Rattlesnake Springs provides provides a unique westernmost winter home for a few eastern birds that we'd never seen before. So, off we went with modest hopes, back into the wide flat rolling country to which we were growing so accustomed.
Our hopes, being modest, were well fulfilled, despite its being a very quiet morning. As we wandered around the spring's large pool, stumbling quickly upon our first ever Brown Thrasher sifting through leaf litter in a dark thicket. Unfortunately we never got a complete and un-obscured view of the bird, but we were able to admire his surprisingly warm reddish-brown back and lean shape. After wandering about, enjoying Wild Turkeys, lots of sparrows, spooking a Great Horned Owl from its roost tree, and finding Northern Cardinals and Pyrrhuloxia together in their vermilion splendor, we came back to the pool and found an Eastern Phoebe had joined its western cousins - allowing us to enjoy all three Phoebe species in one place!
Wild Turkeys at Rattlesnake SpringsWe missed a lot of potential birds there, some of which would have been new (Scaled Quail and Northern Bobwhite would have been awesome), but we were far from disappointed. On our way out we dropped by some bathrooms and were surprised to see two young raccoons in a neighboring tree! And, on our way back to the highway, we found a cooperative Greater Roadrunner.
From then on, we just drove to Socorro. We drove north through flat oil country before stopping for lunch at a park in Roswell - a bigger town than I had expected and with fewer alien-themed buildings (though there were quite a few). Then we drove through flat country and some hills before arriving at Socorro around dusk. That night we ate at the Socorro Springs Brewing Company. Great food - best meal of the trip by far.
A few pictures can be found at the usual place: Carlsbad to Socorro set.
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