El Paso Valley: Feather Lake Wildlife Sanctuary, Tornillo Lakes, Fort Hancock Reservoir, & McNary Reservoir

Spring, fall, and winter are the busiest seasons in this area. Midsummer is quieter and can be very hot and dry, but it also produces its share of avian surprises. Feather Lake is managed as an environmental education and nature preserve by the El Paso/Trans-Pecos Audubon Society and has been leased (since 1976) from the city of El Paso. A nature trail, with a 20-stop brochure, is available on-site. The sanctuary is open to the public at various times throughout the week; as of July 1997 hours are in flux. Tornillo Lakes and Fort Hancock and McNary reservoirs, farther down the valley, are surrounded by private lands, although birders are allowed to walk onto the dikes. Be sure to respect all private land. Key birds: Clark’s Grebe, Neotropic Cormorant, Key Birds: “Mexican Duck” (Mallard), Harris’s Hawk, Scaled and Gambel’s Quail, Greater Roadrunner, Burrowing Owl, Black and Say’s Phoebes, Chihuahuan Raven, Verdin, Cactus Wren, Curve-billed and Crissal Thrashers, Phainopepla, Pyrrhuloxia, and Black-throated and Cassin’s Sparrows are present year-round. Swainson’s Hawk, Lesser Nighthawk, Common Poorwill, Cave Swallow, Bell’s Vireo, and Painted Bunting occur in summer. Western Grebe, American White Pelican, Least Bittern, Snow and Ross’s Geese, Hooded and Common Mergansers, Ferruginous Hawk, Prairie Falcon, Vermilion Flycatcher, Brewer’s Sparrow, and Chestnut-collared Longspur can usually be found in winter. This eTrail provides detailed information on birding strategies for this specific location, the specialty birds and other key birds you might see, directions to each birding spot, a detailed map, and helpful general information.