Fieldnotes 2/23/13 Riverwood Pond in Alamosa

During our daily walks we’d seen more ducks and geese coming to the open water on Riverwood Pond. We understand that parts of the pond stay melted through the winter because of warm thermal springs that flow into the pond. After our walk and prior to a trip to the Alamosa National Wildlife Refuge, we saw:

--Common merganser

--Common goldeneye (male and female)

--Red-headed duck

--Canada geese

--Muskrat

We then drove to the Alamosa National Wildlife Refuge for a hike along the Rio Grande River trail where we saw:

--Marsh hawk (yes, we know the accepted nomenclature is northern harrier, but we prefer the older version of marsh hawk)

--Northern shrike

--Bald eagle

--Red-tailed hawk

--Common ravens

--Two coyotes looking forlorn because they were tied to the ground by four spindly legs