Snow Geese and a Golden Eagle at Bosque Del Apache

Bosque Del Apache is a National Wildlife Refuge near Socorro, New Mexico. Every winter, thousands of sand hill cranes and snow geese spend the winter here. The majority of them are here from late October/early November until February/March. The above image is of hundreds of snow geese who were spending the afternoon enjoying the autumn sun in one of the marshes in the Bosque. They did leave this spot shortly after I took this shot, but returned overnight for a magnificent sunrise show the next morning!

Here are a couple that I think of as the Royal Pair. Don't they look regal? I love the reflection of them in the still waters of the marsh, too. Sort of an idyllic moment. Very calming and peaceful.

We were at the observation deck set up on the side of the marsh, waiting for sunset (and the sand hill cranes), when I happened to notice what bird experts around me said was a golden eagle perched on the top of the dead tree in the marsh. No wind meant great reflections in the water, and I couldn't resist capturing this lovely late autumn scene. A reward for patiently waiting.....

Enjoy!

Sand Hill Cranes at Sunset

Every evening at the Bosque, the sand hill cranes will come back to roost in one of several marshes. The one we were at was the largest, and many cranes spent their nights here. The visitors' center stated there were about 1500 cranes here at the time we were here, and, altho we saw many, I doubt that we came close to seeing all 1500! The cranes tended to arrive in small groups, sometimes only a couple at a time. The image above is of a couple of the first that arrived. I was lucky enough to capture them performing synchronized eating, as I like to think of it! Mirror images of each other, and mirror images of each of them in the water. Very cool. Most of the cranes don't arrive until after the sun has set, so these were two of the early birds, so to speak.

Here's a bit of a close-up of a couple of other early birds. I was amazed at how perfectly graceful they are when they fly - look at how their feet are just perfectly pointed and together - figure skaters should try to imitate cranes when they work on keeping their toes pointed while skating! These two flew very close by the observation deck we were on.

As the sun got closer to setting, more cranes began arriving. This image appealed to me because I think of the cranes landing as doing a bit of a dance, and the entire scene made me think of them putting on a dancing performance. I also loved how still the evening was, so that all of their movements were captured in the reflection of the water.

This shot was one of the last that I was able to capture, and I really love this one. The cranes are silhouetted against the sunset sky, just as the last rays of the sun lit the sky. I couldn't have asked for a more perfect pose of the cranes, except, of course, they weren't posing. They were just coming home for the night, in the most graceful way possible.

Enjoy!

Sunrise at the Bosque Del Apache

It was a very chilly (read cold!) morning, but if we wanted to see the birds, we needed to get up with them.....or actually before them, so we could be there when they woke up! The above image is one of several that I took of literally hundreds and hundreds of snow geese taking off at the beginning their day. The Bosque's count of snow geese when we were there was about 31,000 !! Yikes! The funny thing about this shot was just a few seconds before this (literally!), we heard a bird squawk, and I jokingly said to Jeff that it sounded like a call to arms - I guess it was, in a way, because within 2-3 seconds after I said that, this occurred! The most amazing thing about this moment cannot, unfortunately, be captured in this image. That was the incredible sound of all of those wings as these wonderful creatures took flight - it was beyond amazing.

A little while later, at a different marsh in the Bosque, we saw some sand hill cranes beginning their day. What amazes me about these birds is that, while on the ground, they look a bit gangly and awkward......but then, they take off, and it's all flowing grace. Beautiful.

These are the snow geese again - I had several opportunities to get some great images - after all, it takes a while for hundreds of them to truly take wing! And, we were lucky enough to be here for a magnificent sunrise. This image really captures my sentiments about this morning. The beauty, power and grace of Nature.

Enjoy!