Bosque del Apache

By 7.15am the dawn flight of cranes and geese was over so we drove around the North Loop, getting some fine views of Song, Lincoln’s and Savannah Sparrows – all of which were new for the trip. 

Habitat shots at Bosque del Apache.

There was also an immature Bald Eagle eating a Snow Goose,  Spotted Towhee, Cooper’s and Sharp-shinned Hawks, close Say’s Phoebe, plus a field with 3000+ Sandhill Cranes, and further on around a 1000 Snow Geese were feeding in a field beside the track. 

This huge flock of Snow Geese was feeding beside the track.

Back at the Flight Deck we scoped an adult Bald Eagle and all of a sudden around 6,000 Snow Geese began flying overhead and most of them dropped down into the lake behind us. This was a simply awesome spectacle and I cannot truly describe the volume of noise from so many birds. We then drove along the track and pulled up right beside all of these birds and spent a good long while watching them – they were almost at touching distance. Unbelievable! I was impressed by the numbers of Ross’s Goose present and I estimated 400+ in this one flock alone.

You get quite close to the birds here.....!

Spot the Ross's Goose....?

Eventually we went to the Visitor Centre for a nice hot cup of coffee and watched the feeders where a covey of Gambel’s Quails were very nice. There was also a couple of White-throated Sparrows with the White-crowneds, Spotted Towhee, Mountain Chickadee and House Finch.

Gambel's Quail at the feeding station.

Leaving here we drove just a few miles along the road to a nearby trail, seeing a Roadrunner doing its thing along the road and a Rock Wren greeted our arrival in the parking lot. The desert habitat here made such a pleasant change to what we had been accustomed to on this trip so far but it was very quiet to start with. However, things changed all of a sudden when a Green-tailed Towhee put in an appearance and no sooner had we seen that than my most wanted bird here, a Crissal Thrasher began singing from the top of a bush on the slope above us. Oh yes baby!  It was very nervous and wouldn’t allow a close approach at all so we settled down and watched it running between the bushes like a mini-roadrunner, with occasional sallies onto the tops to sing before he disappeared entirely. 

Black-throated Sparrow.

Brewer's Sparrow

Whilst sat down here a flock of sparrows came into view, which proved to be Brewer’s Sparrows and they showed nicely. We followed this with several Black-throated Sparrows and a flyby Lesser Goldfinch before returning to the parking lot. There were also a few Verdins around but they were flighty and disappeared pretty quickly.

So we drove back to Bosque del Apache, pausing at the Visitors Centre for more coffee before taking a slow drive around the reserve once more. This time we really soaked up the atmosphere as lake after lake had huge concentrations of waterfowl present and each provided an extremely tranquil scene. The light was stunning and we had lost the harsh midday glare, so we spent our time scoping each lake and pool in search of something new. The first lake was the best one of the afternoon in fact and had an adult Bald Eagle making sallies across the water in search of an easy meal. This led the ducks to take flight and settle again much closer to us. A fine Bufflehead was nice, as was Lesser Scaup, American Wigeon and Western Grebe, whilst a flotilla of Ring-necked Ducks stayed just out of range of the camera. 

Bald Eagle.

American Wigeon.

Bufflehead (female).

Lesser Scaup.

There was also a Black Phoebe (oh joy!) and a confiding Marsh Wren here as well. Moving on, the concentrations of each species kept changing at each lake we scanned, but eventually we found a trio of fine Redheads, American Avocet and Ring-billed Gull to add to our list.

By the time we had reached the reserve entrance it was already 4.30pm so decided to drive up the road to some nice pools, watching several Northern Harriers quartering the fields and enjoyed the crane spectacle once more. Sure enough several thousand Sandhill Cranes could be seen flying across the golden-hued trees and against the distant mountains before many of them flew in and settled right in front of us. 

Sandhill Cranes arriving to roost.

Some of the cranes flew right over our heads.

More cranes arriving to roost.

Just part of a flock of 1000 roosting beside the road.

What a show they gave and, once again, I was in awe of one of nature’s truly remarkable spectacles. The noise and sheer commotion of so many birds was very impressive indeed.

Official estimates today of 40,000 Snow and Ross’s Geese, 10,000 Sandhill Cranes and 50,000 species of duck in the reserve!

So to sum up in words our experiences today has been very difficult indeed. Suffice it to say, Bosque del Apache – AWESOME! BRILLIANT! INCREDIBLE!

Dawn at Bosque del Apache

Left at the ridiculously early time of 5am, stopping to get a coffee and breakfast burrito along the way and arrived at Bosque del Apache half an hour later. We parked up at the Flight Deck viewing platform and waited in the freezing cold darkness for the first rays of dawn to lighten the horizon. In fact within ten minutes it was getting visibly lighter and you could make out the silhouettes of Sandhill Cranes and Snow Geese out on the lake. 

Sandhill Cranes at dawn.

A crescendo of noise was emanating from the near-darkness and around 6am it was light enough to scope the birds. We were stood with several photographers from around the world (including Japan) to witness the spectacle of the morning dispersal of thousands of birds and we were not to be disappointed. 

More cranes at Bosque del Apache.

At first the odd one or two cranes took off, but slowly and surely more and more began taking off and flying away into the distance, followed by the Snow Geese and other wildfowl. The light was getting better and better all the time and we soaked up the atmosphere. 

Great early morning views of Snow Geese.

New Mexico - Heading South to Bosque del Apache

With heavy snowfall overnight we decided to head south and the hour long journey to Albuquerque was an adventure in itself as the road was covered in the white stuff. So slow going indeed but not much traffic on the road at 7am and with the temperature at a cool 18°F I was a little worried there would be ice on the road. But it was fine and we ploughed on, stopping at our favourite little spot on the back road to Albuquerque where the snow clung to the juniper bushes making the wintry scene look very splendid indeed. We had a nice male Cassin’s Finch perched on top of one of the nearby bushes, along with Townsend’s Solitaire and some Western Bluebirds making for great photographic opportunities. Moving on, a Canyon Towhee flew across the road in front of us and we had it in the back of our minds to go up to Sandia Crest and get another species of rosy-finch, but the weather was getting worse by the time we reached the turn off into the Sandia Mountains.

Some great birds here today - but rather chilly...!

The road back to Albuquerque

Female Cassin's Finch

Male Cassin's Finch

Western Bluebirds

Townsend's Solitaire

So instead we drove down I-25 for just over an hour to Socorro and on up into the Magdalena Mountains. The road went up onto a vast open prairie/grassland with views of snow-capped mountains in the distance before we turned up into Water Canyon. There was a strong cold wind blowing which kept the temperature down to about 48°F for most of the day. But once in the canyon, which was bounded by tall cliffs and covered in pine and juniper we had a great time as there were lots of birds. Our first stop to check out a flock of birds produced (apart from a rush of blood!) a female Williamson’s Sapsucker pecking away at a spruce tree. Wow! 

Williamson's Sapsucker - female

Finally we’d managed to find one of the scarcer peckers after all of that searching in the north and in lovely sunshine and blue skies we spent a while watching and photographing this little beauty. There was also White-breasted Nuthatch, our first Curve-billed Thrasher, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, a flock of Pine Siskins, Oregon and numerous Pink-sided and Grey-headed Junco’s. I wanted to check out the camping sites just a little further up the road but it was quiet, apart from Acorn Woodpecker, some Mountain Chickadees and loads more junco’s. So we drove back down to the first site and duly scored with our first Juniper Titmouse, quickly followed by a cracking Red-naped Sapsucker. 

Juniper Titmouse

I was over the moon with this latter species, as not only was it a lifer but a simply stunning bird. In fact, there were lots of birds moving through the trees below us and we had further views of solitaires and bluebirds, Hairy Woodpecker, and a few Woodhouse’s Scrub Jays that posed nicely. Elated with our findings here we drove up through the valley, in a half-hearted search for Pygmy Nuthatch – a species I know is here but have seen plenty of times before over the years.

Woodhouse's Scrub Jay

By now it was 3.15pm and we decided to head down to Bosque del Apache, arriving at 4pm. We had the bonus sighting of several Pronghorn Antelopes in the grassland before reaching the highway. Heading into the reserve we drove to the parking area known as the Flight Deck where there were hundreds of common ducks out on the water, but we were more interested in the Snow Geese and Sandhill Cranes. It has been an ambition of mine for many years to visit this place and must admit, I was very excited to be here! So we took a few photos of the geese and then I noticed a much smaller white goose which was (of course) a superb Ross’s Goose. The small rounded head and tiny bill were very noticeable and it posed nicely next to a Snow Goose so you could see the size difference easily. 

Ross's Goose (left) and Snow Goose (right) at Bosque del Apache

The light was superb and it was very enjoyable watching the geese flying around with the late afternoon sunshine making the backdrop of trees and bushes literally glow a wonderful golden colour. There were lots of other birds here with hundreds of Red-winged Blackbirds flocking in the marshes and a couple of Yellow-headed Blackbirds and Common Grackles were in amongst them as well. Several Northern Harriers quartered the marshes, a Red-tailed Hawk was perched in a dead tree and a Cooper’s Hawk flew over us.

Beautiful evening light at Bosque del Apache.

A quick drive around the Loop Trail failed to give us anything new so we headed back up the main road to some pools where hundreds of Sandhill Cranes were flying in to roost. The cacophony of noise as they bugled their presence high overhead as they flew down in skeins to land noisily in front of us was fantastic. Several of them lowered their ‘undercarriages’ and almost seemed to hang in the air with the backdrop of mountains making a lovely scene. It really is difficult to describe how evocative the sound of cranes is until you’ve experienced it yourself and this definitely ranks as one of those never-to-be-forgotten moments I will mentally file away forever.

Sandhill Cranes arriving to roost

With the light almost gone we drove 30 minutes back to our motel in Socorro and prepared for an early departure tomorrow.

New Mexico - Santa Fe

We were away by 7.15am and heading to a scenic valley and a search for our main target bird, American Dipper. Along the way we had seen our first Western Bluebirds and Black-billed Magpies – and quite bizarre too seeing this latter species in the US. 

This scenic valley was home to American Dipper.

Once in the valley, the road meandered its way up alongside the river and there were many places to stop and scan. We paused briefly from dipper duty to check out a lake but only found Woodhouse’s Scrub-Jay (a recent split from Western Scrub-Jay), a flock of Bushtits and a Slate-coloured Junco so didn’t linger. Anyway, after about our 12^th check of suitable river stretches we finally managed to find an American Dipper bobbing on a rock mid-stream. 

Loved this American Dipper.

It wasn’t that bothered by our presence and we watched it for quite some time. Our next stop was at the delightfully named Holy Ghost where the deserted campsite set amidst large pine trees was practically devoid of birds, apart from several Brown Creepers and Steller’s Jays. 

Close views of Brown Creeper.

Oh and Townsend’s Solitaire was very common here. So we decided to return to the main road and check out Las Vegas National Wildlife Refuge, which was only 40 minutes from the start of the Pecos River Valley. This turned out to be a good move as once on a quiet road in the rolling grasslands we found a flock of Mountain Bluebirds and stunners they were too! 

Las Vegas National Wildlife Refuge.

Mountain Bluebird

Overhead we saw Red-tailed and Ferruginous Hawks, plus there were several Northern Harriers quartering the vast open prairie. 

Red-tailed Hawk is common.

A marshy area held some Snow Geese and a flock of 50+ Sandhill Cranes, whilst a lake held a pair of Clark’s Grebes. Then we drove back to Santa Fe and drove up into the Santa Fe Mountains where some recent snowfall created another wonderful wintry scene. 

Santa Fe Mountains.

We didn’t get much up here, apart from a fine male Cassin’s Finch,  but we had just came to check the site out, although a Northern Flicker was very obliging. This is meant to be a good site for Grey Jay and Clark's Nutcracker but there was no sign today...