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February - March 2002
Vol. 31 No. 2

Table Of Contents (Please let the whole page load before clicking on the links.)

The Fourth Annual Audubon Birding Academy
Wanted: Hummingbird Watchers
Remember to 'Share with Wildlife'
CNMAS Field Trip Reports

Thursday Morning Birding Group
CNMAS Field Trip Schedule
HawkWatch International Observations
Range Size and Extinction Risk For Birds

Christmas Bird Count 2001 Compilation
NMOS Annual Meeting 2002
Sandia Mountain Bear Watch . . .
Great Backyard Bird Count

Audubon Adventures
Enhance Your Photography Skills
Audubon Mailing Options

The Fourth Annual
Audubon Birding Academy

THIS YEAR we have three great Birding Academy Classes. February 21st will bring us Art Arenholz, volunteer extraordinaire and an excellent instructor, with a beginner-intermediate level class.

Each spring Art conducts a shorebird workshop at Bosque del Apache. We can't do the field trip part after the slide show (it will be dark), but Art has expanded the indoor portion for CNMAS. This session is aimed at beginning and intermediate shorebirders, but it will be a good review for experts. Art describes a dozen shorebirds commonly seen in New Mexico and another dozen seen here in relatively small numbers. Printed material will be available to reduce your note taking.

Don't forget that the Birding Academy continues with classes in March and April. The cost is $6.00 per class payable in advance or at the door. Pre-register for all three classes and the price is only $15.00. There will be a raffle of one Sibley Guide to Bird Life and Behavior at each of the three classes.

Please come a join us. Mark your calendars and register early.

Go to Registration Form

If you have a problem with the above link please go here.

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Wanted: Hummingbird Watchers

The 2002 hummingbird season kicks off the second phase of a new five-year Hummingbird Connection Survey Project. The first five-year phase was a great success. So much was learned about migration patterns, species numbers and hummingbird "hot spots". However, out of the 900 who signed up to participate over the five years approximately 35% returned their observations. We also had some counties from which surveys were under reported or not reported: Catron, Chaves, DeBaca, Roosevelt, Sierra, Quay, Guadalupe, San Miguel, Harding, Union, Mora, Colfax and McKinley. Our goal for the second five-year phase is to get higher numbers of participants to return their surveys and to get more participants in the above mention counties.

This is a very exciting and enlightening project in which the lay public can contribute in a significant way to the scientific community's knowledge of hummingbirds by providing this base line study.

All that is required is two hours of your time per week during the hummingbird season to observe "nature's jewels" and jot down, on the form provided in the reporting packet, species numbers seen and behaviors.

We look forward to your participation. Join the 2002 Hummingbird Connection Survey Project by filling out the form and sending it along with $5 (to cover costs of printing, mailing and database compilation) in a self-address stamped envelope to:

The Hummingbird Connection Randall Davey Audubon Center
P.O. Box 9314
Santa Fe, NM 87504-9314

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Remember to 'Share with Wildlife'

Donate some (or all) of your State Tax Refund to New Mexico's nongame wildlife. Check the SwW on your PIT-D form of your State Income Tax Return and indicate the amount you wish to donate.

ALL the money goes to help species who currently have little or no other sources of funding. The money helps fund wildlife education projects statewide, wildlife rehabilitation services, biological studies, scientific field surveys, and habitat restoration projects. Also, if you'd like to receive free copies of the 3 times per year, 16-page Share with Wildlife UPDATE, contact Jane at jmaccarter@state.nm.us or call (505) 476-8111.

Thank you again for continuing to 'Share with Wildlife'!

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CNMAS Field Trip Reports

by Sei Tokuda

Sunday, November 11: Las Vegas NWR
Twenty birders were on this trip led by Tim Parker. On this day, the access road to the ponds east of the headquarters was open to visitors and gave the birders a rare look at the waterfowl in that area. Close to 50 species were seen and the highlights were Common Loon, Prairie Falcon, Ferruginous Hawk, and Tree Sparrow.

Sunday, November 25: Ladera Wash
This trip to the west side of Albuquerque was led by Nick Vaughn. Eleven birders were on this trip and it was a cold, windy day with only 11 total species seen. The highlight of the day was a Prairie Falcon flying overhead.

Saturday, December 8: Bosque del Apache
This trip was led by Art Arenholz. There were 10 birders on this trip and they saw close to 50 species. The highlights of the trip were the sightings of three different morphs of Red Tail Hawks, Prairie Falcon, Ferruginous Hawk, a family of Clark's Grebes with four immature Grebes, and sighting both the Snow and Ross's Geese in the same field of a spotting scope.

Sunday, January 13: Corrales and West Mesa
There were ten birders on this trip. Although the total number of species was not high, there were great sightings of a third year Bald Eagle and two Magpies on the same tree, Song and Sage Sparrows, Roadrunner and Rock Wren.

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Thursday Morning Birding Group

Weekly birding outings every Thursday. Meeting time and location, as well as duration, vary. Call Margaret Wallen at 291-1595 for details of outings.

Central New Mexico Audubon Society assumes no responsibility for injuries, personal or otherwise, incurred while attending society-sponsored activities and will not be held liable for such accidents. You attend at your own risk.

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CNMAS Field Trip Schedule

Saturday, February 9 - Las Vegas NWR
This will be a full day trip and the target birds will be wintering raptors, waterfowl and Tree Sparrow. Dress warmly, bring lunch, snacks, etc. Meet at 7:00 A.M. behind Winchell's Donut Shop in the Far North Shopping Center (NE corner of San Mateo and Academy Blvd.). Call Art Arenholz at 298-1724 for details.

Sunday, February 17 - Los Lunas and Belen areas
The leader of this trip will be Chris Rustay. The target birds will be the various morphs of raptors, wintering waterfowl and passerines. Bring lunch, snacks, etc. Meet at 8:00 A.M. at the UNM Continuing Education Building on the east side of University Avenue and north of Indian School Road. The trip should conclude by mid-afternoon. Call Chris at 255-7786 for details.

Saturday, March 9 - Santa Rosa and vicinity
This all day outing will be a combined CNMAS and Hawks Aloft outing and will be led by Chris Rustay. This should be a good time to look for Horned Grebes, Loons, Gulls, etc. Meet at 7:30 A.M. at the Four Hills Shopping Center. Call Chris for details.

Sunday, March 24 - Domingo Baca Canyon
The leader of this half day trip will be Nick Vaughn. It will entail a moderate hike in the western slopes of the Sandias. Dress appropriately for the weather and bring water, snacks, hat, sun screen, etc. Meet 8:00 A.M. in front of the sculpture at the east side of the loop. Call Nick at 265-1350 for details.

Saturday, April 6 - Bosque del Apache
This is the first weekend that the "seasonal" road at the Refuge will be accessible after being closed for the fall/winter seasons. Some of the early migrants will be seen in that loop. This will be an all day trip. Dress appropriately, bring food, water snacks, etc. Meet at 7:30 A.M. at the UNM Physics Department parking on the NE corner of Yale and Lomas Blvd. Call Art at 298-1724 or Sei at 266-2480.

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HawkWatch International Observations

Banders and volunteers will start to set up banding stations for the Sandia hawk watch on Saturday, March 2. The observers will begin the count on February 25 and remain until May 5. Call Bobbie Posey at 255-7622 for more information.

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Range Size and Extinction Risk For Birds

by Timothy H. Parker

Due in large part to human activity, about 20% of the world's bird species have been lost forever due to extinction in the last 2,000 years. If we wish to change this trend, we need to understand the factors that put species at risk.

    Jim Brown, a biologist here in New Mexico, along with co-worker Brian Maurer, compared the body sizes for many different continental bird species with the geographic range size for each species. As you might guess if you have studied the range maps in your field guide, some large-bodied bird species have large geographic ranges and some have small ranges. Small-bodied bird species also vary a lot in their range size. However, Brown and Maurer did point out a very interesting pattern. We can find both large- and small-bodied species with geographic ranges as large as a continent. However, when we look at species with very small geographic ranges, we do see a difference based on body size. Large-bodied species can have somewhat small ranges, but the very smallest geographic ranges are always associated with smaller-bodied species. In other words, it seems like a small-bodied species can persist within a smaller area than can a large-bodied species.

    Similar patterns have been found for mammals (also by Brown and Maurer) and fish (by Jon Rosenfield also at UNM). For all these groups of animals, when researchers looked to see which species were endangered or threatened, they found that it was typically those that had a small geographic range FOR THEIR BODY SIZE. Thus, a small-bodied species with a small to mid-size geographic range might not be endangered, but a large bodied species with that size range is likely to be at serious risk. So why can small-bodied species stave off extinction within small geographic ranges that would spell the end for larger-bodied species? That is really a topic for another article, but in part, the answer has to do with population size. A small-bodied species is likely to contain more individuals (have a larger population size) per given area, and it is well known that larger populations are less likely to go extinct.

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Christmas Bird Count 2001 Compilation

Bosque del Apache NWR, Dec. 15
Party of 14 (+ 1 @ feeders), 48.75 party hours, 113 species, 65,677 total birds.
Compiler Steven Cox (345-2385, swcox@flash.net).

Sandia Mountains, Dec. 30
Party of 37 (+ 1 @ feeders), 82.75 party hours, 60 species, 5,384 total birds.
Compiler Nick Vaughn (nickvaughn2000@yahoo.com).

Sevilleta NWR, Dec. 22
Party of 11, 35.25 party hours, 91 species, 7,801 total birds.
Compiler Steven Cox (345-2385, swcox@flash.net).

Albuquerque CBC - Dec. 16

by Hart R. Schwarz

Total number of species: 108, plus three during Count Week: Inca Dove, Red-naped Sapsucker & Blue Jay. Total number of individuals seen: 21,667. Number of participants: 52.

Totally new for the count were the Barn Owl, Pyrrhuloxia and the Selasphorus hummingbird, i.e., either a Rufous or a Broad-tailed.

These and other counting circle results can be found at http://www.birdsource.org/CBCOutput/circle_select.html

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NMOS Annual Meeting 2002

The 40th Annual Meeting of the New Mexico Ornithological Society (NMOS) will be held Saturday, March 9, at the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science in Albuquerque. For this auspicious anniversary, the history of the organization will be featured, and as many of the original founders, past presidents, directors, and longtime members as possible will be present. Those interested in helping and supplying information (photos, letters, field data, interesting stories, etc.) are asked to contact Jim Travis at 821-0517. Tim Parker of the University of New Mexico will chair the paper session. Visit the NMOS Home Page at http://mvar.nmsu.edu/nmos to learn more.

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Sandia Mountain Bear Watch . . .

is an organization dedicated to educating people about coexisting peacefully with bears and other wildlife. Jan Hayes, the founder, is active politically, aware of current developments, and happy to answer any of your questions about the big picture (What's the status of bears in New Mexico?) and the little picture (How do I bear-proof my property?) She was one of the volunteers active in 'Operation Bear Den,' the ongoing experimental program of the New Mexico Game and Fish Department that was the highlight of our January meeting - a lively, informative, and entertaining program by Don MacCarter.

Contact Jan at Sandia Mountain Bear Watch, PO Box 591, Tijeras, 87059, 281-9282, for further information on bear programs in New Mexico.

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Audubon Adventures

by Helen Haskell

Over the last few years the costs of producing an Audubon Adventures Kit have increased. In particular, the cost of the video included in the kit has gone up (and in the past was subsidized). So much so that this school year, National Audubon decided that the video could no longer be included unless the cost of each kit went up considerably. It is with great thanks to funding and support from the Audubon Council of New Mexico, and in particular logistical support from Jeanne Gleason at New Mexico State University and Beth Hurst-Waitz, that our New Mexico Audubon Adventures teachers and students will still have access to a video - and on subjects relevant to New Mexico­none other that Bosque del Apache and sandhill cranes!

Back to the Bosque was produced by NMSU in 2000, and follows a day in the life of Sandy, the Sandhill Crane, as he returns to Bosque del Apache for the winter. All of us at Audubon hope that the students will gain an appreciation for one of our New Mexico ecosystems, and maybe even visit it! Thank you again, Audubon Council.

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Enhance Your Photography Skills

Jerry Goffe, established and recognized photographer and instructor, is opening his class on wildlife photography for the benefit of three groups: ELCC (Enchanted Lens Camera Club), the CNMAS (Central NM Audubon Society) and the Friends of the Bosque.

A minimal tuition will be charged and donated back to the Friends of the Bosque and/or CNMAS. Subject matter covered includes: Basics (camera, lens & film), Depth-of-field, and Proper shooting technique. The class is geared toward individuals who have some experience in wildlife photography, but want to sharpen their skills.

Lessons may be by individual or by class and are given at Bosque del Apache NWR. For more information calling Jerry at 346-4220 during the day or 345-3100 evenings.

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Audubon Mailing Options

Did you know that several membership mailing options are available to Audubon Chapter members? Members may request that:

• Their name and contact information not be shared with outside organizations (note that the locally maintained CNMAS list is NEVER shared outside)
• No NAS mailings other than the magazine and one renewal notice be sent
• No phone calls from NAS to solicit donations be made to them
• No magazine be included with their membership

You may request any or all of these options by contacting the Membership Dept., National Audubon Society, 700 Broadway, NY, NY 10003, or chadd@audubon.org

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