Birds of the Pajarito Plateau

Text by Michele Altherr and Hari Viswanathan
Photographs by Hari Viswanathan and others

Have you ever had your day brightened by watching a carefree little bird hop about in your yard? Whether you are a casual observer or an avid birder, there is always more to learn about birds. When identifying birds, grab your binoculars and start by noticing some of its features. Try comparing its size to something you know. Notice its shape including head, tail, and beak. Check for color and special markings from head to toe. Watch for habits of behavior when it is perched, feeding, and flying. With time, voice and songs will become more familiar. Remember that males are usually more brightly colored whereas females wear more inconspicuous colors for nesting. Notice the time of year. Songbirds molt yearly, usually in the fall. With their new feathers, migratory birds head south, usually by safety of night. The stay-at-homes seek out the best local food source. After you've made all your observations, go to a bird guide and look it up.

Birds need food, water, shelter, and a safe place to hide, yet these are dwindling worldwide. You can provide for them. Birds have diverse diets, and observing their beaks will give you a clue as to what they eat. Their natural foods include insects, worms, nuts, berries, fruits and seeds. At your backyard feeder, sunflower seeds, mixed seeds, millet, peanut butter mix, and fruits are a few treats you can try. The sound of dripping water is a magnet for birds who use it for drinking, bathing and frolicking. If your water source is three feet above ground or has a perch, the birds can watch for predators. Birds are finicky about nesting sites and manmade nesting boxes. You'll notice that many birds depend on snags - standing dead trees - for nesting sites. If you would like to entice birds to a nesting box, put the box up before the early birds arrive, and clean out old nests. Birds like wild overgrown backyards. Creating a garden with many varieties of plants provides for diverse food sources. Berry bushes (currant, hawthorn, chokecherry, and juniper) and wildflowers (sunflowers and beebalm) are good sources of food and hiding places for birds. Hazards for birds include cats, windows, and squirrels and deer that often beat them to the bird feeder. You can keep your cat indoors, paste a silhouette of a hawk on your window, and look for feeders with slippery umbrellas or cages. Birds are wonderful to watch and listen to, so go outside today and notice the birds in your backyard.

Local bird information, photos, and other resources

• See list below, which has links to pages of photographs. The list is arranged (approximately) according to the New Mexico Ornithological Society checklist.
• Join PEEC Birders. This is our local birding group, affiliated with PEEC.
• Data from e-Bird for Los Alamos County (pdf file, 700 Kb).
• What's That Bird powerpoint presentation about 20 of the common birds of Los Alamos, by Dave Yeamans 2011 (ppt format, 39 Mb).
• The Atlas of Breeding Birds of Los Alamos County is an amazing resource. A copy is available at PEEC.
• Bird Checklist (.doc format, version July 2009) for the Pajarito Plateau. This is a printable version of the list below.
• Slide show of local birds on PEEC's Flickr page.
• Slide show of North American birds on Hari Viswanathan's web site.

About the photos on the pages below

Most of the birds on the pages below were photographed by the Viswanathans in their yard on Barranca Mesa, which is a certified backyard wildlife habitat. By providing food, shelter, cover and water, they have seen an amazing variety of birds over the years. An additional advantage of their yard is that it is sandwiched between two canyons, making it a major flyway for migratory species.

Photos have also been provided by Chick & Yvonne Keller, Dave Yeamans, Tom & Becky Shankland, Stephen Fettig, and Bob Walker.