Carlsbad Caverns National Park: Rattlesnake Springs

Noelle has had some recent issues with sciatica due to her pregnancy. It can be painful for her to walk at times. We decided to do something that wouldn't require too much walking. With the cool temperatures and overcast skies, we decided to head over to Rattlesnake Springs to see if we could see some birds.

We arrived at around 10 am and quickly saw some interesting birds like summer tanagers and vermillion flycatchers.

The more we looked around the more birds we saw.

We made a list of over 20 species. Here is the list:

• summer tanager
• northern Cardinal
• house finch
• black-chinned hummingbird
• mockingbird
• lesser goldfinch
• yellow-breasted chat
• indigo bunting
• mallard
• chipping sparrow
• vermillion flycatcher
• ladder-backed woodpecker
• painted bunting
• white-winged dove
• wild turkey
• western kingbird
• barn swallow
• Lazuli bunting
• blue grosbeak
• turkey vulture
• ash-throated flycatcher?

After walking around on our bird search we had a nice picnic lunch amongst the cottonwood trees.

Besides birds we also saw a turtle in the pond

and some wildflowers.

Desert Prickly Poppy

Mexican hat

It was a great birding day as it was the first time I had seen many of these species including the painted bunting and the vermillion flycatcher. We'll have to head back there again to see what else we can see!