Spring News

Well, there's never a dull moment it seems. On Saturday afternoon(4/16) we had a very severe thunderstorm move through the area, but not before a funnel cloud/tornado was spotted. It was seen south of town (ABQ) -- we live in the SOUTH valley -- and it was moving north. Luckily for us it was on the east side of the river. Apparently, it touched down once on vacant land at Kirtland AFB. It was seen passing over the city and eventually disappearing as the storm moved over the mountains. It was truly exciting for us as we don't get these very often. In fact, the NWS (weather service) only has 4 recorded tornados for ABQ since they began records here. The accompanying storm dropped hail ranging from pea-sized to nickle-sized and a lot of rain. No damage reported, but there was some flooding and a couple big power outages due to lines down. The straightline winds were about 50+ mph.

Sunday and today have been just clear and sunny, highs in the mid-70s! So, new to report today is the return of the Red-winged Blackbird. We have been fooled before by a clever Starling imitation but we know this is the real thing! We also have a second male Black-chinned Hummer who showed up on Friday. We have both the American and Lesser Goldfinches at the thistle feeder. I have some photos I will try to get posted here. There are quite a few Robins around now. Last evening we saw a Hummingbird Moth drinking from the Vinca blossoms. Wish I could have gotten his picture but he's just too fast. Hasta la vista!