This website is a resource for people living along the waters of el Río Embudo.
This includes el Río Embudo's tributaries. From the east slope of La Jicarita Peak: el Río Pueblo. From the west slope: el Río Santa Barbara, el Río Lucío, el Río de las Trampas and el Río Ojo Sarco. It also includes portions of el Río Grande above and below la Junta, where el Río Embudo flows into el Río Grande; from Pilar upstream, to Velarde and Lyden downstream.
This area has a thriving bird population. More than 200 species of birds have been recorded by myself and other local birders. Various birdwatchers have been recording sightings in this area since as early as 1969. (If anyone knows of earlier or other records, please contact me.) Jack Whetstone, a resident of Dixon from 1969 until 1976 kept detailed records of his bird sightings during that time. In 1997, Bob Weber, a Taos resident, began an Audubon Christmas Bird Count in the area. In 2001, I took over the management of the count. I have kept detailed records of bird activity along the Río Embudo since 1999.
Many people in the area know that I spend a lot of time observing birds and many of them ask me questions and share stories of their own observations. I have a list of more than 30 local residents with whom I have gone birdwatching in the past few years. There are at least another 30 people that have asked me a question or told me a bird story. We are blessed here to live so close to nature and birds and the plants they depend on are an ever present and interesting part of our fairly wild environment. This site is dedicated to deepening our relationship to and understanding of that environment.
For me, this website is a labor of love and learning. I love to be outside in nature observing the birds and as a lifelong learner and teacher, I have always created materials that help me organize whatever I am learning at the time. Over the years, many of those materials have been used by other learners and it is in that spirit that I present this website. I hope it will be of service to anyone who wishes to learn about the local birds and about the habitats we share with them.
As I am not an expert in the study of birds, I will write only brief, introductory material. But accompanying that material will be links to other websites and resources. My goal is to create an organized portal to the vast and excellent array of birding information that already exists.
This is a work in progress. If you have comments or ideas or want to help out in any way, let me know.
Robert Templeton 2006.09.19
Use of Photographs:
Photographs on this site are by Robert Templeton and may not be reproduced in any form without written permission from the photographer. Permission to use the photos for educational, non-commercial purposes will be generally be granted.
Email: Robert Templeton with a short description of how the photograph is to be used.