Who would think of New Mexico like this? A pond with cattails
and an island with ducks doesn't immediately spring to mind. I don't
have a good zoom lens on my digital camera; otherwise I would have
gotten a close-up of the ducks on that island.
Here's the best picture I could get of all the hummingbirds zipping around the feeder hanging over the pond at the Rio Grande Nature Center.
In this picture you can't see the hummingbirds so well, but you
can see the five turtles lined up on the logs sticking up out of the
water.
Maybe you can't see the hummingbird that's sitting on the left side of
the feeder very well. It was getting very cloudy and threatening to
rain (but it didn't), and it's much shadier in the bosque along the
river. What I really wanted to show is that the Nature Center hangs up
these gallon jug feeders for the hummingbirds. We didn't see as many
this time. When we were there a couple of years ago, there were dozens
and dozens of them flying around the feeder, fighting over territory as
they always do.
The Rio Grande Nature Center is in the middle of Albuquerque along
the Rio Grande River, and it's a great little park. They have hiking
trails all through the park and paved jogging and biking trails for
more than 10 miles along the river. The nature center building has
classrooms and exhibits of the varied birds and wildlife in the area
and the evolution of the river. It used to be about 1/3 mile farther
to the east until a huge flood in 1922 when the river actually changed
course. Where Rio Grande Boulevard is now is where the river used to be.
Even though they're only a short distance away, they have some birds
there that we don't have here, just 1/3 of a mile from the river.
Albuquerque is way more than just the place where Bugs Bunny made a "wrong toyne."
