Bosque del Apache, Dec 20, 2015

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‘Not many birds at the Bosque del Apache’ was the word from my friend Byron when he and his wife went down for their annual Thanksgiving trip.

It has been warm around the rest of the country so maybe the geese, ducks, cranes and other birds are taking their chances staying further up north.  I know I don’t care much for flying any more but that’s another subject.

My friends Esther, Laurie and her daughter and I decided to make our trip just before the Christmas holiday.  As we were driving down I was not certain we would see any birds at the Bosque.  The winds were buffeting the car so much that I had to hold on to the steering wheel with both hands to keep us from bouncing between lanes.  Otherwise the day is warm and sunny.

We stopped at the Socorro Springs Brewing Company for lunch and a beer.  The food was as good as I remember when I had stopped by a few years previous.  The selection of beers was enticing.

The weather had vastly improved by the time we got to the Bosque.  The wind had all but disappeared and the birds were boisterous as ever.  For some reason I read the sign ‘2407 cranes’ were at the Bosque that day.  How do they know?  And who gets the job to count?  I will have to inquire the next time I visit.

We enjoyed the warm, sunny afternoon watching cranes and snow geese coming and going from the south end of the refuge.  We even spotted a red tail hawk perching on one of the cottonwoods along the road.

As we started our return the sun disappeared behind the Magdalena Mountains and the clouds lit up in bright pink, another of the wonderful sunsets of New Mexico.

Thank you for stopping by,

Mark