At Bosque del Apache Wildlife Refuge people gather at locations where they can see sandhill cranes and/or geese either come in for the night or fly out in the morning to find food.
The first thing the cranes do on landing is to get a drink of water (they hold their heads up to swallow). Water is scarce, that’s why the refuge is important. They then walk or fly to where they want to roost. Some take a short nap before doing anything else (it’s been a long day).
Socorro, New Mexico is a nice small town between Albuquerque and Las Cruces. The reason I come here, however, is to see the sandhill cranes that winter here.
There are also thousands of geese.
Need to have a heads-up when thousands of geese fly over you.
Below, a northern harrier.
I have returned to the Socorro, New Mexico area to see the sandhill cranes. A little dismayed that I arrived a little early. The Bernardo Waterfowl Management Area that I visit prior to moving on to the Bosque del Apache Wildlife Refuge has some cranes, but nothing like I saw last year. They flood some fields with water around November 15th and that brings in a lot of cranes and geese. I am moving on to Bosque del Apache Wildlife Refuge in a few days. I’ll have one week, then the Festival of the Cranes starts with the attendant crowds. So being early getting to the area has complicated things. Oh well.
When I left Dead Horse Ranch State Park in Cottonwood, Arizona, had planned on stopping at Homolovi Ruins State Park near Winslow, Arizona. Found that they have closed the camping area there and just have it as a day use park certain days of the week. At my next planned stop, Bluewater Lake State Park in New Mexico, found it closed for the season. While many rest areas in Arizona have been closed due to budget cuts, the ones in New Mexico are open. Ended up staying one night at the New Mexico Visitor Center in Gallup.
Have stayed close to a week at the Kiva RV Park and Horse Motel that I have stayed at in the past. They rescue horses, donkeys and other animals. Last year when I fed carrots and apples to some of the donkeys, the brown horse in the top picture bit me on the shoulder. The two horses looked so robust and healthy I hadn’t given them any of the treats. Didn’t make that mistake this time. Both horses followed me around the corral wanting more.
The “largest donkey in the world” is still there and doing well (second picture).
A Eurasian collared-dove on a fountain at the rv park.
A coyote watching for movement in some brush at Bernardo Waterfowl Management Area. There are sandhill cranes in the background at the top of the picture.
Made a brief stop in Lodi, California, at the Cosumnes River Preserve. The area is supposed to have an influx of sandhill cranes in the fall. The town of Lodi holds a sandhill crane festival in November. Saw small groups of cranes, as well as waterfowl. If there were affordable rv parks in the area, I might have stayed a few days.
Would also love to visit the Point Reyes National Seashore and other birding spots in the San Francisco area. Here, again, it is hard to find affordable places to stay.
On my way down the #101, about half way between Crescent City and San Francisco, found that gas prices started to be more in line with what I had seen in Oregon. That was a nice surprise.
Noted a number of changes in Grays Lake National Wildlife Refuge from my visit in June. Snow was gone from the mountain tops, the lake/marsh seemed to have more water, most of the wildflowers were gone, and the marsh had a copper color. There are a lot more sandhill cranes visible, often with juvenile cranes. Most nesting birds have moved on. Did not see any Franklin gulls. They are most likely on their way to South America.
Stayed at Blackfoot Reservoir Campground this time. It is a beautiful BLM campground about halfway between the refuge and Soda Springs. The first night discovered there were lots of flying bugs there. The same “midgies” that I saw in Klamath Falls in August of 2007 that were brought from France because they eat mosquito larva. To their credit, there were not many mosquitos! Also, there were a huge number of swallows nearby that seemed to appreciate having the bugs to eat.
Saw lots of hawks and fledgling hawks in the farmland around the refuge.
Grays Lake National Wildlife Refuge is in a high mountain valley (6400 feet) in southeast Idaho. It is a large, shallow marsh, rather than a lake. Water that should go to it is diverted to farms. This is where sandhill cranes and many other migrating birds pass through or stay in the spring migration. In the fall, it is a staging area for birds migrating south.
The weather has been more significant here, with clouds and intermittent rain. My mud shoes have been put back into use. There has been a 4 or 5 hour window of sunshine every day that has allowed me to go to the refuge. Visitors are not allowed into it’s interior, but can circle the periphery on a dirt road. One article I read said the refuge is a great bird habitat, but not so great birding spot because of this. I have had great luck though. As the summer goes on, however, the grass will get taller and birds will be harder to see.
The sandhill cranes above were seen on ranchland adjacent to the refuge. The second picture shows courting behavior. In the bottom picture there is a crane fledgling between the two adults.
I can hear and sometimes see cranes in the refuge, but you really need at least a 600 mm lens to get pictures of them.
Came across some American avocet fledglings.
Breeding Wilson’s phalarope
Northern shovelers
Have been in southeast Arizona for about two weeks. Have never really explored the area south of the I-10 freeway. It has either been too hot or I was in a hurry to get to New Mexico or Texas. Boondocked a few days at the Escapee rv park in Benson (they were full). The top picture is of a cow pasture next to the park. It was watered late in the afternoon and it got to freezing during the night. The weather has been in the 70-80′s during the day, with intermittent freezing at night.
The second picture is a rock wren that lives in a wood pile in the park. It flies out 5 or 6 feet from the pile to search the ground for food, then quickly scoots back into the wood pile. At times it looks like it is doing deep knee bends on top of a piece of wood.
About 40 miles south of Benson, or 20 miles from Sierra Vista, Arizona, there is the San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area. This is the first spot in North America to be designated a Globally Important Bird Area. The first time I visited it there was hardly any one else there and there were birds everywhere. On a beautiful trail that goes along the river, I saw the above two birds. The first one is a white-breasted nuthatch. It was circling around the trunks of trees to get insects. The second bird is a cactus wren.
Found some wintering sandhill cranes at Whitwater Draw Wildlife Area, about 20 miles southeast of Tombstone, Arizona. They are starting to head north and are usually gone by March 15th. This is an unusual place, as it allows rv’s to camp (boondock) up to three days! There is room for maybe 7 or 8 rv’s. You can bet, if I travel through this area between October and February, I am going to try to stay here.
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.
