Above, the Grand Prismatic Spring in the Midway Geyser Basin.

. . . and the buffalo do roam. Took around two hours to go from West Yellowstone to Madison Junction one day because of bison. First there were a group of females with young ones, then two young males walking down the center of the road. I should clarify that the bison were for the most part not causing the traffic jam–it was people wanting to get pictures. Later in the day, back in West Yellowstone, a young woman with children said her family just turned around and came back to town. Being in a car with young children would make the wait more difficult.

Gneiss Creek trail has two trailheads: one along the Madison River between West Yellowstone and Madison Junction, and another a few miles north of West Yellowstone. You can walk the whole 13 miles if you want! I just went maybe a mile along the Madison River and saw a number of birds, including the Clark’s nutcracker above. The trail is closed a lot of the year to allow for a bear habitat. Probably not a trail you should walk alone.

Pulled into a pullout for no particular reason and was surprised to see a family of sandhill cranes. Could not get close to them, but was thrilled to see the young one.

Near the campground I stayed at, along the Madison River, I was watching some osprey nests when I saw something stick it’s head out of the water. Found it was two river otters swimming upstream. They intermittently stuck their heads up out of the water to keep track of each other.

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.

Have been staying close to Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge for close to a week. It’s been cold, as I guess it has been over a lot of the US, in the teens at night and the 40′s and 50′s during the day. Still just need the furnace at night.

Saw the coyote in the top picture wondering around the refuge on Saturday. Just a little earlier in the day had seen a coyote, possibly the same one, in a field with some sandhill cranes. It always surprises me that the cranes don’t fly away on seeing a coyote. They do have a weapon in their bill. They can stab a coyote with it, as long as the coyote doesn’t come from behind.

The last two pictures are from Monday morning. The coyote in the third picture has just nabbed a duck in the same area as seen in the picture with the cranes. On leaving the refuge, saw three young, healthy looking coyotes (one seen in the bottom picture).

Adult sandhill crane (top picture) and two juvenile cranes (bottom picture).

Northern shovelers

Below, photographers bundled up to see the cranes fly 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 at Bottomless Lakes State Park near Roswell, New Mexico for about a week.  I have never been here during November and was really surprised at the thousands of sandhill cranes that winter here. The second picture above occurred after a helicopter flew over a hay field where there were a huge number of cranes. Most of the cranes return to Bitter Lake Wildlife Refuge to roost at night. It is an incredible sight to see wave after wave of them fly in.

Getting here: Stayed at Brantley Lake State Park before coming to Roswell. Went through bird withdrawal there after all the birds at Rockhound State Park. Not many birds at Brantley. There is DDT in the fish in the reservoir and they also have a problem with blooming algae. There was no bird activity on the water. Where the Pecos River reconstituted below the dam, however, there were ducks and herons.

The campground at Brantley was nice with drip irrigation providing for some shade trees. The nearby town of Artesia is a former small farm town that is now overrun with the oil industry. Southeast New Mexico is divided up into oil fields and their home base seems to be Artesia. Have to wonder what is going to happen to all the artesian wells after the oil is gone.

Got an Amazon Kindle recently and was thrilled at finding all the free digital books you can get from Project Gutenberg. I’m rereading all the classics that I read as a teenager. Just finished War and Peace. Have to admit I use the read outloud feature on the Kindle.

Hawk seen along the road when I first arrived at the State Park.

A Say’s phobe flying around catching insects in the air. They are so intent on hunting they don’t pay much attention to nearby people.

A loggerhead shrike at the Bitterlake Refuge.

Below, scenes from Bottomless Lakes State Park. The camping area is on the left side of the second picture.

I’m visiting Camas National Wildlife Refuge along the I-15 in Idaho, southwest of Yellowstone Park. Eared grebes at the refuge are pictured above. Last year when I was here, there were baby eared grebes riding on the backs of a parent and baby coots. I’m earlier this year though, and winter weather is continuing longer than usual. The corridor along the I-15 between the small villages of Roberts, Hamer, and Dubois, remind me of the Bishop area along #395. It is a desert area with snow capped mountains to the east, west, and north. I plan to stay here till after Memorial Day. Hopefully by then the winter weather will be gone, along with most of the snow from the mountain passes.

Besides Camas National Wildlife Refuge, there are two wildlife management areas here that I hope to visit: Mud Lake and Market Lake.

Yellow-headed blackbird

A hawk holding on to a branch in 30-35 mph winds.

At my campsite, there are two killdeers that use the broken wing ploy every time I step outside, most likely to draw me away from where they have a nest. Would love to see some baby killdeers. They start walking around as soon as they hatch.

Driving home from the refuge on a rural road late one windy day, two sandhill cranes flew in front on my truck, making me slam on my brakes. I was the only one on the road and was driving slow, so I didn’t hit them. Have seen 3 or 4 pairs of cranes and one pair of swans.

Below, clouds passing through the area. They did not bring any rain, just snow to the mountains and cold temperatures at night.

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

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.