"Forest Desert"

This morning my grandad took me birding. To get to the site we followed a road down the middle of Ruidoso till we reached the edge of the town. We took a right turn on a road that was labeled "Lincoln National Forest access". We drove around through a neighborhood for about 15 miles and I saw Mountain and Western Buebirds, and some House Finches. At the edge of the neighboorhood, we took a road labeled "Dry Eagle Lakes". It was dirt and had not had maintenence in awhile. The terrain was a ponderosa forest that had been burned in a wildfire. All the trees were dead, and scrubby bushes were growing in their place, making the place seem more like a desert. We drove along the road, and stopped every so often to get great looks at juvenile and adult Spotted Towhees, a huge flock of Bushtits, Turkey Vultures, American Kestrels, a Lincoln's Sparrow, Pine Siskings, House Finches, and two lifers, a Cactus Wren carrying a twig (apparently to build a nest), and numerous Cassin's Kingbirds, whose plumage was worn, the yellow belly appearing more cream colored. It was a very satisfiying birding day.