View allAll Photos Tagged BosquedelApacheNWR
I've read that many birds will lighten their load just before they fly off so when I saw this, I prepared for the hawk to fly off.
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There are worse places to be on a January morning.
Many, many worse places.
Time to go get some coffee and a burrito smothered in green chile. Then the day will be complete :^)
Self-portrait - the sun is setting, the moon is rising, and it's time to move on.
This was the first time we visited Bosque del Apache and didn't stay for the fly-in. It was so nice being there again and we saw so much we didn't need to stay. And the pond at the flight deck was frozen over. Cold!
Flying in for the night.
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A highlight of a winter visit to Socorro is the return of the Sandhill Cranes and Light Geese to the wildlife management areas on the Rio Grande, most notably the Bosque del Apache NWR.
Every evening the birds return from the feeding grounds and flock together in protective manmade ponds. Known as the "fly-in", it's truly a spectacle as the elegant birds drift in in groups of varying numbers.
We try to make it down there at least once a year if we can.
I'm taking a break from posting the summer photos. At the rate I'm going, it's gonna take the rest of the year to get 'em done anyway, so why not take a break and post something timely?
This is a series from a weekend getaway to Socorro.
My typical attire for the weekend was long underwear bottoms under cargo pants, 2 thermal shirts (long-sleeved), a vest, a polarfleece, and my ski parka. Oh, and a wool cap and gloves. I'm a wuss.
Good thing for them it's a rental :^)
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A highlight of a winter visit to Socorro is the return of the Sandhill Cranes and Light Geese to the wildlife management areas on the Rio Grande, most notably the Bosque del Apache NWR.
Every evening the birds return from the feeding grounds and flock together in protective manmade ponds. Known as the "fly-in", it's truly a spectacle as the elegant birds drift in in groups of varying numbers.
We try to make it down there at least once a year if we can.
I'm taking a break from posting the summer photos. At the rate I'm going, it's gonna take the rest of the year to get 'em done anyway, so why not take a break and post something timely?
This is a series from a weekend getaway to Socorro.
Careful, it's a big friendly grin but it's got teeth :^)
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December 23, 2012 - Getting away for the holidays
White-throated Sparrow (WTSP), Farm Loop east side, Bosque del Apache NWR, Socorro County, New Mexico, January 18, 2014, by Stephen Fettig
The sun's fully up now and they still haven't left. Closer inspection shows why - many of 'em still have their heads tucked back under their wings. They're sleeping in!
Maybe the best part of the hike up to Chupadera Peak, these were all along the trail west of the highway. They were HUGE for grasshoppers, I should've got a shot of one in my hand for scale. Most of them were very, very busy.
There's not a lot going on at Bosque del Apache during the day, the big shows happen early (the fly-out) and late (fly-in). There are a few hikes in the area that we've done too many times already and one we hadn't . We'd been putting off hiking the Chupadera Trail because 1: It's on the longish side for us, and 2: Until recently, the trail stopped short of the top. Volunteers have been working on #2, and now the trail goes all the way to the top of Chupadera Peak. We did, too. It was one of those completely overcast days (that's two in a row, we must be on vacation), not good for pictures but comfortable for hiking.
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A highlight of a winter visit to Socorro is the return of the Sandhill Cranes and Light Geese to the wildlife management areas on the Rio Grande, most notably the Bosque del Apache NWR.
Every evening the birds return from the feeding grounds and flock together in protective manmade ponds. Known as the "fly-in", it's truly a spectacle as the elegant birds drift in in groups of varying numbers.
We try to make it down there at least once a year if we can.
I'm taking a break from posting the summer photos. At the rate I'm going, it's gonna take the rest of the year to get 'em done anyway, so why not take a break and post something timely?
This is a series from a weekend getaway to Socorro.
We started Spring Break six days ago, ducking out of New Mexico at the start of yet another snow storm. We came back after six days of warmth and sunshine to the beginning yet-yet another storm, we started seeing the edge just north of Hatch but we figured we'd try to squeeze in a short hike in Bosque del Apache NWR. The weather forecasters were pretty confident we'd be seeing snow by the time we got home, but we did manage to beat it.
Looking out the window at the Bosque del Apache Visitor Center, I saw this White-winged Dove staying perfectly still and there were no other birds at the feeder.
There were 2 of these little bats (a Myotis species of some sort) hanging onto the side of the visitor center entrance when we got there Sunday morning. They were quite cold and sluggish still around 10AM.
We were walking on a hiking trail, shooting photos of a Heron in the marsh, when my son said "There's something in the trail up ahead." I look through my 400mm lens and see this guy, strolling along looking down at the path. He kept walking straight toward us, not realizing we were standing in the middle of the path.
When he finally did look up and see us, I could see the shock in his eyes. I bet the little guy watches where he's going now LOL
This bird was flying directly at me while landing which challenges the autofocus system. I was lucky enough to have one goose after another land in this direction as the wind was directly behind me, as was the sun angle.
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After the arroyo hike we still had enough time before sundown to make it to Bosque del Apache. If that name is unfamiliar to you, it's a National Wildlife Reservation on the Rio Grande managed for the birds - Sandhill Cranes, Snow Geese, and many others. During the winter season there can be many thousands of cranes and tens of thousands of geese, all chowing down on the crops grown for them and getting ready to fly back north in February.
This is a brief 15-second view into the refuge. Ya gotta turn the sound up some to get the full effect!
(After sundown, kind of dim, handheld, longish zoom, blah, blah, blah. No apologies, it gets the point across)
Unless you've got a camera to protect you from whatever falls from the sky :^)
(a bit of a flight study)
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We had no plans for Thanksgiving except to stay home in the unseasonable cold so Mrs M took a few personal days off. Armed with reservations via Hotwire (you never know what you're going to get) and a rental car, we set out for a new 6 days, 7 nights adventure.
First stop: Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge. It's an old favorite, especially when the cranes and snow geese are in town. This stop didn't disappoint, there were plenty of birds, and we hit it at the end of the Festival of the Cranes, which we usually seem to miss.