I had plans for long excursions out of Las Cruces, but after the schlep from Santa Fe, followed by a round trip to White Sands NP the next day, I looked in Howe et al.’s New Mexico Bird Finding Guide (4/e, 2021) for some choice spots locally in Doña Ana County. Howe suggested Mesilla Valley Bosque State Park, also known locally as the “Old Refuge.” Like many of the sites I visited on this trip, there were bird feeders out front before the visitor center/park office buildings, mixed in with the usual scrub, with a courtyard and garden behind, enclosed by the low-slung buildings. Many White-crowned Sparrows at the feeders; WCSPs were almost ubiquitous in New Mexico.
Just off the courtyard/garden, there was a simple blind (just panels with viewports cut out) looking on to an open lot. Merlin reported that it heard Gambel’s Quail (Callipepla gambelii), a secondary target bird for this trip, in the vicinity of the blind. Hmm. Intriguing, but no quail to be seen.
Two park staff strolled by, and explained that a Great Horned Owl had snagged a skunk, its remains hanging somewhere in the courtyard. “Ah, that explains the sewer smell I’m getting.”
I started following the park trails, and after about half a mile I saw some distant bird activity scratching around under the scrub. Not a good look, but maybe I was looking at quail?
Some time later, I noticed another bird also scratching under some scrub. This turned out to be a Crissal Thrasher (Toxostoma crissale), an unexpected lifer.
I continued around the Upland Trail. I found a mysterious plant, green fleshy leaves, in a loose basal rosette, and with a pale central vein. It just looked out of place and possibly exotic, so I snapped some pics and took a precise GPS reading.
Nearing the end of the Upland Trail loop, I spotted a prime target bird, Greater Roadrunner (Geococcyx californianus). This was not a lifer, but the only other time I’d seen a roadrunner was a “B” look, many years ago, and I couldn’t absolutely affirm that I had seen my bird then. This time at MVBSP, it was an “A,” and I got good photos to document it.
So I was feeling pretty good for the trip, and I headed back toward Maria the Ford Edge.* Back at the blind, I found the second of two Common Side-blotched Lizards (Uta stansburiana). Apparently this species has a fan club. My observations were featured in an iNat post by Pete Zani.
I was still curious about the green plant standing out among the dust and tan and sage green. So I stuck my head into the park office to ask about it. (I didn’t see any other doors with activity behind them.) I was greeted by one of the park staff who had gleefully called out the skunk carcass; he said, “I can help you outside.” (Apparently a faux pas to barge into to the office uninvited.) Out in the courtyard, my staffer explained that my plant was some species of native dock. “They start sprouting in February-March, but they’re a bit stunted because it’s been so dry.” In the end, iNat and my Audubon guide identified it as Canaigre Dock (Rumex hymenosepalus).
I thanked him and walked out front. The Gambel’s Quail were at the feeders! With one bird perched on the roof of a building, keeping an eye on things. The birds on the ground were rather shy—I got one usable photo.
One of seven new birds for me for this trip.
*Maria will be introduced more fully in a forthcoming post.
I did the short walk on the Playa Trail, and then across the road I did the longer Dune Life Nature Trail (pic). I spotted a Southern Checkered White (Pontia protodice) (I was so surprised to find a butterfly in February that my first thought was that it must be a moth) and what turned out to be Sagebrush Sparrow (Artemisiospiza nevadensis). The sparrow would have been a lifer, but I can’t really say that I saw enough of it to make my own identification. So we’ll get it next time.
