The Sandhill Cranes at Bosque were what initially attracted me to New Mexico in early December. That and learning from a master photographer, Russ Burden.
Russ’s tour led me and three other photographers first to White Sands National Monument. In five days at White Sands I took only 630 photos. But in the four days at Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge near Socorro I made 2,604 shots. Selecting my favorites took a little time.
Bosque has lots of Sandhill Cranes. It is one of their few wintering areas. But I was surprised to see even more Snow Geese than Sandhill Cranes.
Click on the picture above to enlarge
They make a lot of noise even when they sit around and eat. You can see and hear them in this short movie that I posted on YouTube here:
Click on the picture above to enlarge
Click on the picture above to enlarge
Click on the picture above to enlarge
Click on the picture above to enlarge
These weren’t the first Sandhill Cranes and Snow Geese that I ever saw. But until I went to Bosque I had seen them only in one’s and two’s. Never before in the thousands.
2 responses so far ↓
1 Bob Guetzlaff // Dec 31, 2011 at 11:09 am
Reminds me of hunting in No.Dak. where we’d see as many or more snows. Easy hunting, good eating (all that corn/grain). We could also shoot cranes there, but never did. Some hunters do. I suppose they could taste OK too, considering their diet. I was there once when the HUGE “northern flight” occurred. I probably saw more than a million geese and ducks that day. Continuous V’s all day from dawn to sunset. Few were interested in coming to earth. A sight I’ll never forget! And, it’s not like that at all anymore. Man has really ruined this beautiful planet!!!
2 Patricia Canty // Jan 2, 2012 at 8:57 am
Here in North Florida we have cranes every winter. Wish I had a better camera and lens to take as good a picture as did you!!