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 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.

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.

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.