December 2008

Another early morning blast off of thousands of snow geese (Chen caerulescens), viewed from near the flight deck alongside the main impoundment at Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge Snow geese at dawn. Snow geese often "blast off" just before or after dawn, leaving the ponds where they rest for…

I had hoped to get a few good photos of a single sandhill crane (Grus canadensis) in flight during our visit to Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge. Sandhill cranes are relatively large birds, meaning they are relatively easy to find in the viewfinder and they fly relatively slowly, helpful…

Here is another sandhill crane (Grus canadensis), backlit by a reflected gold sunset, wading through one of the crane pools at Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge. A sandhill crane, standing in still waters with rich gold sunset light reflected around it. Image ID: 21805 Species: Sandhill crane, Grus canadensis…

Each morning I would watch the predawn blast off of snow geese from Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge's main impoundment. Each time was impressive. Afterward, I would move to the crane pools, hoping to watch the cranes take off as the sun reached them and warmed them up. One…

Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge is famous for its early morning "blast off", a stunning event in which thousands of snow geese (Chen caerulescens) take to the skies. It does not happen every morning, nor does it happen at the same time on those mornings on which it takes…

Our first few days at Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge did not yield great opportunities to photograph individual snow geese (Chen caerulescens) in flight, primarily because the geese were spending the bulk of their day in the far northern corn fields, far out of reach of even the longest…

Each evening while we were at Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge we positioned ourselves at one of the two northern "crane pools", the ones located on the west side of the road as one approaches the main entrance to the refuge. For 30-40 minutes before and after sunset, sandhill…

Midday at Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge is, for photographers, pretty slow. The bird flight activity seems rather low and the light is harsh. We would return to Socorro for midday, to have lunch, clean up, and catch up on reading the news or having a nap. We would…

On our recent trip to Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, Skip, Ken and I were treated to several fantastic sunsets as we watched the sandhill cranes (Grus canadensis) flying in from nearby corn fields to roost for the night in shallow ponds, where they are protected from coyotes. These…