New Mexico "Chilly" Trip - Part II

 

We arrived at Bosque Del Apache National Wildlife Refuge in the late afternoon and checked-in to the aptly named BirdWatcher's RV Park, just in time to drive a short 5 miles to the Visitor Center and get the lay of the land. I was immediately impressed by the beauty of the refuge. We saw over fifty Sandhill Cranes not 3 miles from our campsite! The refuge is a stopping place for thousands of migrating Snow Geese, Ross Geese and Sandhill Cranes. The birds "fly out" in the morning to feed in farm and refuge fields and "fly in" at dusk to spend the night on the water, where they are protected from predators. During the few days we were there the light geese count was over 48,000 and the Crane count was over 8,000. We saw many other birds, the highlights being Harrier, Bufflehead, Shoveler, Ruby Crowned Kinglet, Bald Eagle, Golden Eagle, Red-winged Blackbird, and Meadowlark.

The first morning I got up very early to see the "fly out". It was dark and about 20 degrees when I left the trailer to drive to the Flight Deck (OK, I know many of you are thinking that I'm making this up, but I REALLY did do this!). I was so excited that I barely noticed the cold, at least for the first hour or so. The sunrise was beautiful and there were about 300 geese and 50 cranes on the water. The cranes took off first, a few at a time, but the geese all left at once and it was an incredible sight. The sound they make is very interesting, too.

During the next couple of days I explored the North and South Loops, which are gravel roads that wind through the refuge. Wade, who thinks that a little birding goes a long way, was content to stay in the warm trailer and read. He did join me for a few hours one day. We also took a day trip to the Very Large Array  (a really interesting side trip; check out the link) which was about an hour's drive east. We drove "around' a snow storm which created a cloudy sky that was incredibly beautiful and uniquely "New Mexico".

The highlight of the entire trip so far was the "fly out" on Monday night. When I arrived at the Flight Deck there were a few hundred light geese (Ross and Snow) on the water. Over the next thirty minutes geese arrived in large groups, each circling noisily overhead before finally landing on the water. Eventually there must have been 20,000 geese or more; it's really hard to estimate. I had never seen so many birds in once place! Then something really unexpected happened. As if a switch had been thrown, every goose on the water took off at the same time and circled overhead before landing again. What an incredible sight and sound! A beautiful sunset accompanied this...really, one of the most spectacular experiences of my life! On Tuesday night the experience was repeated and I wouldn't have thought it possible but there were even more geese and cranes! See the photos below. .

I have also enjoyed meeting and talking with other travelers and birders and hearing their stories; a rewarding part of traveling.

The weather has also been a fun part of this experience. We knew it would be cold, but the weather is about 15 degrees lower than usual for this time of year. The daytime highs have been in the mid-30's and the nighttime lows in the teens. One night it was 1 degree! Our heater keeps us comfortable, however the water pipes froze and broke on Monday, so we had no running water for a couple of days. We had to drive 10 miles to buy water. Guess that's why they call it camping! No matter what, we are happy campers though!

I could have spent a week or more birding at the Bosque, but we left this morning and arrived mid-afternoon in Alamogordo. We will be here for a few days and plan to visit the Space Museum and White Sands National Monument.

Sandhill Cranes



The Flight Deck at Sunrise

Cranes at Sunrise

Sunrise at the Bosque

Cranes

Red-winged Blackbirds

Not pretty, but happy! Wade finally gets to wear his crazy hat!

 

The Very Large Array

Pronghorn Antelope!

Geese

And more Geese

Bosque beauty

More Bosque beauty.

You guessed it...Cranes!

Typical chilly, clear day

Great Blue Heron

There really are no words to describe this sight...

New Mexico Winter Trip 2013

We are currently in Silver City, New Mexico, where it is a chilly 15 degrees! We left San Diego on January 9 and spent our first night in Tucson. Arrived in Silver City the next day, and are staying in the KOA. It's a nice, quiet campground on the outskirts of the town. Yesterday we drove up to the Gila Cliff Dwellings and hiked a mile round trip up to the ruins. Fascinating history and beautiful surroundings. It's been COLD, in the 30's in the daytime and single digit temps at night. Our little trailer has been warm and cozy however! Today we visited the Silver City Museum and browsed shops and art galleries. New Mexico is very rustic and casual. The people are friendly; we have enjoyed our time here.

Birds I have seen so far include several species of hawks (hard to identify), flicker, wild turkey, Audubon's warbler, junco (dark-eyed and gray headed species), stellar jay, raven, bald eagle, turkey vulture, woodpecker, towhee, red-winged blackbird, coots, and most spectacularly, a great horned owl!!! I also saw a mule deer buck right outside our campground.

Gila Cliff Dwellings, New Mexico

Hiking up to the Cliff Dwellings

Trail up to Cliff Dwellings beautiful and chilly!

Very interesting ruins....



Why did the (wild) turkey cross the road? Who knows!



Silver City Museum

Murals are popular

Typical New Mexico architecture

Originally we planned on driving over to Roswell, but we have decided that would involve too much driving so we are going to spend our time in central New Mexico, White Sands and maybe spend more time in Arizona on our way home. It's wonderful to have such flexibility and just do whatever we feel like doing! We are having a great time, despite the cold weather. Tomorrow we drive to Bosque del Apache, where we hope to see great numbers of Sandhill Cranes!