La Joya WMA

Tips for Birding

When submitting eBird observations at La Joya Wildlife Management Area, it is most helpful to start a new checklist for each hotspot in the wildlife management area. Use the general hotspot when you have a checklist that includes multiple locations or if no other hotspot or personal location is appropriate for your sightings.

Use the La Joya Wildlife Management Area (WMA) hotspot to report your La Joya Wildlife Management Area observations if you are not going to be specific about where in the WMA you encountered birds, especially if you observed them north of the main east-west road into the Area or east of the railroad tracks. Although this (the oldest) hotspot’s map “pin” is located in the northern portion of the WMA, and there does exist another, newer hotspot in the southern portion of the WMA (and west of the railroad tracks), the original hotspot’s eBird species frequency bar charts include observations for the entire WMA.

Birders should be prepared for the identification challenges presented by the simultaneous presence of Chihuahuan and Common Raven during winter and spring, as well as by four swallow species during April and May.

Except during the driest months, mosquito repellent is a must for comfortably birding this hotspot.

For details on birding the South Hunt Unit, see this site’s entry for the WMA South Walking Trail.

Birds of Interest

Yellow-billed Cuckoo (July-August, infrequent)
Common and Leser Nighthawk (May-July)
Broad-tailed Hummingbird (May and September)
Ferruginous Hawk (November-March, infrequent)
Olive-sided Flycatcher (August-September)
Willow Flycatcher (June-September, infrequent)
Bell’s Vireo (April-September)
Woodhouse’s Scrub-Jay (November-January)
Phainopepla (May-July)
Virginia’s Warbler (May and September, occasional);

About this Location

Created by the State for waterfowl and dove hunting, the La Joya Wildlife Management Area (WMA) is one of the top 50 eBird hotspots in the state. It consists of 7 managed ponds, with a riparian area bounded on the east by the Rio Grande River and sloping up to the Chihuahuan Desert vegetation in the west. The WMA is divided into 3 hunt units: the North Unit (north of the main east-west road and west of the railroad tracks); the South Unit (south of the main east-west road and west of the railroad tracks); and the East Unit (east of the railroad tracks and west of the Rio Grande. These unit designations help describe your birding location within the checklist “Comments”.

Note that the WMA is closed to all recreational activities except hunting from September 1 to March 14.

The lone road providing public entry into the WMA is accessed via I-25 exit 169. Therefore, the first birds you are likely to see, at least in spring or summer, are swallows (typically, Barn and Cliff) that nest in the I-25 underpass. For many years, a Department of Transportation gravel pile has been set directly east of the underpass. A gate behind that pile closes off an old road that forms a backward “S”, heading east, then south, and finally west through the desert, ending at a poor north-south dirt road near the southwest corner of Pond 3. Unless you are interested in lots of exercise, instead approach from the underpass by driving the paved road which parallels the interstate, running south through desert vegetation for half a mile, after which it turns east. At this point, consider listing the birds on your right at the South End Walking Trail hotspot, especially if most of your birding is going to be done south of the east-west road. That road, with only patches of ancient pavement, has a “washboard” feel to it, yet is passable in a normal passenger car (at least in dry weather).

In a quarter mile, the aforementioned north-south dirt road runs north; satellite maps show this road going all the way to Pond 1, but that would require a 4-wheel-drive vehicle in the best of weather. A few yards further east from where the dirt road goes north is signage related to hunting and the history of the WMA, with another dirt road heading off south to Pond 4; that road is better than the one going north. Almost a third of a mile further along the east-west road, there is a dirt parking area on the north side of the road, just west of Pond 3a. Like all 7 of the WMA ponds, this will appear as a Cottonwood-, Russian Olive-, and Mesquite-surrounded marsh or meadow from April through September and October when most of the water has been allowed to drain or evaporate; in recent years, the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District has not released water to the State for filling ponds until November. Ponds are numbered in ascending order from north to south, with southern ponds retaining moisture longer into the summer than northern ponds. At the north end of the 3a parking area, you can step around a gate closing a dirt road to vehicular traffic, and hike north around the western edge of Pond 3a, with desert vegetation west of the road; except for desert birds, afternoon light provides easier birding than morning light. The road/trail ends at the berm between ponds 3 and 3a; it is difficult to continue farther than a third of a mile from the parking area, as trees and brush soon block passage along the berm.

For morning birding, the lighting is better if you continue along the east-west road until you come to a “T”, taking the north-south dirt road just west of the ditch and railroad tracks. Going south will bring you to the South End Walking Trail and beyond (ponds 4, 5, and 6) or allow you to cross the railroad tracks to north-south dirt roads on either side of the Unit 7 Drain. These roads paralleling the Drain extend about a mile and three-quarters south to Sevilleta NWR Unit A and north three and quarter miles to the apparent WMA boundary (locked gates close East Unit roads north at that point). Again, looking toward the river (at most, 100 yards from the road on the east side of the Drain) in the early morning leaves you birding by ear and silhouette. The Drain veers northeast in about a mile and a quarter as you travel north from the crossover, with the ever-widening swath of vegetation between the railroad tracks and the Drain comprising more desert and less riparian habitat. 

Enjoyable birding is most likely in the mornings off the road west of the ditch and railroad tracks. There is one parking area three-quarters of a mile north of the “T”, from which you can hike the short way through the trees (and, by late August, annoying cockleburs) to the east side of Pond 2. Less than two-thirds of a mile on, past the boat ramp, there is another parking area, which serves as the head of a trail around to the north end of Pond 2; the trail is low-lying and therefore muddy during the monsoon season, with trail markers often obscured by kochia.

The road continues another four-tenths mile north to the WMA boundary, where it turns west for a quarter mile (through mesquite bosque north of Pond 2). This east-west road ends at a parking area and gate closing off vehicular traffic. However, hikers may take a half-mile path west-southwest along a berm to the south end of Pond 1.

About La Joya Wildlife Management Area

See all hotspots at La Joya Wildlife Management Area

La Joya Wildlife Area, 3,405 acres, is located about 20 miles north of Socorro. La Joya Wildlife Area was purchased in various parcels through 1940 to provide habitat for waterfowl, sandhill cranes, shorebirds, and songbirds. The La Joya Wildlife Area contains ponds, canals, drains, and crop fields along and adjacent to the Rio Grande.

Wildlife watchers may see various waterfowl, songbirds, and quail. Good binoculars are important. The best time to view wildlife is at dawn or dusk. Access is allowed from March 15 to August 31.

La Joya is closed to wildlife viewing, photographing, hiking, bicycling, and horseback riding from September 1 to March 14.

Notable Trails

The AllTrails website has a description and map of a hike at La Joya Wildlife Area.

Features

  • Roadside viewing

  • Restrooms on site

  • Wheelchair accessible trail

Content from La Joya Wildlife Management Area information and map and John Montgomery

Last updated March 22, 2024