Birding

If birding is your passion and you want the ultimate birding experience, come and bird in Elephant Butte. Our Sierra County has many hundreds of different species and no less than 3 Audubon Important Bird Areas (IBA). Audubon has listed Elephant Butte Reservoir as a Premier IBA. The pristine natural environment around Elephant Butte allows year round presence of many birds however, spring and fall birding are the best birding seasons because Elephant Butte Reservoir and the Rio Grande river is within the flyway of many migratory birds.

Pyrrhuloxia

The diverse habitats around Elephant Butte provide bird lovers a spectacular view of a multitude of shore birds; such as American White Pelicans, thousands of Western and Clark’s Grebes, several terns and unusual gulls. Inland you can see pyrrhuloxia, mockingbirds, verdin, roadrunners and a variety of hawks, vultures, woodpeckers, sparrows, and hummingbirds. In the fall, the skies are often filled with migrating birds. You can see them especially in the early morning sky taking flight in search of food along the Rio Grande and between Elephant Butte and Caballo Reservoirs.

American White Pelicans

Below the dam, Paseo del Rio Park is situated in a riparian canyon along the river. Because many miles of open desert and lake stretch to the north, this area is a migrant trap. From Paseo del Rio Park, continue north on the west side of Elephant Butte Lake on a paved road with side-roads leading toward the lake. Some of the better birding spots are the Dam Site Marina, Elephant Butte Resort Marina, Hot Springs Landing, Rock Canyon Marina (check the breakwater for gulls), Long Point, Three Sisters Point, South Monticello Point, and North Monticello Point (check for shorebirds, gulls, terns, waders, and ducks). Loons are more common at the southern end of the lake. All of these are worth checking, but if time is limited, Rock Canyon Marina and North Monticello Point are the best birding spots on the lake. (this paragraph courtesy New Mexico Department of Game and Fish from the New Mexico Birding Trails pamphlet)