Birds of New Mexico

The New Mexico Bird Records Committee had 552 species on the state list as of August 2022, and the reason is elevation. The state runs from Chihuahuan Desert in the south to spruce and fir above 10,000 feet in the north, and the Rio Grande cuts a green ribbon of cottonwoods down the dry middle that every migrating bird follows.

Most New Mexicans live along that river, in Albuquerque, Las Cruces and Santa Fe, and the everyday album is a desert-city one: House Finches on the rooftops, doves on the wires, ravens on the streetlights, and a towhee scratching under the juniper.

The New Mexico album

These are the 100 birds people report most often in New Mexico, ranked by how frequently they turn up. The common and uncommon ones are shown; the rare and legendary cards stay face down until you catch them in the game.

Backyard birds you will hear first

The House Finch leads the album, a long, scratchy warble from the top of a cottonwood or a stucco wall in every month. The Mourning Dove is second and the White-winged Dove fifth, and the two of them coo over Albuquerque all summer; the White-winged Dove's who cooks for you rhythm is the one that gets reported as an owl. The Common Raven is third, a deep croak from the mesa edge and the gas station sign alike.

The Spotted Towhee scratches loudly in the dead leaves under the junipers and buzzes a trill from the top of the bush. The Northern Flicker calls kleer from the river cottonwoods, the Lesser Goldfinch whines from the sunflowers, and Say's Phoebe whistles a sad, down-slurred pee-ur from the fence post. Dark-eyed Juncos and White-crowned Sparrows arrive in October and winter under the feeder.

The regions, by ear

The Rio Grande valley

The bosque, the cottonwood forest along the river, is the busiest habitat in the state. Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge south of Socorro was established in 1939 on 57,331 acres of floodplain, managed wetland and desert grassland, and every winter from late November to mid-February it holds thousands of Sandhill Cranes and more than 10,000 Snow and Ross's Geese. The morning fly-out, when the geese lift off the ponds all at once, is the loudest sound in New Mexico. 408 species have been recorded on the refuge since 1964.

Albuquerque and the Sandias

The Sandia Mountains stand right over the city and climb to 10,678 feet at the crest, through four life zones: juniper and pinyon at the bottom, ponderosa pine from about 7,200 feet, mixed conifer, and spruce and fir on top. One drive takes you from towhees and Canyon Wrens to Steller's Jays and Mountain Chickadees.

Santa Fe, Taos and the north

Pinyon-juniper, ponderosa and the Sangre de Cristo range. At Bandelier National Monument, Steller's Jays, Canyon Towhees and Mountain Chickadees stay all year, and Western Tanagers and Black-headed Grosbeaks come for the summer.

The southwest and the Gila

Canyons, sycamores and desert. Cactus Wrens and Gambel's Quail in the flats, hummingbirds in the canyons, and roadrunners in between.

The east side and the Pecos

Shortgrass plains and the Pecos River. Bitter Lake National Wildlife Refuge near Roswell sits where the Chihuahuan Desert meets the Southern Plains, and in fall it fills with Lesser Sandhill Cranes, Snow Geese and ducks, with plovers, terns, stilts and avocets on the salt flats in summer.

Best months to listen

April and May are the peak for song in the valleys, with the residents on territory and migrants moving up the river; start at dawn, because by mid-morning the wind comes up. June and July belong to the mountains, where the tanagers, grosbeaks and chickadees are still singing after the desert has gone quiet. Late summer is monsoon season, and the desert wakes up again after every storm. Fall migration runs through the bosque from August into October. Winter is the crane months at Bosque del Apache, late November through February, and juncos and White-crowned Sparrows in every yard.

Places worth the drive

• Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, south of Socorro: cranes and Snow Geese from late November to mid-February, the fly-out at dawn.
• Bitter Lake National Wildlife Refuge, near Roswell: cranes, geese and shorebirds where the desert meets the plains.
• Sandia Crest, above Albuquerque: four life zones on one road, up to 10,678 feet.
• Bandelier National Monument, near Los Alamos: jays, towhees and chickadees among the cliff dwellings, tanagers in summer.

None of it is required. A yard in Albuquerque with a water dish hands you the first 15 cards in Warble.

Listen before you go

Three of the common New Mexico birds, so the first songs you hear outside already ring a bell.

Canada Goose song

0:12

Recording by Chase Harris, CC0, via iNaturalist.

Mallard song

0:09

Recording by Fionn Ó Marcaigh, CC BY 4.0, via iNaturalist.

Gambel's Quail song

0:05

Recording by Elizabeth, CC0, via iNaturalist.

Questions people ask

Nearby albums

Album data: public bird observations aggregated through GBIF, ranked by report frequency in New Mexico. Updated September 30, 2026.