• Rufous Hummingbird: Common Migrant
• Spotted Towhee making its Contact Call
• Black-crowned Night-heron on the Río Embudo
• White-winged Dove: Northern Expansion of Range Along the Río Grande
• An Interesting Nest: Black Phoebe on the Río Grande

• Blog Archive: 2011
• American Dipper: Juvenile Begging for Food
• Migration: Western Tanagers
• Mourning Doves
• Northern Flicker Hammering on Stove Pipe
• Evening Grosbeak Eating Elm Seeds
• Sage Thrasher
• Spotted Towhee Singing

• Blog Archive: 2007-2010
• Red Tails Overhead: Crow Driving Off Red-tailed Hawk
• American Dipper Feeding on River Bottom
• Eurasian Invasion: Expansion of Eurasian Collared-dove
• Spring Arrival and Nesting Observations 2008
• Spring Arrival and Nesting Observations 2007

Spring/Fall Migration:

Who Is Arriving, When? I have been paying close attention to the presence of bird species in the Embudo area for more than 15 years. I have pulled together all of my records and consulted other sources such as records from eBird to come up with some preliminary "first" and "last" dates for the summer residents and transient species.

Timing of Common Summer Residents and Transients

The graphs are from downloadable PDFs. (Click to display in the browser, right click to download.) Both files show arrival and departure information for the Common and Less Common species in our area.

The first file shows the approximate time period that each species is present in the Embudo area. The second file is the same information, but ordered by the arrival date for each species.

Timings ordered by Arrival Times

Though not depicted in the graph, the peak of the Spring migration is around the 2nd week of May. This is discussed in a blog entry from last year entitled: Spring Migration Peak Detection: May, 2014

Another entry discusses a Migration Fallout the morning after a midlle-of-the-night snow storm last may. The storm forced down migrants flying at night.

Dixon CBC Indentification Practice:

Of the 111 Species that have been recorded on the Dixon CBC, just 32 of those species account for more than 95% of the individuals counted.

The learning begins with those species that are seen every year. Many of these are very common species. Once those are mastered, one can move on to the species less likely to be seen.

Five different exercises for using the materials are described.

You may know more than you think! Click Here to get started.