December 1, 2016 Leaving Bosque del Apache

Time to Leave

In the image above, you may be able to detect that some of the ducks are not sitting in the water, but are, in fact, standing on it! When ice starts forming on the ponds, then it must be time for me to head farther south. Morning temps are now regularly in the teens and, although the afternoons are pleasantly warm, I guess I have gotten enough crane and goose shots to last a lifetime or two, so it’s time to head for the desert.

These large birds continue to fascinate me and for some reason, I don’t seem to tire of taking action shots of them as they go about their daily routines.

Sandhill Crane Heading for Night Time Roost

Th wildly varying light conditions, above a crane taking off just before the sun sets …

… here one taking off in the chill of a below freezing morning, provide such variations in the birds coloring as to keep my interest up.

This is a shot of a crane coming in to the corn fields with his landing gear still retracted. Seems odd to see them without their long legs trailing behind them in flight.

Love it when a pair of cranes are caught in flight in pretty much the same plane and I am able to get them both in sharp focus. Because of the shallow depth of field when using the 600mm lens and shooting in these dim light conditions, it doesn’t happen very often.

The above images are the last of my good action shots of the cranes greeting, and/or fighting, moves and dances, never am absolutely certain which are which.

A classic preening pose …

… and a closeup portrait.

Almost every morning that I have been here, I am out on the refuge roads before sunrise, always a peaceful place at that hour, with very few other folks out yet, the shallow ponds are just covered with roosting ducks and geese, the numbers simply astounding.

Just as the sun is coming up, the birds take flight and head out to the surrounding fields to forage.

A typical white snow goose ….

… and a dark morph snow goose, also called a Blue Goose, landing to forage in the farm fields on the refuge.

Tomorrow I am heading to Quartzite, Arizona, to get some much needed peace and quiet out on the desert, away from the confines of the cramped quarters of the Birdwatchers RV Park here at Bosque del Apache. I have thousands of images to sort through and process, so there probably won’t be much to report for the next couple of weeks. I plan on leaving Quartzite before Christmas to avoid the crowds there, and will be spending the next couple of months out in the desert around Yuma.

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November 29, 2016 Bosque del Apache NWR, New Mexico

Weather is Getting Colder!

It is getting more difficult to get up and out each morning as the overnight temperatures are now dipping into the teens. The outside thermometer in the Prius actually registered as low as 12 degrees as I drove out the North Loop Road in the Refuge yesterday at 7 AM.

The freezing weather doesn’t seem to bother the cranes and geese as they continue to overnight while standing in the near freezing shallows in the refuge. The last few mornings they have been seen standing on, not in, the water!

The increasing numbers of Sandhill Cranes has led to better opportunities to get some “action” shots as they squabble over who gets to feed where. These brief battles occur so quickly, and unpredictably, that I rarely can react quick enough to catch the action …

… but every now and then, I am aiming in the correct direction and manage to catch some of the action.

My daily routine lately has been to get myself out to the North Loop corn fields just as the sun comes up, set up my tripod and pull out my rocking chair, and wait for the cranes and geese to fly in and land to forage. By 10 AM or so the action has usually peaked and the light becomes a little harsh, so I head back home and process images before heading back out to the same location to try and get the birds leaving the corn fields and heading out to their overnight roosts.

Sandhill Crane Flying into the Setting Sun

Though the dim light makes flight shots difficult as the sun sets, once in a while things align well and a nice shot emerges.

It really is getting a little colder here than I like and I imagine I will be moving farther south sooner rather than later, but it is a little difficult to leave the refuge just when the action is really starting to pick up. But then again, just how many more crane and goose shots do I really need ( or does anyone really want to see ).

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November 24, 2016 Bosque del Apache NWR, New Mexico

Yet More Cranes and Geese

A Snow Goose explosion, caused by a predator approaching too close, or just one nervous goose thinking something was amiss. This noisy flock takeoffs occur all throughout the day and are pretty spectacular to see, and especially to hear.

A different kind of “explosion”, the people explosion, peaked with last week’s Festival of the Cranes. Post festival, the numbers of people has moderated and it has once again become a little more enjoyable to venture out on the refuge.

One of the advantages of arriving here a little early is the opportunity to catch some colorful backdrops of autumn foliage colors. With a couple of hard freezes occurring lately, the leaves are all turning brown and dropping now.

Lesser and Greater Sandhill Cranes

This pair of Lesser Sandhills was seen leading a procession of Greater Sandhills down one of the irrigation ditches on the North Loop Road in the refuge.

The above image gives you a pretty good idea of the size difference in the two types of Sandhill Cranes. This year I am seeing a far greater number of Lesser Sandhills than I have on previous visits.

These are very vocal birds, calling out greetings as they fly in and again after they land.

Not really sure if this was a squabble or just a dance.

A sad reminder that these birds are hunted once they fly off the refuge. I took this shot late one afternoon and assumed the crane would simply use one of it’s feet to pull the shotgun cartridge off it’s upper bill. But then I saw it fly in the next morning with the cartridge still attached.

This young mule buck came flying through the cornfield where the cranes were foraging and photographers were shooting. Really moving at a rapid clip as you can see from the image where all four feet are off the ground.

A family unit foraging. The leucistic Sandhill Crane showed up with a family this year for the first time, I was told.

I love this flight position, assumed sometimes as much as 50 feet above the landing area, as they glide into the wind and prepare to land, oftentimes calling out greetings to those gathered below.

I’ve been here almost a month now and with temperatures plummeting it just might be time to continue on south to slightly warmer climes and maybe find some hummingbirds to shoot, quite a change of pace from these large guys.

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November 19, 2016 Bosque del Apache NWR, New Mexico

More Cranes and Geese Continue Arriving

We are now in the middle of the Festival of the Cranes Week here at Bosque and the festival has brought a lot of people to the refuge, making it a lot less desirable to venture into the refuge and take photos. The heavy traffic on the gravel roads of the refuge stirs up heavy clouds of dust everywhere making driving the loop road miserable.

Still, it is hard to resist the temptation to venture on in and so I have been bypassing the ponds along the highway ( and the hundred or so photographers lined up on the ponds’ edge ) and heading straight into the refuge before dawn where I settle in along the farm fields and wait for the cranes to fly in.

By the time there is enough light to actually take flight shots, unfortunately, the hordes of people also arrive. Some days I start off alone out there as the sun rises and within an hour or so, there may be 3 or 4 buses and fifty cars parked along the road where I had earlier staked out my territory,

The above images are all of Greater Sandhill Cranes and the three images below are of Lesser Sandhill Cranes. The two fly in and out together and when they are in flight, I usually can’t tell which is which until they land and mingle where the size difference becomes readily apparent.

Lesser Sandhill Crane Coming in for a Landing

If you closely compare them in these images, you will see that the Lesser also has a much shorter bill.

Just happened to catch this Pintail Drake doing his preening routine in the shallows right by the roadway on the South Loop with just perfect lighting about a half hour before sunset … yes, the golden hour, and what a difference it does make.

Snow Goose numbers are increasing dramatically this week ! Love the foliage background setting off these white birds.

I am constantly amazed that these large birds can actually land without beating their brethren to death with their wings. It gets very densely crowded out in the farm fields.

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