New Mexico - Day 2

Day 2 of our New Mexico birding trip finds us in the south-central part of the state at Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge. Snow geese, Ross's geese, and Sandhill cranes arrive here in the thousands during late September and will winter here until they return north in early spring. The numbers of geese and cranes are almost too much to comprehend as the sights and sounds of their movements throughout the refuge are a constant stimulation to our senses. We spent the morning learning about some of the behaviors of the cranes which made the morning's observations all the more impressive. Bowing, crouching, and tail wagging are all warnings to other cranes not to invade another's space. If the warning goes unheeded, then the intruder is chased off with kicks and bites from the parent cranes. Birds are not the only inhabitant of the refuge as we quickly found out. A lone coyote, apparently indifferent to our presence, trotted up and over an imbankment and passed withing 25 yards of our birding troupe. Obviously, he had something more important than us on his mind. The evening hours were no less spectacular as we watched hundreds of cranes fly into the relative safety of a shallow pond near the refuge entrance. Tomorrow, we'll head further south for new habitat and new species .