I convinced Molly we should visit the Randall Davey Audubon Center this morning. It’s location is up a canyon which has a small stream that actually has water in it (unusual for this dry climate). Much to my surprise when we arrived at sunrise, the center was closed all day Sunday! I never expected it to be open at sunrise, but found it sad that a center which should be encouraging support of birding would be closed on a weekend day.

By contrast in the middle of winter, in a very remote part of Minnesota, we keep the Sax-Zim Bog Welcome Center open seven days per week. Our organization … The Friends of Sax-Zim Bog, unlike Audubon,  is NOT flush with money. However we do our darnedest to support birding. Audubon of New Mexico might be advised to learn from our example. Most people work during the week, and if we want the population at large to support our conservation efforts, closing on Sundays when most people might be able to visit is not a good policy.

Thankfully, across the street from the gated off Audubon Center was a nature preserve which had been purchased by Nature’s Conservancy. Thus, I still had plenty of opportunity to bird and enjoy the beautiful morning including two lifers for me, the Mountain Chickadee and Pinyon Jay! Here are a few photos from my expedition.

Spotted Towhee

Western or California Scrub Jay (a lifer for me … even though I was in a nature preserve, there must have been a feeder somewhere near by with peanuts!)

Mountain Chickadee (a lifer for me)

Townsend Solitaire