Totah Sam

So jealous. Such a beautiful bird.

Beautiful bird and great captures. ❤️

I spent one summer as a young man in Canyon De Chelly. I spent a lot of time around Spider Rock looking down from the several overlooks and admiring the view. This was the place where Spider Grandmother taught the Navajo how to weave. Several times I observed the Ravens riding the thermals and using the updrafts to flip over on their backs and fly upside down. It seemed like they were playing games with each other. Reminds me of the story of how Coyote lost his beautiful eyes to prankster birds. They replaced his eyes with pine pitch which is why coyotes have yellow eyes to this day. God I'm getting old. I was amazed at the intelligence and ingenuity of the ravens in that area. ❤️

About a year ago someone from Durango posted pics of purple finches and was verified by people on here. I don't know why everyone is up in arms about this. I merely stated what has been posted here previously. I'm sorry if I've ruffled some feathers. I'll stick to lurking from here on out.

O.o Purple Finches are the bane of my existence. 70 miles to the north (Durango, Co) they have so many purple finches you can't shake a stick without hitting one. Down here in NW New Mexico? Nothing. I've been looking for YEARS. >=(

It's definitely a sparrow. I'd say Song Sparrow but I'll let the experts identify it.

NW New Mexico between Shiprock and Farmington. Caught these earlier tonight. Can anyone identify them? Merry Christmas!

such a beautiful bird. great shot. ❤️

1. Western Bluebird?

Handsome little fella

3. Blue-throated Mountain-gem (wow) 6. Broad-billed (wow again) I think I'm moving to SE AZ. 😛

Roadrunners being the state bird of New Mexico I've only seen one many years ago when I was a young whipper-snapper. Of course I wasn't into birds. I was into myself. Which is typical for a teenager. The whole world revolves around them. Anyway. I walked out into my front yard and saw one dart from under a car and dash towards the river. Never attempted to fly. Just ran it's little legs off. I think that's going to be life goal of mine to get one photographed. I tried to sneak up on it to get another look but it was gone. Not even a feather to mark its passing. I also remember large herds of antelope moving back and forth between Colorado (Ute Reservation) and New Mexico (Navajo reservation). We would spend Easter camping out under a mesa with an area where you could jump off the cliffs into deep sand. It was fun and terrifying at the same time. We would sit on the top of the mesa and watch the antelope graze and migrate north or south depending on the whim of the herd. We could watch them for hours. Then they built a powerplant right in the middle of their migration area and the herds are now gone. Makes me sad sometimes but I still have my birds. Addendum: Forgot to add that one of the very first birds I saw when I moved into this house (after my house of 40 years burned to the ground) was a Phainopepla. That was my sign that everything was going to be alright. double edit: oh god I'm so sorry. I'm an old fart and I messed this up. I'm so sorry.

Roadrunners being the state bird of New Mexico I've only seen one many years ago when I was a young whipper-snapper. Of course I wasn't into birds. I was into myself. Which is typical for a teenager. The whole world revolves around them. Anyway. I walked out into my front yard and saw one dart from under a car and dash towards the river. Never attempted to fly. Just ran it's little legs off. I think that's going to be life goal of mine to get one photographed. I tried to sneak up on it to get another look but it was gone. Not even a feather to mark its passing. I also remember large herds of antelope moving back and forth between Colorado (Ute Reservation) and New Mexico (Navajo reservation). We would spend Easter camping out under a mesa with an area where you could jump off the cliffs into deep sand. It was fun and terrifying at the same time. We would sit on the top of the mesa and watch the antelope graze and migrate north or south depending on the whim of the herd. We could watch them for hours. Then they built a powerplant right in the middle of their migration area and the herds are now gone. Makes me sad sometimes but I still have my birds. 😛

I have a pair that show up every year and camp out in my mulberry tree. Such a beautiful song. 🙂

I'm in NW New Mexico. I have a new bird to hunt. Didn't even know they were a possibility. ❤️