UPCOMING EVENTS
Bird Alliance of SW New Mexico Board Meeting
Mon, Dec 2, 2024 | 5:00 pm
The Bird Alliance of SW NM invites members to our Board of Directors meetings. We meet every other month, on the first Monday of the month, at 5 PM. If you are interested in attending board meetings, please email swnmaudubon@gmail.org. We will add you to the list to receive the agenda and location a few days in advance of the meeting.
Victorian Christmas and more!
Silver City Museum, 312 W Broadway, Silver City
Sat, Dec 14, 2024
Stay tuned for details!
Silver City Christmas Bird Count & Potluck
Sat, Dec 21, 2024
Any and all birding skill levels are encouraged to participate in this annual all-day Silver City bird count. Emails will go out to previous CBC participants; interested others should contact John Gorey at johnpgorey@gmail.com
We’ll have our usual potluck after the count, featuring bird trivia and jokes, as well as the annual CBC recap of birds seen with comparisons to historic numbers. The countdown and potluck will be held at the Rolling Stones building at 2045 Memory Lane, Silver City. [At the Rte 180 4-way stoplight, take Memory Lane. Building is on the right before the cemetery.] Doors will open at 4pm and serving will start at 5pm, followed by the presentation of survey results by each group.
The annual Feeder Count will be held the same day, December 21. The feeder count is a great way to participate if you can’t make it out to help with the routes, or if you wish to bird from your home. For Feeder Count information, contact John Gorey at johnpgorey@gmail.com
Dec 28(29) Gila River CBC
Gila River Christmas Bird Count
Sat, Dec 28 (or Sun, Dec 29), 2024
The Christmas Bird Count (CBC) has been conducted for well over 100 years. The National Audubon Society collects data from this massive citizen science effort to count and record bird numbers every December. The Gila River CBC has a long history of participation since 1972. For more information regarding CBCs and a look at the historical data, visit https://www.audubon.org/community-science/christmas-bird-count
The 2024 Gila River Christmas Bird Count will be held on Saturday, December 28th, with a bad weather date of the following day, December 29th. Space tends to be limited due to the need for permits on private land along the river. Observing and recording birds at feeders is another option to participate for those who feed birds in the Gila/Cliff area. If you are interested in participating, please contact Linda Moore at raptors.linda@yahoo.com by December 1st. All birding levels of expertise are welcome, from beginning to expert. This is a great opportunity for beginner birders to learn from more experienced birders in the field.
Cooper's Hawk Photo: H Erstad
Winter Raptor Survey
Jan 18, 19, 20, 2025
The 2025 Winter Raptor Survey will be conducted on the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend, January 18, 19 and 20. This survey is done by vehicle, and some of the routes are well over 100 miles. Typically the routes have established leaders and helpers, but there are often empty spaces in a vehicle for others to participate.
The survey is done in conjunction with the Hawk Migration Association of North America, and is a citizen science project focused on better understanding of the wintering population of raptors in North America.
The routes are surveyed on one of the three days, providing the opportunity to choose the best day weather-wise. Each route is standardized with no variation allowed.
If you are interested in participating, contact Linda Moore at raptors.linda@yahoo.com by December 15th to get on a list available for the survey leaders to access
SPUR-OF-THE-MOMENT Field Trips
SWNMA programs are planned far in advance, so sometimes we miss good birding possibilities. That's why we encourage member-initiated Spur- of-the-Moment field trips. You don’t have to be an expert, you just need a desire to get out there with fellow birders! If you email us the date, destination, and when/where to meet, we'll pass that info to our list of interested others. Want to get on the list? Just send us an email.
Please visit us on Facebook for updates and for virtual gatherings, announced here on the Website or for members via email.
Visit the joint SWNM Audubon Society and Gila Native Plant Society YouTube channel to view past recorded Zoom programs.
PAST EVENTS
Oct 12: The Big Sit, Iron Bridge
There was just the slightest fall nip to the air when we arrived at Iron Bridge for The Big Sit 2024. What’s The Big Sit, you ask? It’s a unique opportunity for birders of all ages, skill levels and abilities to bird together, in one 17-foot diameter circle, documenting all the birds you can see and hear. And on Sunday, October 13, for four hours, 11 area birders gathered to document 36 species along the Gila River.
We worked on our sparrow identification skills with White-crowned, Song, Chipping and Lincoln’s Sparrow in attendance, enjoyed a few secretive shows by Common Yellowthroat, admired a flyover by three Sandhill Cranes, and witnessed the predator/prey relationship in action as a Great Blue Heron caught and devoured a large frog and a Belted Kingfisher snared a tiny fish. Some of us sat, while others darted from one side of the bridge to the other as people called out different species they'd spotted or requested some ID assistance.
The eBird list from our adventure will be combined with dozens of other lists around the US (and possibly a few international locales) by the New Haven Bird Club in Connecticut. You can check out the results from 2023 now and the 2024 results soon at www.thebigsit.org
Oct 11: Learn to Use Merlin
Oct 10: Merlin Bird ID app Program
Heidi Erstad facilitated a workshop for 14 beginning and casual birders on using Merlin, a free smart phone app from Cornell. Slides from this workshop can be accessed here.
Sep 15: Pancho Canyon Pop-up Outing
Devyn Scott led birders on an outing at Pancho Canyon in the Gila Bird Area.
Jun 2: Gila Centennial Outing at Sapillo Box Canyon
Dave McDonald led 12 birders through the Sapillo Box Canyon on our last Gila 100 bird outing. Light on birds that day, but we all enjoyed the gorgeous day and being near the Gila Wilderness.
June 1: Gila Centennial Celebration at Gough Park
We had a fun and busy day at the Gila 100 party! Over 100 folks stopped by our table to say hi, spin the bird wheel, and talk birds!
May 28: Gila Centennial Outing at Railroad Canyon
Susan Mittelstadt and a group of seven birders explored Railroad Canyon, with its great pines and multiple river crossings. The group spotted painted redstarts, red-faced warblers, hepatic tanagers, and ten western tanagers! Check out the complete ebird list.
May 26: Gila Centennial Outing at the Catwalk
Brian Dolton led a group of five through the always-beautiful catwalk. The group spotted 24 species that morning, picking up 21 species at the nearby Fish Hatchery. On the way back to Silver City, a trio of birders spotted a Great Egret perched at the edge of Big Dry Gulch. Check out the ebird list for the Catwalk here.
May 25 River Ranch Outing
Susan and Burt Mittelstadt led 24 participants on this River Ranch outing on a perfect Spring day. Attendees were not disappointed! The group spotted a Rose-Breasted Grosbeak right away, along with 48 other species that day. [Check out the eBird list] The black bear scrambling out of a tree made for some real additional excitement! Thank you to Susan and Burt for being such excellent and inclusive guides.
May 5 Gila River Valley Outing
Bill Norris, Susan Mittelstadt, and Linda Moore led 22 participants on this Gila River bird outing. They started out at Mangas Springs, with a highlight being a great egret. An osprey and bald eagle were spotted on Bill Evans Lake Rd. At the Mangas spillway, the group was treated to kettles of TVs (turkey vultures!) along with a Swainson's hawk dive-bombing a red-tailed hawk! Stopping back along Bill Evans Lake Rd, the sighting of the day was a pair (yes, a pair!) of gray hawks vocalizing, flying around, and giving everyone a great view of them.
Thank you to all who made the outing and to Bill, Susan, and Linda for guiding the way!
Check out the eBird lists for the day here: NM-211 Bridge over the Gila, 410 NM-211, Gila US-NM, 314–346 Bill Evans Lake Rd ,
314–346 Bill Evans Lake Rd (2), 421 Bill Evans Lake Rd, and Mangas Springs.
May 4 Give Grandly
May 3 Program: Identification of Birds in the Lower Gila Valley
Over sixty people packed room 111 of Harlan Hall to learn how to identify the rich range of resident and visiting birds in the lower Gila River Valley. Thank you to Bill Norris and Susan Mittelstadt for sharing strategies and to Bill for the entertaining bird calls!
April 21 CDT x Earth Day Bird Outing at San Vicente
Dave McDonald led a group of eight along San Vicente trail, a great riparian habitat right in the heart of the city. The group was lucky to see some early migrant arrivals: three kinds of warblers, Summer Tanagers, a Cassin's kingbird, an Ash-throated Flycatcher, and - - everyone's favorite returnee - - a Common Black Hawk. View the 27 species spotted on Dave's eBird checklist. Thanks to all who attended!
April 20 CDT x Earth Day
Nearly 150 people stopped by the chapter booth to try their hand at our new Wheel of Bird Fortune!! So much fun on a perfect weather day! Special thanks to Jackie Blurton for putting together such an engaging activity.
April 13 Deadman's Canyon Outing
Sixteen gathered on a cool but clear and sunny day for some canyon birding. Trip leader Brian Dolton provided in depth answers to many questions, including when is it okay to use bird calls to draw birds, the science and ethics of bird banding, and why during migration are those passing through not calling like the ones that have arrived to nest. View the ebird checklist here.
April 5 & 6 Gila Cliff Dwellings Adventure
We had a blast at our first-ever campout and Gila Cliff Dwellings event! Around the campfire, we ate s'mores while Ranger Jonah shared several Native American stories of how certain birds came to be.
https://ebird.org/checklist/
March 24 UU Presentation
Board members Beth Cable and Dave McDonald gave a presentation to the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship in Silver City. Beth presented an overview of our chapter and its activities, then placed our chapter in the context of the National Audubon Society. Dave described some local birding hotspots and showed photos of some of the birds one can see there.
Mar 21 Birds and Brews
After the sprinkles and wind blew through Silver City the day before, a lovely group took a stroll at downtown's Big Ditch park to see what birds were out and about. There was plenty of foraging activity behind the Lion's Club building, including many Yellow-rumped Warblers at the treetops, a White-breasted Nuthatch, Pine Siskins (zzziiiippp!) and Black Phoebes. To our delight, a Hairy and Ladder-backed Woodpecker were within feet of each other for a nice visual comparison. https://ebird.org/checklist/S165533040
We made our way to The Toad for food, drinks, and a little bird trivia. Do YOU know how many (verified) bird species have been found in NM (fyi, this number changes as a designated committee reviews info)??