Week of January 16 thru 22~New Mexico

[KylesMom409]

I have never been out to the west coast but I hope to go someday.  I hear it's beautiful!  Let's see what you've got for New Mexico.

[KylesMom409]

The Mesilla Valley Bosque State Park preserves 305 acres of riparian habitat on the outskirts of Las Cruces.  You will see ponds, marshes, irrigation channels, and thick riparian brush.  Residents here include:  Crissal and Curve-billed Thrashers, Great Horned Owl, Cactus Wren, Pyrrhuloxia, and Greater Roadrunner.  Fall, winter, and spring are especially productive and summer mornings are good for breeding birds.  Desert species are present all year.

[KylesMom409]

In Los Alamos, Bandelier National Monument covers 33,000 acres of archaeological sites in central New Mexico.  It was once a stronghold of the Anasazi Indians and is a gorgeous network of deep canyons linking the Rio Grande to the humped peaks and white firs of the Jemez Mountains.  White fir and pinon-juniper forests, along with grasslands mixed with ponderosa savannah are some of the habitats you'll find.  In spring and summer you'll find Broad-tailed and Black-chinned Hummingbirds, White-throated Swifts, Lazuli Buntings, and Western Bluebirds, just to name a few.  You can visit year round and you will see a huge variety of species but June is best for diversity.