September 2009
Bird Nerd in Rural New Mexico
by Gail Rubin
Christopher Rustay, a self-described “bird nerd,” puts 20,000 miles a year on his automobile, driving around the state to see and count birds. He felt compelled to cut back from 30,000 miles a year to reduce his carbon footprint. He has traveled the vast majority of paved roads in rural New Mexico, and quite a few that are unpaved.
Rustay’s job with the Playa Lakes Joint Venture beautifully combines his love of bird watching with a regional effort to conserve bird habitat in the Southern Great Plains. This nonprofit partnership organization provides science-based guidance for bird conservation in eastern New Mexico and Colorado, the Texas Panhandle, and western Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahoma.
“Birding is a convenient excuse to explore the state,” says Rustay. “The scenery is just unbelievably gorgeous, from the prairies to the mountains, to the canyons and deserts, and the few riparian areas that we have. I absolutely love New Mexico.”
His interest in birds started at age six while he was growing up in North Carolina. His parents loved the outdoors, taking their children hiking and camping, and providing them with books on natural life. While at the beach in South Carolina, Rustay saw his first painted bunting, a beautiful bird with a bright blue head, a green back and bright red throat, belly and eye ring. He was hooked.
He was the youngest member of the Carolina Bird Club, but got away from bird watching in college and only saw pigeons while working in Washington, DC. When he moved to New Mexico in 1984, he put bird watching as a personal interest on his resume for a job. The interviewer gave him an article about Christmas bird counts, and that started his bird watching career in New Mexico.
“I had time and a vehicle, which I didn’t have back East. I always say birding is an excuse for me to travel the state, but birds are a passion in themselves,” says Rustay.
His life list includes 645 species that he has seen in the U.S. and Canada. He has also seen birds in Ecuador, Costa Rica, Mexico and Panama. He compiles the Christmas bird count for Clayton and has helped with Christmas bird counts in Farmington, in the Peloncillo Mountains west of Animas in the boot heel of the state, near Carlsbad, Clovis and Clayton, and places far and wide in between.
While he’s based in Albuquerque, Rustay’s birding activities take him all over co-op territory. When surveying and documenting breeding birds in Harding County, every half-mile he stops in the middle of prairie land and gets out of his car with binoculars to look for nesting birds. Invariably, someone stops and asks if they can be of help.
“I’m out there doing my counts, and they’re distracting me, but I really appreciate that people are stopping and doing the neighborly thing,” says Rustay.
September in New Mexico means that birds are moving through in big numbers. It’s a great time to see birds that you might not otherwise find in the state. Birders gravitate toward the eastern plains in the fall and spring to see rare strays that get birders excited and increase one’s life list numbers.
If you know anyone who'd make a good profile for this column—including yourself—let us know at sespinoza@enchantment.coop.
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