Blue-gray gnatcatchers are very common little guys at certain times of the year, and though they are here year round, they often travel in flocks of migrating warblers. Their call is distinctive and you often hear them before you see them. The tail is actually black with white borders, and could look like it was a black stripe down the center. Gnatcatchers are very tiny, and certainly can hover in front of blooms looking for insects. Here is another link where you can listen to the call, etc, and see if you can pinpoint the ID for sure. Marcia Here is a link that might be useful: Cornell Ornithology Lab

Here's what I will toss out. I did some research in Alamogordo and there was a cold snap as you can see in the first picture. The airport is maybe 5 miles from most of Alamogordo. If you go to www.wunderground.com you can view archived weather history on "view calendar forecast" on the local station's page, e.g. type in Alamogordo it allows you to see weather history. I just wanted to point out -13 F was recorded at the Alamogordo airport in early Feb. 2011 and lots of palms made it through that winter. Several days of negative degree nights and not a whole heck of a lot of recovery during the day. Most that died were Washington Robusta (Mexican fan palms) as they were seen dead all over Alamogordo, Las Cruces and El Paso. Mexican fan palms aren't a good choice in this area unless they're a Cali/Mex hybrid because the snaps in New Mexico are just too cold for them. You would be lucky if you got 20 years before they succumb to the cold. I would bet any Washington Robusta in Albuquerque would probably be toast in a few years. A better choice might be the Washington Filfera which is the California fan palm. They have been seen to survive -20 F and pretty sure they would be able to survive anything Albuquerque could throw at it. The Washington Filfera rarely get leaf full leaf burn until it drops below 13 F Very few canary island date palms seemed to have died down in southern NM which was interesting. They are proving to be almost as hardy as the California fan palms. In 1962 there was a -7 snap in El Paso and there are many date palms that are 60+ years old many planted before the snap and are still alive today. However it looks like the few Canary Island dates planted in Alamogordo made it through the winter there in a south facing exposed location in temps as low as -13 which if this is true this might be a new cold hardiness record for these palms which shows how remarkable they are. There's not a lot of information about them in this area because they haven't really caught on in popularity until recently. Most of the newer neighborhoods are stocking the canary island date palms in Las Cruces and they seem to be doing fine. The trick might be that you need to grow them from seed put them in a pot and leave them outside until about 10F then bring them into the garage on nights any colder than that, put them outside in the day when young. After they outgrow the pot in a couple of years plant them outside and your tree will be adapted and used to the cold. I think that's why some of these palms are doing ok even despite the incredibly cold snaps. Even the exposed palms seemed to have made it down in southern NM. Anyways if you check out the image of Alamogordo street view if you look carefully in the top left corner of the street view picture shows a date of 2013 which is after the big 2011 freeze. They look a little ratty as some single digit nights were recorded in 2013 as well. These palms were there before the freeze as well and I'm guessing they're almost 30 years old so they've probably seen some incredibly cold nights over the years. I wouldn't be completely sure a date palm would make it in Albuquerque long term because the snaps in Albuquerque tend to have slightly colder day time recovery, maybe with some mild winter protection like with Christmas lights (non LED type, but the incandescent type) you could have a small one tucked up against your warmest south facing wall with some black gravel rocks beneath it (which absorb heat) and a few large black rocks positioned near the palm to re-radiate heat at night to the tree in the winter you could get one to survive at least until a big freeze maybe 20 years or so. I would imagine it might just survive the cold snaps Albuquerque based on the cold snap data from Alamogordo in a good sheltered location and maybe with a small amount of protection could make it. If a crazy cold winter came up you might need to do some bagging or have a fold out greenhouse to put over it just to be safe. There is a rule of thumb in areas that are on a slope but not too high in elevation but maybe a few hundred feet above the bottom of the valley floor you might see 3-4 degrees in warmer temps on the coldest nights which is going to give you an advantage. In southern New Mexico all the palms in sheltered locations like against a south facing wall seem to get very little leaf burn during the winter despite the very cold nights at times where as the ones out in the open seem to be totally burnt which is telling me that the sheltered location makes all the difference. There are many nights that fall into the single digits every couple of years in Las Cruces and that you're possibly looking at +5-10 F degree micro-climate increase. As far as palms go in Albuquerque I would give it a go and maybe if you are aware of a super unbelievably cold night bust out a small radiator or parabola heater to direct heat at it or get some heat tap to wrap the bud and top of the tree to raise the air a couple of degrees which would likely be just enough to make it through the cold nights or another trick is depending on how your house is built put it near a south facing bathroom exhaust vent. If the vents are on the side of the house then at night just turn on your bathroom vent that blows toward the palm and that would probably help too although not as much as heat tape. This is a good video for showing the freeze damage in palms in Las Cruces which recorded a -5 night. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81fxNatT2lQ

I am about three miles from the Mexican border so that is about as southern New Mexico as you can get. My acre and a half space is also an NWF refuge, so I welcome all rabbits, and ground squirrels and birds and the rest. The road runners are startling, the quail wonderful to watch (how could anyone shoot out a friend's face pursuing these fist sized birds with a high powered shotgun as their families and babies run by in single file? What's left after you shoot them? How's that for family values? Don't get me started!) so all living things are welcome here (I'd like to get a few chickens in to go on scorpion patrol someday!) I am planning along an eastern facing wall some rosemary plantings, with perhaps a few roses, and wondering what would make it. I hope mainly to get natives in, like mesquite and cacti and ocotillo and agave, etc. There's room enough here, and I've only been in a few months now. Still unpacking boxes. I immediately pulled down a decorative block wall and reset it at the front and center for a meditation garden, and pulled down an old improvised BBQ pit in the back to build a walkway there, to my main bird (and varmint) feeding area. Plenty of those white wing doves around here, whose scientific name ends with asiatica, the only non native species welcome here. I see hummers and woodpeckers buzzing around, but have not yet set up there stations. Have the butterfly puddle going with a slow drip system; the quail families like it too. I set up some small bird feeders (long feeders for small birds) that the dove never bothered in my last place, but these out here, normally ground feeders, have figured out how to hang on and pull out some feed, very strange. Like Flying squirrels in their tenacity! I appreciate deertlvr's advice on local sources, and will go check them out after payday. ALso their advice on transplanting barrel cactus and agave from the leach field as the state inspector advised. Someday I hope to set up the heat resistant strain of tomato as well as squash, bean, etc. Mostly a got a great crop of tumbleweed. I haven't seen any of those goathead making weeds, thank goodness. I hate tracking those seeds into the house and "discovering" them later in the carpet while barefoot. Well, let me know how it goes and what I can do here, too, coming from zone 6. I admire desertlvr's advice about the fruit trees as well.

palmobsession 8 ---- wow, I can't believe you resurrected this old thread! I chuckled at some of the vehemence when I read this way back when it was first posted in '05. I do agree with you. While I love the native flora of my state, in zone 8 southern NM, I relish the drought tolerant, cold hardy palm species that I grow here. I recycle what I can, try to avoid being wasteful, etc., but I won't cave to the 'plant nazis'. I cherish having a colorful, visually interesting garden which is an eclectic mix of textures and geographically diverse plants. Most are xeric or at least moderately drought tolerant, local species or from South America, North Africa, and even Australia. I water mainly with drip irrigation and only as needed. Some get no more than one or two supplemental waterings a year, existing on what nature provides. My garden is an obsession if not a sweet addiction. Maybe its style looks a little like "So Cal meets the Chihuahuan Desert". It's not for everyone, but I didn't plant it for everyone. Anyway, I enjoyed your anger over the discussions people had. Cheers. dl