Heading into my third week in Socorro, New Mexico. Had a cold spell this past week with it getting into the 20′s at night. Had to get out the long underwear. It’s warming back up now, in time for the Festival of the Cranes at the Bosque del Apache Wildlife Refuge. A lot of work has gone into spiffing up the refuge. For one, they watered down the dirt auto tour route, so you can ride a bike on it without getting covered in dust from passing cars.

Sandhill crane with a mouse. He didn’t seem to know what to do with it. Another crane eventually took it from him.

Northern harrier

Poor owl was trying to sleep, but was surrounded by people taking its’ picture.

Mallard ducks taking flight.

Bowman Bay and Rosario Beach are part of Deception Pass State Park on the northwest side of the bridge, on Fidalgo Island rather than Whidbey Island. Think the  above two ducks are mallards. One seems to have a green coat growing in on its’ head. They used their bills to get under the pebbles to get to a food source.

There is a university marine lab next to Rosario Beach. A teacher from there said the above ducks are “scooters”. That would make them white-winged scooters.

Bowman Bay is shown above. Rosario Beach is just around the bend in the top picture. The bay seems to be a good place to launch a kayak. There is a professional kayak tour service on site.

The farm land outside my window was watered all of one day. There was standing water a lot of places. The farmer knows what he is doing. It has been clear and in the 70′s during the day, but cool at night. There is a light frost on the ground in the morning.