If the weather's been dry, you can pull off onto the dirt strip on the east side of Don Felipe Road, across from its intersection with Sunset Road.

Black-chinned is the most common hummingbird species found here, generally present from mid-April to mid-September. Rufous Hummingbird is occasionally observed in August and September. Broad-tailed Hummingbird is sporadically listed April-May as well as August-September.

Lesser Yellowlegs are often reported March-April and July-September; Pectoral Sandpiper, September-October.

Yellow-headed Blackbird is observed throughout the year, most heavily from July to October.

The wetland is 16.5 acres along Don Felipe Road, just south of Belen’s I-25 Bypass and near Taco Bell/Pizza Hut Express.

It is a depressional wetland, artificially created when soil from the area was taken for local road construction projects. Because the regional water table is just below the land’s surface, excavation caused water to pool and form a wetland.

The wetland is managed by the Valencia Fair Association, a nonprofit organization, which would like to use the property to support its county fair activities, including the expansion of parking. The association began backfilling the marsh in May 2008.

Valencia County organizations and residents have joined together as the Belen Marsh Committee, with support from the Central New Mexico Audubon Society, to preserve the wetland in a way that meets the needs of the Valencia Fair Association, nearby residents, and businesses.

Artificially created when soil from the area was used for local road and overpass construction projects, the marsh became a depressional wetland because the regional water table is just below the land’s surface. Soil excavation caused water to pool and form a wetland in the early 1990s.

Belen Marsh has become a winter home for migratory waterfowl and a springtime nesting site for several species of large migratory wading birds. It is an important stop on the Central Flyway for migratory birds, particularly shorebirds. It is one of the few suitable wetlands where shorebirds can stop on their long journey from the Arctic to Central and South America in the fall.

Today the marsh is an attraction for local and statewide birders, who come to Belen and the marsh to see the birds that visit and nest.