The Foothills.

Well, today didn't start out too good; I put on my new skateboarding shoes and then five minutes later stepped in a pile of dog crud *-P.
My Grandad had made a deal to me the previous day that if he took me birding, I'd have to go to church with him. So I though: Oh well, thats the end of that, No way is sitting through an hour long boring service at 8:30 in the morning worth a couple of hours birding. But today he told me he'd changed his mind and I could go birding without having to go to church with him. So We left at 10:30 and went to Dry Eagle Lakes road on the way to Roswell. We had taken the same road a few days back, but had come in a different way and not finished it. This side was scrub and cedar forest. The first bird I saw was a Western Scrub-Jay, and then I heard three more. Then a bright flash of blue caught my eye: a Pinon Jay, which was a lifer for me. We kept going further into the wilderness on the VERY primitive road, and saw Cassin's Kingbird, Turkey Vultures, Spotted Towhees, Mountain Bluebirds, a Say's Phoebe, and then a flock of Southwestern Turkeys, containing 12 juveniles and 4 adults. Turkeys are the one bird my Grandad likes, so he enjoyed that. A little while later, the truck spooked a tiny sparrow off the side of the road. I instinctively followed it with my binoculars, only for it to dissapear into a bush. But then, something else caught my eye, a bird similar in size and color to a Cardinal. It had a banana-shaped toothed bill and a round head, a Hepatic Tanager, a second colorful lifer. The Hepatic Tanager is common in the arid southwestern US, and has three different forms that may be split into separate species. Only one inhabits the ABA area.
A little later on, after we had left eagle creek, We were in a nieghborhood area where I saw Cassin's Kingbird, Mountain Bluebird and Chipping Sparrow. Then we drove to the Airport because my Grandad insisted on me seeing the "metal birds". After we were finished looking at them, I stopped by a cedar bush right outside the door. There was a Male Mountain Bluebird less than two feet away from me, solid sky blue and gray. I watched him stare at me, and then he flew up to a higher branch to meet his drabber colored mate. I walked around the bush and saw a Say's Phoebe, just as tame as the Bluebird. He shortly flew off.
After Birding from 10:30 to 1:15, I am a very tired guy, but satisfied too.