Birding Carlsbad, New Mexico

I am linking up with NF Winged   and  Skywatch Friday 

 I think by now everyone knows I went to New Mexico on vacation. One major attraction for hubby was seeing the Carlsbad Caverns and I figured there had to be birds there for me to see. The first day was mainly a travel day and on the second day we visited the Carlsbad Caverns and the national park. I am sharing some birds from the park for my NF Winged entry and I have some sky shots from around the Guadalupe Mountains.

We were up early and on our way to the Carlsbad Cavern National Park when we stopped to watch the sunrise.  

There were many New Mexico birds that were not lifers, like the House Finches above.

The Guadalupe Mountains and the moon seen from the road going into the Carlsbad Caverns National Park.

The Cave Swallows were a lifer.  It was fun watching the Swallows going in and out of the cave.

We hiked into the natural entrance of the caverns, 750 feet down. It was a steep one mile  hike for the Natural Entrance and  took us a little over an hour then we arrived at the BIG room which was another one mile walk.

I was able to watch this American Kestrel while it was watching the Cave Swallows.

For a scenic shot and showing off the pretty blue sky, I am sharing the view of the Cavern hole ( near the left middle of the photo and the seating for the bat flight program. It was cool to experience the bat flight, swarms of bats coming out of the cave.  As more bats poured out of the cave, I could look up in the sky and see the previous swarm of bats. The bats fly around at night eating within 30-50 miles of cave and then return early in the morning. The Cave Swallows wait for them to leave and they go back inside the cave for the night. Photography was not allowed during the bat flight program.

It was cool to watch the moon setting behind the Guadalupe Mountains. I hope you enjoyed my Carlsbad birds and my sky photos. We spent the first three nights in Carlsbad and visited the caverns and park a couple of times.

 Thanks for visiting my post and  blog and I always appreciate your comments.

  Happy Skywatching everyone!

To see more pretty skies from around the world please visit  Skywatch Friday
and to see more of the winged critters check out NF Winged

Thanks to Sylvia, Yogi  and Sandy for hosting Skywatch Friday! Thanks to Monica the host of NF Winged.   I wish everyone a safe and happy weekend.