I mentioned the beautiful sunrises and sunsets at the Bosque del Apache in a prior post.  This is a photo of the sunrise on our first full day at the Bosque...

A cooperative American coot... 

And a group of Northern pintails...  

I have a lot more Bosque photos to post, then other selected photos from the Randall-Davies Audubon Center just outside of Santa Fe!   Stay tuned! 

Bosque del Apache NWR, New Mexico

My wife and I visited New Mexico over the Christmas holidays as we have in several past years. One of our favorite activities there is to visit the Bosque del Apache NWR located a few miles south of Socorro. This, in my opinion, is one of the premier birding locations in the American west. The preserve is managed for wildlife, and in the winter thousands of Snow geese and Sandhill cranes stay at the preserve. During the night the birds usually stay in flooded farm fields to thwart coyotes, but in the daytime most fly off to feed in surrounding farm fields. The morning “flyoff” is a spectacular event when most of the birds leave the fields in one great cloud. The views are enhanced by what are often spectacular sunrises and sunsets which I'll post later, bur first some bird photos.


From the standpoint of those who live in the PacNW, the Bosque is an opportunity to experience bird species that we don’t have in our region. I’m going to post photos of some of the birds I was able to photograph while at the Bosque. If you are interested in more information on the Bosque you can link to the following web site… but don’t leave before you view some of these photos!

Female Red-winged blackbird...

Meadowlark, Eastern or Western?



 Sandhill cranes...

Sandhill cranes preparing to land... 

Snow geese landing...  



Hermit Thrust et al

During the week of Christmas my wife and I traveled to New Mexico and birded the Bosque del Apache NWR south of Socorro and the Randall-Davies Audubon Center on the outskirts of Santa Fe. I had intended to publish some of the photos I took while on the trip but I had such a remarkable day on Monday, 1/3 that I’m postponing posting the New Mexico photos in favor of showing some that I took in the neighborhood.

As a little preamble the area had its annual Christmas Bird Count (for 2010) on 1/2/2011. I had a lackluster day but during the course of the count I encountered a holly tree full of berries… and American robins. We’ve had a several day run of clear (but cold) weather and I returned the day after the count to photograph the robins eating the holly berries. I probably took at least 20 photos of a robin in the holly tree. 

While I was monitoring the holly bush I noted what I thought was a Fox sparrow about 30 feet away. Not having taken any Fox sparrow photos with my new camera I decided to shift my focus (no pun intended). After changing my position in my car I looked up to see what I thought was the Fox sparrow only about a dozen feet from me. What luck… I didn’t even have to move the car!

I began taking photos of the new bird but as I got further into the task I realized that the new bird didn’t look exactly like a Fox sparrow… and I realized that it was a Hermit’s thrush, a bird I have seen in the PacNW only a handful of times, and even then not in photographable situations. I took probably 20 photos of the Hermit thrush in full light and only about ten feet from the car!

I then realized that there was yet another bird in the area where I had seen what I originally thought was a Fox sparrow, and upon closer examination I realized that this second bird was indeed a Fox sparrow! At this point I moved the car forward about 20 feet and began trying to photograph the Fox sparrow, but it proved elusive. However it was soon joined by the Hermit’s thrush and I was able to view (but not photograph) the two birds virtually side by side!

As more time passed I photographed a male House finch and a Song sparrow at the same location, but missed (due to hyperactivity on the part of my potential subjects) a Bewick’s wren and a Ruby-crowned kinglet… with its crown showing. It was a great morning… but stay tuned for photos from New Mexico!