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| Ken's Blog: Rosyfinch Ramblings | Cedar Crest Backyard Birds | Family Home Page |
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ROSY-FINCH
SIGHTINGS &
CORRESPONDENCE
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SANDIA CREST
& CREST ROAD
BIRDING INFORMATION
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BIRDING THE
SANDIAS
&
ALBUQUERQUE AREA
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GENERAL
INFORMATION, PARTNERS,
LINKS,RESEARCH
PLANS & REPORTS
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PHOTOS AND FILM CLIPS | ROSY-FINCH
SPECIES DESCRIPTIONS & BIOLOGY |
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"If
the birds stick here for a few
years, this could easily become the 'canonical' location for worldwide
birders to get their rosyfinches since it is only an hour's drive from
a major international airport and the road is paved, maintained, and
clear throughout the winter." (Jerry
Oldenettel full text)|
CNMAS
RYAN
BEAULIEU YOUTH SCHOLARSHIP ENDOWMENT FUND
Central NM Audubon Society has established an endowed fund in memory of Ryan Beaulieu, the teen who, with his friend Raymond VanBuskirk, sparked the rosy-finch banding operation at Sandia Crest. Raymond, who was seriously injured in the auto accident that took Ryan's life in August, 2005, has recovered and is carrying on the banding with great dedication and enthusiasm. NMOS RYAN BEAULIEU RESEARCH GRANTS KEN'S BLOG: High Fives to an "Awesome" Birder! |
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Enter
a target bird or location in the search box to the right.
Please
provide us with suggestions for additional content. BANDING AND SIGHTINGS CORRESPONDENCE |
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| WebCam
Views-- The golf course camera sometimes updates irregularly. Even though snow may be melting down at the golf course, there may be frequent snow squalls up at the Crest. The parking lots are usually kept clear at Crest House, the ski area, and the Snow Play area. The lower road down to the Capulin Spring "bird log" is closed. There have been past reports of Northern Pygmy-owl sightings, either at the entrance to the Snow Play or the base of the ski area. PAA-KO RIDGE GOLF COURSE LIVE VIEW  The east slope of Sandia Crest
is in the far central background, just to the right (north) of the ski
runs that may be visible when there is snow cover. Click
on the image
for a live
enlarged view of
conditions at the golf course (6,800 feet elevation), two miles north
of the base of the Crest Road,
where it is usually about 11 degrees warmer than at the top. Since the
east slope of the Sandias is heavily forested, the snow line may not be
clearly demarcated. There is usually much more snow on the
ground at Sandia Crest. Check
the weather
and road information links below. KOB-TV CITY CAM
 This
view of downtown Albuquerque (elevation 5,312'), when aiming towards
the east, shows Sandia Crest
(10,678') in the far left background. South Sandia Crest (9,702') is
the higest point in the right background. While snow melts quickly in
the valley and on the west side of the Sandias, it sometimes persists
all winter at Sandia Crest. Click on the image for other
local WebCam views.Don't miss seeing this local PBS documentary about the Sandias that includes a segment on the rosy-finches, now archived on-line. Click on  the thumbnail to the
left, to view the movie on knmetv.org/ The
four chapters of this film document a project for
a one-night spectacular light show, but also delve into the cultural,
geologic and natural history of the mountain. Chapter One describes the
ecology of the
Sandias, and features the rosy-finch banding project near the end.
There are great views of the birds taken at the Crest House, at the
feeders and in the hand, not to mention wonderful photography that
makes me really miss my former mountain home! |
Fran and Dave asked us to remind you that the Crest House Staff allow only five members of the banding crew to enter the Crest House BEFORE opening time to set up , etc. However, they would appreciate it if the other banders, visitors and observers would respect the 9:30am opening time. Prior to the opening time, all the staff have not yet arrived and finished preparing the building for the day. Some of the staff can be seen in the building earlier in the morning because some of them live in the Crest House and because there are things they must do BEFORE opening the doors at 9:30am. Please be considerate and do not plan to observe the banding or the birds from inside the Crest House until after the 9:30am opening time. Fran and Dave also wish to thank those who left seed. Note that if you do wish to donate seed, the "hull-less" or "patio" style is now in use as it poses the least problem with waste. Please do not leave bags of seed outside, as the "critters" quickly get into it. Neither the Crest House or the US Forest Service will accept cash donations, but we do appreciate those who have offered. IMPORTANT Anyone who attempts to ascend the Crest Road during or soon after a snow event should be aware of the dangers. Even our SUV with "low-low 4WD" and limited slip differential sometimes was not up to the task. My best advice to birders bent on seeing the Rosies is to defer visiting until the State Highway Department has had a chance to plow and sand the road, which may be 24 hours after the snow stops falling. The crews do their utmost to clear the first seven miles up to the ski area, but even their big trucks can find the going increasingly difficult as the 8000 foot mark is approached (at about Capulin Spring).The Crest House is a private business that depends on its employees to provide service to the public. It is not unusual for the restaurant and gift shop to remain closed for safety and security reasons if the parking lot is iced over or under 3 foot drifts or if its staff cannot make it to work. The management and staff have been most courteous to birders and welcome our presence even if we do not always make purchases. The banders have often helped the staff open the restaurant by sweeping and arranging tables before opening time at 9:30 AM. I've sometimes been guilty of cluttering the tables with outerwear and blocking the view with my spotting scope while other patrons were trying to enjoy lunch and landscape.Life can be very harsh at 10K feet, and one should not visit without being prepared. I often tell people to plan to visit at least two days, allowing time to adjust to the altitude and provide extra observation time in the event the birds or the weather do not cooperate. Dress warmly so that you can observe the birds from outside the Crest House if necessary. Following are a few more suggestions about how birders may increase their enjoyment and extend courtesy to others while visiting the Crest House. |
 Black
Rosy-Finch
through
windows of Deck at Crest House JAN 30 2003 Canon A40/ KOWA 77mm x 20
zoom
(Click on picture for larger image) ©
Ken
Schneider
GENERAL INFORMATION AND GUIDELINES ABOUT OBSERVING ROSY-FINCHES AT CREST HOUSEPlease
sign the log near front door -- Gene Romero, Resident Manager, and the
staff at Crest
House expect the finches
to attract many visitors, and we believe that birders are having a
positive impact on business. Show your
support by
purchasing souvenirs and food. Rosy-Finch Patches, Pins and
T-shirts
are now
available. Sales of these items tell the merchant that
birders
are important to the local economy!
A word about counting -- we count the largest number (total and species) seen at any one time during our period of observation. Therefore the numbers may not add up. For example, one day we saw a flock of over seventy birds, in which Black and Gray-crowned Rosy-Finches predominated, with only 4 Brown-capped species. They departed and were promptly replaced by a small flock of 16 with 10 Brown-capped individuals. We reported 10 Brown-cap's and 35 Blacks, based on the separate counts. The feeders need filling every two to three days and Fran and Dave can not always get up there. Join the cadre of volunteers who are willing to help out. Thanks to those who have left donations of seed in secure bags (sealed or zip-lock; Hull-less "Patio Mix," or hulled sunflower seed only-- NO MIXED SEED!). Please give it to the US Forest Service volunteer at the Visitors Center near the gift shop door, or to Gene Romero or one of the Crest House staff. (Cash donations cannot be accepted, but thanks for offering). If you happen to see that the feeders need filling, please notify Fran and or Dave, or do it yourself. There is a small supply of seed under the desk at the Visitors Center. NOTE that the deck feeder is always stocked with hull-less seed to reduce the amount of litter. Do not ask Crest House staff to fill the feeders. They have their own work to do, and our volunteer project is carried out through the courtesy of Sunwest Silver Company and Crest House management. Please do not scatter seed on the ground or pavement. Do thank the staff of the Crest House for their hospitality and consider purchasing souvenirs and snacks. Crest House is a private business that operates in a newly expanded private building constructed on land that is leased from the US Forest Service. Keep in mind that non-birding customers and visitors have every right to enjoy the view from the deck, even when their activities may cause the birds to stay away from the deck feeder. Take advantage of every chance to orient visitors to these unique birds. Allowing them a brief glimpse through your scope or binoculars may turn some of them into birders for life, or at least help them understand why you are enjoying a different view from the Crest House. More than once we have noticed they gain respect for your wishes not to flush the birds, and may even become "lookouts" for the next flock! Please keep your coats and equipment off the dining tables, so that other visitors are free to sit down and eat. When you get home, be sure to enter your observations into the Cornell Lab of Ornithology data base at eBird.org. Following are two contributions, one each from Sandy Williams and Hart Schwarz, both respected New Mexico ornithologists. They address the historical presence of Rosy-Finches at Sandia Crest. HISTORY OF ROSY-FINCHES AT SANDIA CREST AND IN NEW MEXICOThe three rosy-finch species seen at Sandia Crest are: Black Rosy-Finch (Leucosticte atrata), Brown-capped Rosy-Finch (Leucosticte australis), and Gray-crowned Rosy- Finch (Leucosticte tephrocotis).Sartor (Sandy) Williams is Editor of New Mexico Ornithological Society Field Notes and Chair of the New Mexico Bird Records Committee. He searched the NMOS archives and provided us with the following information: Here are a few comments on the history of Rosy-Finches at Sandia Crest and on breeding by Brown-capped Rosy-Finches in New Mexico that may be of some interest or use in your overall summary of the situation: Sandia Crest: In looking back over the history of Rosy-Finches in NM, it turns out that Sandia Crest has a fairly long history of hosting these birds. The earliest record I find for the Sandias generally is January 1954, although the earliest record that specifically mentions "Sandia Crest" seems to be a flock of 40 on 26 Nov 1955. Records become more and more numerous through the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. Fair sized flocks were being reported by the early 1980s (e.g., up to 85 on 8 Jan 1981). Seasonally early are reports of 60 there 8-13 Nov 1987 and 13 there on 8 Nov 1992; these dates may be a little earlier than some of the more recent early arrival dates. Summering/Breeding in NM: There seems to be some confusion or misunderstanding regarding breeding by Rosy-Finches in NM. The Brown-capped is the breeding species of the Southern Rockies, nesting from southern Wyoming, through Colorado, to northern New Mexico. The specific name "australis" refers to this "southern" distribution. There are now summering and/or breeding records for most of the higher peaks in the Sangre de Cristo Mts in NM; from north to south these are Stateline, Costilla, Latir, Gold Hill, and Wheeler in the northern Sangres and Jicarita, Truchas, Pecos Baldy, Lake, and Tesuque in the southern Sangres. While some of these reports are among the earliest records we have of Rosy-Finches anywhere in NM (e.g., on Wheeler Peak 20-30 July 1904), most date from the 1970s or later, and a number of them were obtained incidental to work with White-tailed Ptarmigan. Although there are late May records, most of these records fall within the dates 26 June-22 August. To my knowledge, only one nest has been discovered in NM. It was found and photographed by Paul Hendricks below Lake Peak in the cirque above Nambe Lake, where he observed a pair feeding nestlings 21-22 August 1976. Given the nature of the habitat where these finches nest, it is not too surprising that only one nest has been documented. Return to top of page
VISIT TO THE CREST HOUSE ON 3-13-2003By Hart R. Schwarz(Hart is a Neotropical Bird Specialist with the Cibola National Forest) THE
ROSY-FINCH PHENOMENON: Ken Schneider of Cedar
Crest,
NM has put the wintering Rosy Finches on the map, but
they didn't suddenly appear in 1999 when Ken first saw them.
They were conspicuously present in 1974 when I arrived in Albuquerque
and had been reported from the Crest as early as the
1950’s. And for hundreds, nay thousands of years, they have
undoubtedly
visited the Sandias from early November through late March, just as
they do today—only no one was there to notice them. Half a
century ago there were but a handful of birders in the Albuquerque
area, and they were sorely challenged and precluded by a dirt road
well nigh impassable in the depth of winter. Today we take
easy access for granted, but it wasn't always so!
In any case, Ken decided against chasing the finches up and down the Crest trail as we were wont to do in years gone by, and instead scattered seeds in the parking lot to attract them in 1999; subsequently, he was instrumental in getting three feeders put up near the Crest House in 2002, one of which is just outside on the patio, affording good viewing even from inside the building. This proved to be a great arrangement for local birders, who could always be assured that a roving flock would cruise in from time to time. But Ken took his finchophilia a step further by creating a comprehensive and very popular web site devoted to the Rosy Finches, an accomplishment which has sparked world-wide interest in these fascinating birds that hail from frigid arctic wastes to spend the winter months in the comparative balm of New Mexico. In other words, Ken, with an assist from the Internet, has catapulted our Rosy Finches into undreamed-of heights of notoriety. Yes, the Rosies have always been here, but never has it been so easy to enjoy them! MY OWN RECENT ENCOUNTER WITH THE ROSY FINCHES: As it had been quite some time since I had last visited the Crest House, or the Rosy Finches for that matter, I was astonished not only to see the “new” facility and its greatly expanded interior, but also the beautiful deck or patio where the primary feeder with the hulled sunflower seeds is located. Even with the presence of these feeders, the Rosy Finches spend most of their time cruising the crest and the canyons below, swirling and dipping across their rugged terrain in coordinated flight and always on the lookout for yet another place to feed. But every hour or two, they would fly in, settle on the tops of nearby trees and then, when the coast was clear, descend en masse onto the deck feeder, filling it to capacity like so many bees in a honeycomb. Then, after a few minutes and their hunger abated, they rose up as a body to resume their freewheeling lifestyle beyond the ken of the earthbound. During the four hours or so of enjoying the deck and the local birds hanging out near the feeder, the Rosy Finches appeared four times in flocks numbering from twenty to eighty individuals. Virtually all the birds were Brown-capped Rosy-Finches and Black Rosy-Finches, with the former outnumbering the latter about two to one. The Gray-crowned Rosy-Finches already seemed to have departed for their summer homes, perhaps because they have to travel farther than their comrades—all the way up to Alaska, the Yukon and British Columbia. Only a couple of Hepburn’s had remained behind, as well as two or three indeterminate ones, having a hint of gray flaring out behind the eyes. Since Gray-crowns are said to show the least sexual dimorphism (Bent), and therefore likely to show the least attenuation of their classic field guide images, it is not inconceivable that these faded-looking birds were female Blacks. By the end of March even these stragglers will return to their frosty homes, the formidable bastions of the high Rockies, where, with White-tailed Ptarmigans and American Pipits, they will go another round in the eternal game of survival against the elements. Perhaps the sunflower seeds they enjoyed in the Sandias will give them a little extra edge! Weather Conditions, Forecast and Fire Closures:SUBTRACT ABOUT 11 DEGREES FROM CEDAR CREST TEMPERATURE FOR SANDIA CREST TEMPERATURE.ROAD CONDITIONS (NM-536, NM-14, I-40) or call Road Advisory Hotline at: 1-800-432-4269.FIRE CLOSURES AND Cibola National Forest InformationWEBCAMS that show current weather conditions:VIEW SANDIA CREST FROM THE EAST, and current conditions at Paa-ko Ridge Golf Course (6800 feet elevation), a couple of miles north of the intersection of NM-14 and the road to the Crest. Sandia Crest is in the right background.VIEWS OF ALBUQUERQUESandia Ranger Station in Tijeras (505-281-3304) Winter Hours: 8:00am-4:30pm Monday through Friday; Closed Saturday and Sundays. The Sandia Crest Visitor Center (505-248-0190) is no longer staffed because of budget restrictions.Return to top of page
Generous fit, high quality, heavyweight T-shirts, Gildan Ultra Cotton Ts, 100% cotton; 6.1 oz., with a Screen-printed design. They are pre-shrunk, have a taped neck and shoulders, and double needle stitching throughout the garment. Light Blue or Athletic Gray, in sizes M, L and XL, with either large or small logo. (Designed and marketed by Ken Schneider). Rosy-Finch Cloth Patch NOW ON SALE AT CREST HOUSE! Round, 3 inch, 7 color, fully embroidered. (Designed Ken Schneider). Metal Rosy-Finch Lapel Pin ON SALE NOW AT CREST HOUSE! Round, 1 inch solid brass, black nickel metal coated and filled with 5 colors, covered by clear epoxy dome. Ideal for the tourist and serious "lister" to wear on vest or hat. (Designed by Ken Schneider)  3" Cloth
Patch
  1" Metal Pin |
