The Bosque’s Winter Guests

Bosque Del Apache National Wildlife Refuge is a magical place to see winter wildlife. Most big waterbirds, their perching little friends, and large furry game will spook and run if you get anywhere near them. But here where they're protected, you'll see large numbers of them in amazing spectacles of natural activity, against a beautiful forest and mountain backdrop.

I've made sporadic trips to Bosque Del Apache (literally woods of the Apache) over the last 20+ years. It used to be a 2 hour airplane flight away when I lived in Northern California. But once I moved to New Mexico, it was just a 90 minute drive south of my Albuquerque home. I've gotten down there maybe once a year in the last few years. This year's first trip came in mid-November.

Clouds Of Cranes Head Southwest

Sandhill cranes migrate south from arctic feeding grounds in late September or early October, heading for warmer winter temperatures and food in the southwestern U.S. They're joined by flocks of snow geese. Cranes leave again for the arctic in late February, taking about a month to reach mating and nesting sites up north.

Right now, they're at Bosque Del Apache. Their usual daily pattern is flying out in the morning to cut-down cornfields and marshes to eat, then retiring to more open water where they can see predators coming at night. Our first afternoon stop was the visitor center to ask where on the 57,331 acre refuge I might find them. Armed with a volunteer's helpful advice, we drove the one-way south loop around to the central two-way spoke between it and the one-way north loop in search of birds. As reported, there were some cranes and geese at the extreme southwest end of the loops, but too far away for good photographs. We had that soft, warm winter afternoon light bathing some Canada Geese and Northern Pintail ducks, but I needed an extremely long lens to get small groups to fill the frame. That's not what I want.

As Close As You Can?

When you're far away from wildlife and you're using a very long lens with a teleconverter, your pictures can get soft. Water vapor, dust and air currents between you and the bird can blur the bird's eye and feather detail. And teleconverters degrade a lens' native performance since they 'stretch' the lens' projected image to magnify it on your sensor. Add to that a lens that starts out at a pretty small f/9 aperture with its softening from diffraction, and your picture will be less than sharp. Even on a tripod, a 1000+ mm focal length shows every little vibration as blur. No, I needed to get closer - or find birds who already were closer. I had more chances towards the end of the day, but nothing that was close enough.

There was a big fat moon rising just after sunset. I waited for distant birds to fly near it, contenting myself with landscape shots I knew I'd have to sharpen later. I captured some distant cranes flying below and across the moon, and a Northern Harrier flying above it. The shots were OK, but didn't knock my socks off.

Sunset colors were great, making nice red-orange patterns across the clouds. We went to dinner in nearby San Antonio (New Mexico, not Texas!) and hoped for better conditions the next morning.

It Always Looks Better In The Morning

After a 4:30 am wake up in the morning to the alarm clock's warning, we unhooked the RV and made the 5-minute drive to the refuge. We drove the central two-way spoke and around the South Tour loop. Unlike prior years, the view was empty from the south observation deck - great color, but no birds. Most of the birds were in the central two-way spoke, so we drove back to it.

At first, there was faint orange in the background with cranes a duller gray. There were a couple arguing cranes in the dimness. And I got a blackbird fly off, but the light was so low everything blurred in a handheld shot.

Spooking the Blackbirds - Crane Stalking

Then after several (im)patient minutes, cranes were bathed in strikingly-warm light. You may enjoy every phase of the light and bird behavior, but with luck there's a point where your brain screams, "Wow!" and both birds and light completely excite you. My best opportunity was a determined crane striding into the light while blackbirds flew past behind him. There was also a small crane group in the shadows ignoring a huge blackbird cloud behind them.

Cranes like to dance. They also squawk and jump at each other. We found them doing both in grey light.

Snow geese were decidedly inactive. Instead of their noisy flyoffs, they mostly seemed content to look for food or rest on the ground. There were a few flying over the last fall colors.

As the sun got a little higher, I could hear the voice of my old mentor Moose Peterson in my mind - "Light's getting pretty hard. Time to stop and grab breakfast." So we did.

Between morning and late afternoon we find hiking trails for our dogs on the east side of the Refuge. Afterwards we returned to the two-way for the later afternoon session. Though birds were far enough away to put me at my longest 800mm, I captured some interesting behavior. A few cranes were staging a demonstration, tilting their heads back and squawking at the sky. Or maybe their barbershop quartet was practicing. It might look like they're singing, but as soon as they open their bills it's squawk along with Mitch.

Most cranes decided to just get on with foraging for dinner.

With the light fading, cranes began lifting off in small groups to head for the nightly roost.

After that, it was time to pack up and head for our own dinner.

The next morning's shots were just ok. I still hadn't been able to get close. Cranes high-stepped around the marsh in the grey pre-sunset at 742mm range - far away. Out by the still-deserted South Observation Deck, a Wilson's Snipe was pulling a worm up for breakfast. That was it for the morning.

Better Luck At Bernardo

We'd passed signs for Bernardo Wildlife Area on our way down to Bosque Del Apache, so I decided to check Bernardo out for different (hopefully less distant) opportunities.

Bernardo is much more compact and open. You have yellowed corn and weed fields, a grassy meadow backed by trees with brown and yellow autumn leaves, and small, watery marshes. There are distant mountains to the east and west. A sporadically-paved road does a jaggedly-rectangular loop through the place.

Cranes Chasing A Pot Of Gold

There was a rainstorm to the north. Driving back past the meadow, my wife pointed out colors curving through the sky - a rainbow in the clouds ahead, with a faint second rainbow above it. I saw flocks of cranes flying across it and exclaimed, "Stop! I need to shoot that!" I placed the rainbow as an angle through the frame, waited for birds to fly high across it, and captured a few images. I discovered the second group of birds near the trees afterwards. That second group down on the deck balanced the picture out like a fraction to either side of a rainbow slash. When unexpected things happen in pictures, I always suspect my inner eye of capturing more than I consciously see.

That was my highlight for the mid-November trip.

What Happens In December?

After an initial edit of the November pictures and thinking about how to use the new to me RF 200-800mm f/6.3-9 IS zoom lens a little better, I decided to return to Bosque and Bernardo in early December. (I always try to pronounce Bosque as the Spanish would have said it. To me it's boe-skay, NOT bah-skee.)

The late December 7 afternoon gave me foraging cranes in warm light at the eastern side of Bosque's North Tour Loop. Some stretched their wings, while others ignored a bad hair day and ate anyway. With Bosque's closer mountain backgrounds I look for cranes and geese flying to their watery night roosts. Cranes are more individualists, while geese fly in loosely-arrowed flocks. At the Blue Hour just after sunset, mountains turn deep indigo with soft orange sky near the horizon. Add bird flocks overhead, and you have major reasons why I keep returning here.

Foggy Drama

The alarm went off at 4:30am again the next morning. As a photographer, I should be used to this. I'm just not a morning person. But in my mind I hear Sherlock Holmes exclaim, "Come Watson! The game's afoot!" That gets me moving.

It was still very dark when we finished unhooking the RV and headed for Bosque 10 minutes away. From prior experience with where the birds were in the morning, we drove up the two-way center of the Tour Loops to wait for more light. We had the Refuge to ourselves as we parked and started walking around.

It was a very foggy morning, and cold enough to chatter teeth. Regrettably, cranes and geese mostly hadn't flown in from the night's watery roost. There were a few of them, just too far away. As we walked around, we discovered some coots bobbing in shallow water, shrouded by fog. But as I tried to stalk closer, they swam away from me. It's hard to be subtle carrying a camera and long lens on a big tripod.

I glanced to the other side of the road and saw a faint orange glow on the horizon with bare trees. I captured that view, knowing it would be a bit blurred from a slow shutter speed.

Cranes dozed in the foggy pre-sunrise light. After sunrise, geese ate and flew to different feeding areas. But I still hadn't caught the noisy clouds of a huge flock lifting off. Once again, birds were too far away for most shots, so I started walking around looking for foggy landscapes. More coots swam and bobbed near bare trees. I added a diffracted sunstar through the branches, a favorite photographer's trick.

The Fog Tree

There's an isolated dead tree I used to call the eagle tree, since a bald eagle usually perches there every year. This year there was no eagle. Instead there were coots in the water to one side, butts up looking for food. I set up for the shot, placing the tree near the middle and turning the camera for a vertical picture. As the shutter clicked repeatedly in rapid fire, a lone duck flew in from the left and crossed my frame. Looking at the picture sequence afterwards, I saw there was a tall, dark background tree in the V of the dead one. I picked a shot with the flying duck to the left of the coots, who all happened to be posed with their butts in the air. The tree's watery shadow leads your eye into the shot from the bottom.

I hadn't intended a black and white picture, but the shot looked best that way - moody, with a peaceful impression of a quiet, solitary morning.

Bernardo Afternoon

We drove up to Bernardo for the afternoon session. Cranes fed in the weed stalks, occasionally flying off to different spots. I finally got a goose mass liftoff, full of gabbling birds and loudly whirring wings. As it got later, birds were bathed in warm orange light against a pale blue sky. The sunset was a giant yellow ball to the southwest. Photographers were already set up with long lenses for silhouettes. I captured photographers and birds in flight against mostly bare trees and the warm, smoky sky.

As the sky turned delicate pink, then flaming red-orange, I tracked cranes circling around to their night roost. They probably don't appreciate brilliant sunset color like humans do. It was quite the spectacle.

Birds tend to roost overnight in Bernardo's watery ponds, within a close shooting distance - finally! The next morning, we were first in line at the gate, which opened an hour or so before sunrise. I set up with a line of other photographers near a packed bunch of cranes and geese. With this many birds, I pick out one or two to feature in pictures. At sunrise, birds began flying off in ones and twos to feed. Cranes either flew or walked over to the nearest weed fields, while geese tended to fly. As it got later and the light got hard, it was once again time to go home.

Birds Aren't The Only Wildlife At Bosque

After Christmas we planned to meet my brother and sister-in-law in El Paso. On the way, we stopped and spent the night near Bosque.

The next morning I'm looking through an 800mm optical keyhole for cranes doing interesting stuff in great light. Behind me, my wife says, "Did you see the deer out there beyond the birds?"

Yup, it's a small buck with just a few points on his rack. Like most deer he's on the move, browsing for leaves, buds, and new shoots from shrubs and trees at every stop before moving on. He'll try to eat things that are full of simple sugars and other concentrated nutrients. If he stays too long in one place, he's an easier target for coyotes and big cats. I swung my lens up a bit, waited for him to face the setting sun and took my shot.

Wilson’s Snipes - for anyone sent on a snipe hunt, they actually exist.

After a few more shots of foraging cranes I moved on to a feeding goose flock. I got a closeup of another mass goose liftoff, all wings, flying water and excited cackles. There was also a small group of long-billed Wilson's Snipes still dozing. I spotted a javelina (very dangerous wild pig) at extreme long distance and took the shot, but it wasn't good enough to show. Maybe I'll get a better one next time.

Shot Notes

I brought my large and heavy EF 500mm f/4L lens and EF 1.4X II teleconverter on the November trip, but didn't use them very much. Most shots were with an RF 200-800mm f/6.3-9 IS zoom on an EOS R7 APS-C crop sensor camera, which gave me lots of reach and framing flexibility without changing lenses. I also had a 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 zoom on a Leica SL3 full-frame camera clipped to my belt for handheld flight shots and any unexpected closeup opportunities. When birds and background were at roughly similar distances or birds were large in the frame, that camera's autofocus worked OK. I had trouble with the camera not getting focus when birds were farther away. Next time I'll use an EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6L IS on an EOS R5 II. That camera has much better animal subject AF than the SL3.

A week after returning from the last trip, I heard about dead birds at Bernardo. At least a dozen dead cranes had been found on the ground, cause unknown. There’s speculation it was avian flu, but nothing was certain. That’s very contagious in a bird population, and can pass to humans in rare cases. Sandhill cranes have been migrating up and down North America for at least 2.5 million years according to the fossil record, and it would be more than a shame if anything happened to them.

Deer, coyotes and birds have 57,331 acres - almost 90 square miles - to shelter and eat on at Bosque Del Apache. That's a lot of area for me to search through for them. Fortunately, the weedy marshes they and the plants they feed on need for water are close to the roads. That makes them a little easier to find. Knowing their habits helps too.

Thanks to Billy Trujillo for a great stay at Bosque Birdwatcher’s RV Park. He runs the closest RV park to the Refuge, and it’s one of the cleanest parks we’ve camped at.

More Information

Billy Trujillo (nd), Bosque Birdwatcher’s RV Park. Retrieved from https://birdwatchersrv.com/

Cornell Lab of Ornithology (nd), Sandhill Crane. Retrieved from https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Sandhill_Crane/overview#:~:text=The%20earliest%20Sandhill%20Crane%20fossil,37%20years%2C%203%20months%20old.

Johnson, P.A. (1981, 2017), Those of the Gray Wind: The Sandhill Cranes, New Edition. Lincoln, Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press.

New Mexico Department of Fish and Game (nd), Bernardo Wildlife Area. Retrieved from https://www.wildlife.state.nm.us/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Bernardo-GAIN-WMA-NMDGF.pdf

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (nd), Bosque Del Apache National Wildlife Refuge. Retrieved from https://www.fws.gov/refuge/bosque-del-apache.

Yuncker Happ, C. and Happ, G.M. (2011, 2023), Sandhill Crane Display Dictionary: What Cranes Say With Their Body Language. Safety Harbor, Florida: Waterford Press.