Birds and Nature

While not as good looking or easily seen as the Rufous-necked Wood-Rail that was found at Bosque del Apache NWR last month, the Sinaloa Wren shares the mega-rarity label. Found not far from the entrance to Huachuca Canyon on the Ft Huachuca Military Base yesterday, it was an short drive for me to that location this morning since I have been staying just a few miles away in the town of Sierra Vista. Ironically it was harder and longer for me to find my way through the military base to check in at the MP office than it did to get out of my car and see the wren (saw it within 15 minutes of arrival thanks to Ron Beck, who discovered the bird and returned today on his bicycle so he could count it on his 'green-year' birding list). During the hour and an half I stayed this wren called then showed itself several times with some really quite good though brief views from as close as 25 feet. Clearly the top pic was the best I got. That photo plus the blurry bottom pic showin...

I took this short video clip showing this Wood-Rail in late morning on Monday, July 15, before I left to drive back to Colorado. It forages in the open water of the wetland at Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge where it found some great habitat to meet it’s needs in this location hundreds of miles north of it’s normal range. (I suggest watching the video in full-screen mode to truly see this bird as it successfully looks for fish in the water). I am disappointed that Youtube compresses the videos so some quality is lost. Though there is a rear-view much of the time, the Wood-Rail does turn several times, with nice filtered light hitting it, providing nice views of it's colorful plumage. SeEtta

The Rufous-necked Wood-Rail only showed briefly and very early on Sunday morning so I drove up to the nearby mountains to look for birds there where the temperatures were a lot less than the mid-nineties they have been at Bosque del Apache NWR. When I returned in late afternoon the bird had been out for several hours giving it's usual great views to dozens more birders. It came closer to the far end where I was standing and the light was quite good when I got these photos. I was able to crop these photos larger because the bird was closer. I really like getting these views of it's eyes--they look brownish or even rufous like it's plumage. I can finally see a little of it's whitish chin I have read about plus the following Cornell Lab's Neotropical Birds site : "Dull olive-green back with a triangular gray patch on base of nape." SeEtta

After an absence of more than 30 hours the Rufous-necked Wood-Rail made an appearance last evening after 7 pm. I got the photo above showing the bird with a food item in it's bill that I believe is a very large crawfish (aka crawdad) or similar creature. They are said to eat crabs primarily in their native mangrove habitat but they don't have crabs in New Mexico. It is best seen by clicking on above photo to enlarge it. No food in bottom pic but it shows the colorful yellow base to this bird's large bill.  SeEtta

This shows the Rufous-necked Wood-Rail found by Matt Daw, a highly skilled young birder, at the Bosque del Apache NWR. It is the first report of this species in the United States and has drawn birders from across the U.S. including Hawaii. In this video it is seen foraging in the open water in plain view by myself and other birders who were on a boardwalk over this wetland. Note video taken at 7:55 pm and the light was fading but I did not want to do any editing to avoid distorting this bird's natural and beautiful coloration. SeEtta

So I don't chase rare birds much anymore and have never chased a rarity more than 150 miles. But when I saw this mega-rarity Rufous-necked Wood-Rail was found at Bosque del Apache NWR south of Albuquerque, which is great birding hotspot I haven't been to in some years, and it was being seen with a Least Bittern and they were out in the open--well, I decided there were too many interesting birds there to not drive down. And it has been worth the almost 500 mile drive. The top two pics show the Rufous-necked Wood-Rail as it foraged out in the open in shallow water. I love those bumble-gum pink legs. Pics #3 shows the Wood-Rail in the top of the pic, a Least Bittern out in the open (wow) in the middle and a Green Heron at the bottom--nice foraging friends. Pic # 4 shows the Wood-Rail with just the Least Bittern. SeEtta