New Mexico's Bosque del Apache Bird Refuge
Real Winged Migration - Thousands of Sandhill Cranes, Ducks, Geese
Sep 24, 2008 Grace Lichtenstein
Even casual birders adore the feathered frenzy at the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge. Anyone who enjoyed the documentary Winged Migration can experience it here.
The 57,000-acre sanctuary, located about 10 miles south of Socorro, NM, about an hour from Albuquerque, is packed with astonishing numbers of birds who call this their winter home. At its height, in November, the refuge holds its annual Festival of the Cranes.
And it is a great stop for human snowbirds - retired folks making their way to Mexico, southern New Mexico, or Arizona. There are inexpensive accommodations in Socorro.
On a typical late fall afternoon the refuge is - from a bird’s eye view - as bustling as the streets of Bombay. Some 50,000 ducks, 22,000 geese, nearly 10,000 sandhill cranes, up to 10 bald or golden eagles and an occasional rare tundra swan chirp, squeal, sing, warble, trill, tweet, quack, honk, hoot, and serenade each other, while binocular-toting humans who drive its 15-mile loop road gaze, stupefied.
Turn South at landmark Owl Bar
Not the least of the Bosque’s attractions is its unexpectedness. The name means “woods” but there are no forests here and the nearest Apache land is 100 miles east. The landscape along Interstate -25 near exit 139, does not inspire visions of an Audubon-esque haven. Only when drivers turn south at the Owl Bar in the town of San Antonio onto Route 1 does the gentle riparian locale of small trees, scrub brush and marshland begin to appear.
Experienced birders arrive around 5 a.m. or 4 p.m., since the greatest activity takes place at sundown and sunrise. The birds fly out at dawn to scavenge in the nearby fields, then at dusk they fly back in to the ponds to visit with their friends and to seek protection from predators that the water provides.
As the sun begins to sink behind the low-lying Chupadera mountains, visitors watch hordes of redwing blackbirds settle into the wetlands. The preserve is not the exclusive domain of any one species, but is communal property. Thus, at this one spot gather numerous coots; dozens of pairs of gray sandhill cranes in their strange yet familiar pose, each balancing on one long skinny leg; and such a profusion of white snow geese that it looks as if someone had shaken out a featherbed.
Other Nearby Wildlife Attractions
Just north of the Bosque is another refuge managed by the Wildlife Service, Sevilleta. And farther south in Cochise County, Arizona is the San Bernardino Wildlife Refuge.
Those who arrive at the Bosque as the last rays of sun bathe the willows in a rust-colored glow hear a cacophony of sounds echo across the countryside. Flights of geese and cranes soar above, then settle in various ponds.
At wooden boardwalks, visitors watch regiments of ducks parade across the water two by two. Above, cranes put on their aerial spectacle. A lone blackbird perches on top of a dead tree trunk standing in the shallow water. The raucous chatter continues, as thousands of geese descend. In the growing dark, the air reverberates with bird calls. On one visit a 10-year-old girl standing on one deck began jumping up and down exclaiming “this is so cool!” - as if she were at a Justin Timberlake concert.
What a show! Don’t miss New Mexico’s noisiest natural wonder. Other New Mexico manmade wonders include the Railrunner train and Santa Fe's New Mexico History Museum.
Sandhill Crane
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Snow geese
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