Santa Fe Area Bird-watching

This Tour Comes From...

National Geographic Guide to Birdwatching Sites, Western U.S.

For more National Geographic travel guides—from Europe to Antarctica and everywhere in between—visit National Geographic Books >>

Travelers on I-25 in northeastern New Mexico can find good birding just minutes from the interstate at Maxwell National Wildlife Refuge, noted for migrant waterfowl, winter raptors, and some interesting breeding species. From Maxwell, 25 miles [40.2 kilometers] south of Raton, drive north less than a mile on New Mexico 445, turn west on New Mexico 505, and drive 2.5 miles [4 kilometers] to the refuge entrance on the north. CONTINUED

- Sandia Crest

(Continued From Top)

Proceed up Hyde Park Road, also called the Santa Fe Scenic Byway (New Mexico 475), toward the Santa Fe Ski Area. Stop at Hyde Memorial State Park to look for Steller’s Jay, Mountain Chickadee, Red-breasted and Pygmy Nuthatches, Brown Creeper, and Western Tanager. As the road climbs, watch for a parking area at Aspen Vista, where an old road, now a hiking trail, makes for easy walking. Clark’s Nutcrackers give their harsh kra-a-a call, and lucky birders might see a Blue Grouse here or higher. The road ends at a large parking lot at the ski area at 10,400 feet [3,169.9 meters], where the Windsor Trail leads up to 12,622-foot [3,847.2-meter] Santa Fe Baldy through aspen, blue and Engelmann spruce, and white fir. Williamson’s Sapsucker, Three-toed Woodpecker, Gray Jay, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Townsend’s Solitaire, Pine Grosbeak, Red Crossbill, and Pine Siskin are among the birds you might find as you explore this beautiful forest.

Sandia Crest

Evening light spills over Sandia Crest, the highest point of the Sandia Mountains.

Photograph © David Muench/Corbis

Look for many of these montane species on the way up to 10,678-foot [3,254.7-meter] Sandia Crest, just northeast of Albuquerque. Drive east about 15 miles [24.1 kilometers] on I-40, drive north on New Mexico 14 for 6 miles [9.7 kilometers], then turn northwest on New Mexico 536, also known as the Sandia Crest Byway. As the highway winds up into the Sandia Mountains, several Cibola National Forest picnic areas and trails offer birding opportunities. Listen for the American Robin-like song of Black-headed Grosbeak in the oak-pine-juniper woods at Sulphur Canyon picnic area, as well as the fluting of Hermit Thrush. Other nesting species you’ll find as you ascend include Band-tailed Pigeon, White-throated Swift, Red-naped Sapsucker, Dusky and Cordilleran Flycatchers, Steller’s Jay, Common Raven, Virginia’s and Grace’s Warblers, and Dark-eyed Junco.
Back down in the lowlands (relatively speaking) of Albuquerque itself, the Rio Grande creates a narrow green oasis along the west side of the city. Set in a riparian forest of cottonwoods and willows (and introduced Russian olives), the Rio Grande Nature Center State Park offers fine birding just a few minutes from I-40. To reach it, take Rio Grande Boulevard north from I-40 for 1.5 miles [2.4 kilometers] and turn left on Candelaria Road. Typical breeding birds you’ll find along the trails include Gambel’s Quail, Western Screech-Owl, Black-chinned Hummingbird (Calliope, Broad-tailed, and Rufous appear at feeders in migration), Western Wood-Pewee, Black and Say’s Phoebes, Ash-throated Flycatcher, Cliff Swallow, Black-capped Chickadee, Bewick’s Wren, Chipping Sparrow, Blue Grosbeak, Bullock’s Oriole, and Lesser Goldfinch.
A 3-acre [1.2-hectare] pond by the center is home to Pied-billed Grebe, Great Blue Heron, Black-crowned Night-Heron, Wood Duck, and a variety of other waterbirds. The number of species found here swells in spring and fall, when the Rio Grande bosque (Spanish for “woodland”) serves as a corridor for migratory birds; vagrant eastern species such as Tennessee, Black-throated Blue, and Hooded Warblers occasionally put in an appearance.