According to the official count there are over 22,000 Snow Geese and 14,000 Sandhill Cranes still there. Soon they will be headed North again, but for now they put on quite a show. We watched ALL the Snow Geese take off together from their overnight stay on the water heading for the fields where they feed all day. The Sandhill Cranes also move from water to field in smaller groups. Both were so neat in their own way.
Molly and I had a great time. It was a girls morning out. Dan stayed home and took care of the horses. Molly used my little digital camera and Dan trusted me with his camera. Between us we got wonderful pictures of the birds on the water as well as birds in the fields. We even drove one loop road twice in order the see the Snow Geese and Sandhill Cranes feeding in the fields.
We also saw a skunk, hawks, 5 deer, Canada Geese, many small birds and lots of different kinds of ducks. We missed the White Pelicans--they've already moved on. And we didn't see the Eagles--or at least didn't recognize any of the big birds as Eagles. All in all, a grand time.
After a quick stop at the visitors center and breakfast in Socorro, we got back to Corrales by noon. Needless to say, Molly and I plan to hit the bed soon after supper. Fun, but long day!
Here are some pictures from our adventure today. Enjoy!
Today is February 20 and if today is your Birthday then you share your day with: Brian Littrell (singer, Backstreet Boys), Cindy Crawford (super model), French Stewart (actor, Harry on "Third Rock from the Sun"), Charles Barkley (basketball player), Patty Hearst (kidnapped heiress who joined her captors), Gordon Brown (British Prime Minister), Ivana Trump (Donald Trump's ex-wife), Jennifer O'Neill (actress, "Summer of 42"), Sandy Duncan (actress, "Peter Pan"), Buffy Sainte-Marie (American Indian singer), Bobby Unser (race car champion), Sidney Poitier (actor, first African-American to win an Oscar), Robert Altman (director, "Nashville"), and Ansel Adams (photographer).
On this day in 1792 President Washington signed an act creating the U.S. Postal Service. Letters delivered up to 30 miles cost six cents to mail. For letters up to 150 miles, postage was 12 cents. In 1802 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the power of the federal government was no greater than that of any individual state of the Union (oh, how times have changed). In 1915 President Wilson opens the Panama-Pacific Expo in San Francisco to celebrate the opening of the Panama Canal. In 1952 one of baseball's most popular figures, Emmett L. Ashford, became the first black umpire in organized baseball. Ashford was authorized to be a substitute in the Southwestern International League. And in 1962 American astronaut John Glenn landed safely after three orbits of Earth in a Mercury space capsule "Friendship Seven."
5 comments:
The last picture is my favorite with some beautiful NM colors. I re-lived the whole Bosque experience through you guys....thank you!
Sleep well.
:)
Well done! And well lived! It is good to stretch our horizons as we can... and thank you for sharing the adventure. What is a bosque? Did each specie leave enmasse or at least at generally the same time, with the other types similarly grouped? Or perhaps flocks/flights regardless of genus? mark
Mark,
Bosque (Bos-kay) is Spanish for woods. The woods along the Rio Grande River are all referred to as the Bosque. The Bosque del Apache is the woods of the Apache. This area was a favorite place for the Apache who raided the Spanish during their trips from Mexico to Santa Fe.
The largest species at the preserve are the Snow Geese, Sandhill Cranes Canada Geese, and ducks. They tend to stay with their own kinds and they all, with the exception of the ducks, tend to flock together. They do tend to rise in mass and either resettle where they were or move to another site within the preserve. The geese and cranes are just now starting to leave in smaller groups to head back North. They'll all be gone in a couple of weeks.
Dan
INCREDIBLE! Loved those pictures. You know, we've never been to see the birds. Very sad--I can tell we're missing out. The idea of dragging four sleepy kiddos out so early is hard to swallow.
Thanks for sharing the beauty.
Amazing photos! We're so glad you got to experience that.
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