SAN LUIS VALLEY — Bird watching is a year-round event. However, it is useful to look back on the year and re-live and assess those important encounters we had with birds. Recalling bird observations brings back to life those special and meaningful moments of our bird encounters. It also reminds us how birds can touch our lives with beauty, grace, and excitement.  

For over 40 years now I have tracked the birds of the San Luis Valley (SLV) and adjacent mountains. It is a passion for me, and it helps us better understand the great diversity of habitats and birds we have in this rich Valley. Tracking birds was an early form of citizen science and I recorded the contributed observations from scores of birders over four decades. That database, started in 1982, now includes over 2,000 bird observations from many different sources.  

Birds are amazing in so many ways, and they are remarkably resourceful. I am a witness to this on every visit to Alamosa Walmart, where I see numerous Great-tailed Grackles feasting on the bits of food we humans drop in the parking lot. This bird is creative and adaptive and is utilizing something that otherwise would be wasted. And they do this as an act of unpaid public service, making the lot cleaner, and for no charge at all. 

The past year produced generous amounts of bird contributions from the field. One of the more significant was a Grace’s Warbler found by Dan Maynard, Mark Peterson and Tyler Stuart on May 14, 2024, at the Mogote Campground. The bird has been seen at this campground in the past but is not present consistently. It is normally a breeder in the pine forests of southern New Mexico and Arizona. There are very few records for this species in the SLV.  

In other news, the Bald Eagles that nested on the Alamosa National Wildlife Refuge in 2023 did not return to nest in 2024, according to local birder Evert Brown. They raised young there in 2023.  

This past year brought two new species to the SLV. On Oct. 23, 2024, John Cobb from Crestone recorded and photographed a San Luis Valley first Zone-tailed Hawk. This species normally occurs in the southern half of New Mexico. Raptor Biologist Dale Stahlecker of Santa Fe said this is one species that should be expected periodically in our Valley since their breeding range is not too distant.  

The other new species was a Parasitic Jaeger found by the author at Blanca Wetlands in August. This species is a pelagic species meaning it spends much of its time on the open ocean. They breed in the arctic and then migrate south inland through North America to the oceans of Central and South America. The name “parasitic” is due to the tendency of this bird to harass gulls with food items, making the gulls drop the item for the pilfering bird. These two new species bring the total San Luis Valley birds to 369 species, according to the author’s records. The two additions are consistent in that we find 1 to 3 new species each year.  

We can celebrate the closure of 2024 for the wonderful birds we saw and look with anticipation for the year ahead. I hope to advance the concepts of birds and birding by working with a local Veterans group later this year. Recently, books have been written about the therapeutic benefits of birding (“Ornitherapy” by Merker, et. al). I look forward to working with this new group.  

I encourage you all to support bird conservation organizations and find a way to participate here in the San Luis Valley. Once again, I will be leading a short birdwalk as part of the Monte Vista Crane Festival in March. Bird watchers of all levels can participate. So come on out and join in a local birdwalk. And who knows, you just might make 2025 the year you started birdwatching.