Pictures from the last day of crane watching. You frequently see short-lived altercations between cranes, as seen in the second picture. They don’t last long, one walks away. It may be a personal space issue.
Geese coming in to drink and bathe in the water near the cranes.
A quail enjoying the sun after a night of freezing temps.
Below, bugling cranes. This is when fights often occur, as one crane interloper enters a family unit.
A congested corn field at Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge filled with sandhill cranes and snow geese. The geese suddenly took flight. Looking at my pictures on my computer, saw a coyote in the background that I had not noticed when I was taking the pictures. The cranes stood their ground.
Northern pintails
Red-tailed hawk, light adult. It was fussing above some snow geese. Maybe it knew the geese would all take flight if it flew toward them.
Also saw a bald eagle, but it was too far away to get a good picture.
Gambel’s quail and a canyon towhee near my campground.
Below, three swans and sandhill cranes coming in to roost.
Sandhill cranes at the Bernardo Waterfowl Management Area north of Socorro, New Mexico.
Not many geese here, but there are supposed to be 20,000 of them at Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, where I will shortly be heading.
Last year when I was here helicopter refueling flights took place over where I was staying. Saw it again this year. There are military bases all over New Mexico. Assume these are training flights.
A crane doing it’s version of dancing on a cold morning. It has been in the 20′s a lot of the nights here. Warms up enough during the day so the furnace is just needed at night.
Fields of sun baked corn in parched soil alternate with fields of alfalfa at Bernardo Waterfowl Management area. There is no flooded field or pond on the bird viewing road this year, which is disappointment. The cranes roost in water for safety and it’s fun watching their fly-in.
Have been in Tulelake, California for a week to visit the Tulelake and Lower Klamath Falls National Wildlife Refuges. There are thousands of geese here, with large flocks in the water and the surrounding farmland.
You can usually see an eagle here, if you visit the refuge in the morning or late afternoon. On one visit I saw an adult bald eagle eating a goose with two juvenile eagles circling above. By the time I got close, the adult had left and one juvenile had taken it’s place. It tried to take off with the prey in it’s claws, but couldn’t manage it.
Breeding northern shoveler
Saw a few small groups of breeding white pelicans.
Grebe
First time I’ve seen a river otter here. There has also been a beaver near my rv coming from a nearby farming water channel.
The way here: Drove the I-5 through Northern California. Pleasantly surprised at all the rest areas. This is the first time I’ve taken the I-5 coming north, having taken the 395 or 101 in the past. Driving over Mount Shasta it started to snow. When I turned off to get to Tulelake, it was snowing heavily with low visibility, although there was no snow on the road.
At the rest stop at Weed saw several rv’s as shown below.
Went back to Kiva RV Park & Horse Motel for a few days. The cranes and geese have finally arrived in force at Bernardo Waterfowl Management Area that is right across from the park.
Cranes usually will not go into a corn field because of the threat of predators. Corn stalks are pulled down for them, sections at a time. This year at Bernardo, however, the cranes were going into one field in a mass assault. This is disappointing for photographers in that you can’t see the action. The cranes are most active and photogenic when they are eating. When standing around just outside the corn stalks they are resting and not very active.
Geese joined the cranes in the morning, but not in the afternoon.
I went into one corn field out of curiosity. The ground is bone dry and the stalks break like dry twigs. When I walked out of the field, some cranes across the road were watching me. After I drove down the road they walked over to check out where I had been. This was a small group waiting for the stalks to be pulled down.
Mule deer grazing with the cranes in the late afternoon.
Have become very fond of the horses and donkeys at the rv park. The horse on the right is the alpha horse of that corral. I was visiting with the donkey next to him and he came over and bit the donkey on the neck to make him run away. The donkey’s have their own weapon. When I walked fast along the fence, the donkey started to run in my direction while kicking his back legs to keep the horse away. There are 3 or 4 other horses and donkeys in that corral who always stay in the background and don’t want to mess with the alpha horse. The little male donkey, however, takes his place right along side of him.
Wanting some treats.
Have been in the Socorro area for three weeks now. Had planned to stay in the area a few more days to avoid some of the Thanksgiving crowds, but it has gotten cold here again. Weather Underground is saying it could get down to 19 degrees tomorrow night, while weather.com has it 10 degrees warmer. Who to believe? I’ve had a single propane tank filled three times since I’ve been here. That’s more than I’ve done in the last six months! Went out and got a ceramic heater today. The furnace needs to be kept on to keep the pipes from freezing, but the portable heater can be useful to quickly heat an area. The downside is the ceramic heater draws a lot of power.
Have seen a number of sandhill cranes sitting down this visit (to the right of the standing one). Maybe the ground provides some warmth and/or they are really tired after a long flight.
A “ball” of black birds above cranes eating in a corn field.
Mallards surrounded by geese.
Lesser scaup (top) and Northern pintail (bottom).
A male (upper) and female (lower) Gambel’s quail.
Kestral
Love watching the sandhill cranes. Saw one eagle, but it was to far away to get a good picture. Did not see as many grebes this visit, which was disappointing.
The Socorro area is so nice. Would like to try and stay 4 or 5 weeks next year.
You often see two cranes have a beak-to-beak face off, with their wings up…probably a territory issue. One usually ends up walking strutting away.
I stopped at a pond mid-day where there were initially a few geese. Then wave upon wave of geese flew in until the pond was packed. It was like a call was sent out for all the geese in the refuge to go to this one pond. When I drove by later in the day, they were all gone.
Above, geese settle into a cornfield at Bosque del Apache. They are not eating, but rather packed in like they were in the pond.
Have moved around 35 miles south, from Bernardo to San Antonio, New Mexico where the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge is located. Lots of geese, sandhill cranes, and other photographers. Have to admit to some lens envy. There are scads of photographers here with the long, super expensive lenses.
From Winslow, I drove the almost 300 miles to Bernardo, New Mexico. It is a spot on the map around 25 miles north of Socorro, New Mexico. A Passport America rv park is here and right across from it is the Bernardo Waterfowl Management Area. It is lesser known and less crowded than the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge that is south of Socorro.
When I arrived here a movie crew from a tv series called In Plain Sight was using the rv park as their base station. The rv park is on old route 66 and they were shooting scenes on a bridge a short distance from the park. They worked through the night and left the next morning.
Geese flying in to line up along the corn. The sandhill cranes like to hunt in areas where the corn stalks have recently been cleared, but geese line up along the corn stalks.
Below are short clips of the geese and sandhill cranes.
The people who own the Kiva RV Park & Horse Hotel that I am staying at rescue animals, lots of animals. Most all the animals that I saw when I stayed here in October 2007 are still here and doing well.
The owner of the park is pictured above with a huge donkey he recently rescued. The young brown donkey in the second picture was hand raised after its mother rejected it. He walked up to me as soon as I went over to the horse area. The young white donkey was put in with him to help teach him how to be a donkey.
I was surprised to learn that a lot of donkey’s will try to stomp and kill dogs. This is from instincts learned in dealing with coyotes.
I have been at the Salton Sea State Park for two days. Came to see some of the birds who stop there on the Pacific flyway. Do a Google on the Salton Sea and you can get an idea of what a controversial place it is. I found it unsettling. In place of sand, you walk on fish bones and fish pieces from numerous fish die offs. It smells…the park handouts say this is from other sources, not the Salton Sea. There are a lot of geothermal power plants in the area, putting out a lot of steam.
Made a quick trip to the Sonny Bono Salton Sea National Wildlife Refuge. They are doing what I have seen at other wildlife refuges, planting fields and restoring water and marsh areas. Lots of geese there.
The pelicans do not have to dive for fish here, they just dunk for them…or scare them to the surface.
Geese at the wildlife refuge.
Lone blue heron.
Could not resist taking a picture of this hawk next to farmland on the way to the wildlife refuge.
When I left the Blythe area, I planned to stop at the Imperial National Wildlife Refuge that is a little below the Cibola Refuge. I failed to take into account that it was Thanksgiving weekend. Martinez Lake, next to the refuge was full of familes with ATVs. The two RV parks were full. I went on to Yuma for the night. On leaving Yuma and heading west on I-8, noticed a lot of RVs heading east. Soon saw that a lot of them were probably coming from the Imperial Sand Dunes Recreational Area. On heading north to the Salton Sea found that I was in with a HUGE group of RVs, mostly trailers or toy hauler/trailer combos. These seemed to be young families with ATVs. Usually I am a lone trailer with lots of large motor homes, so this was a noticeable change.
On stopping at a rest stop near the Salton Sea, I found myself stuck behind a line of RVs waiting to use the free dump station. I had to wait in line with them till I got to the exit. The caravan continued along the north side of the Salton Sea and into the rare gas station, where people were lined up for gas and the free dump station. Here I turned south, along the other side of the Salton Sea, heading to the Anza-Borrego area. Now all the RVs were on the other side of the highway heading north, I guess to the greater Los Angeles area. Octillo Wells State Vehicular Recreational Area is right next to the Anza-Borrego State Park and a lot of ATVs were still enjoying the area. So glad the Anza-Borrego State Park is there to safeguard it from the ATVs.
Just trying to make the point that there are a lot of young families with trailers or toy hauler/trailer combos out there.
