The Christmas Goose

It's the day after Christmas and all you insane friends of mine are out fighting the crowds for another bargain or two.  My hat is off to you for having the courage to fight your way through it.  I personally don't need anything that badly.  In fact, I had a lovely Christmas.  It started with sunrise over the mountains while I sat deep in the Bosque watching the sandhill cranes fly out to other fields to feed all day.  Shortly after that I watched as the snow geese covered the surface of a large pond on the north side.  They are so loud coming in that I could close my eyes and imagine myself back home at the Hickerson family gathering (actually this fly in was so loud they could have been my Ogg family gathering). 

Lots of people from all around the state and well beyond come here to see the sandhill cranes but the cranes are far outnumbered by the "light" geese most of which are snow geese, but about one third of them are Ross' geese and if you look closely you will even see the fabled blue goose. 

If turkey is more to your liking for the Christmas feast just head to the woods in the northern reaches of the Bosque where I found about 100 of them in a corn field.  They tend to stay hidden from the visitors here although they are certainly protected like all the other birds.

So I sat and watched the geese for a while thinking about the traditional Christmas goose in Dickens' Christmas Carol.  A hunter out looking for a fat goose for the table would have his pick here - as long as he avoids Ben the Bosque game warden. 

After a few hours in the refuge it was time to head back to my little home and check on the crockpot chicken and dressing I was cooking for our covered dish Christmas dinner.  Late in the afternoon we all gathered together in the lounge and followed the Christmas tradition of stuffing our bellies one more time.  Lots to eat but no goose!

 

 

My Life is For The Birds

The sky is filled with cranes every morning.

Looks like it's been a while since my last post.  I would apologize but I feel no guilt for it.  Seems like my life has been for the birds more and more since I moved into the refuge.  And boy do we have the birds here.
This week's count for Sandhill Cranes is a little over 8,500.  The cranes are the main draw here but the snow geese give them a run for their money.  And these guys do their best to take away attention from the cranes.  It makes for very interesting shows all the time.  The cranes have a loud bugling voice that rings out across the refuge night and day.  They are tall and graceful with their scarlet caps that seem to glow on sunny days, and when they come in for a landing they drop their long legs and flap their huge wings resembling small aircraft coming in for a landing on the fields and ponds.

The snow geese aren't about to be put out by some showy cranes.  Not only are the geese numbers more than twice the number of the cranes, but they have a way of being noticed when they leave and arrive.  First of all the geese arrive in groups of one hundred or more at a time.  

It's snowing geese!

They fly over the field in a dramatic swoop then swing back across a little lower before finally coming to a noisy landing.  Try to imagine a restaurant full of chatting people.  Multiply that noise by tens or hundreds depending on the size of the flock.  If you are used to the honk honk of the Canada geese on the pond, forget it.  Snow geese sound like that restaurant full of people.   

An American Widgeon is unimpressed by my visit.

And then things get ducky - like more than 85,000 ducks worth of ducky.  Most of them are northern pintails, northern shovelers, and mallards.  But mixed in with them are ruddy ducks, buffleheads, canvasbacks, redheads, ringed necks, and a few widgeons, green-winged teals, and wood ducks.  A drive or walk down the south loop is filled with lots of quackers. 



Just one of the training sessions I've attended since starting
at the Bosque.  We are taught the history of the refuge and
the Rio Grande River as well as birder training.

After the cranes and the geese, the next big draw here on the Bosque is the raptors.  I rode the 12 mile tour loop last Sunday with our bird guide and ended up with a count of 3 mature bald eagles and 5 juveniles; 2 mature golden eagles and 1 juvenile; 32 northern harriers,
1 kestrel, 13 ravens, and 37 red tail hawks.  And the biggest thing I learned is that not all red tail hawks have a red tail.  Go figure.

Beyond the big show there are all the little song birds that come to the feeders or hang out on the dried sunflowers in the fields: white crowned sparrows, white throated sparrows, song sparrows, house sparrows, juncos, towhees, and a few house finches.  The winter weather here is mild but what few bugs we get are kept in control by the resident flycatchers: Say's Phoebe and Black Phoebe.

Wheww!!  Did I leave anyone out?  Well, wintering goldfinches and mountain bluebirds of course. 

A murder of crows

So if I don't blog as often as I have before you'll have to understand.  When I'm not taking visitors out to see the refuge and our residents, I'm studying them.  It's a tough job but somebody's got to love it!

How To Enjoy a Beautiful Thanksgiving

Halfway up to the cache

Got up early on turkey day and turned on the news to hear the reports of shootings and fights among the folks camped out all night to start their holiday shopping.  While watching the news I scrolled down the list of all the posts listing what my friends and family are thankful for.  After listening to the news I was thankful not to need to be near a shopping mall.  Soon there was a knock on the door.  One of the other volunteers wanted a partner to go along on a short cache run.  It was 8:30 and we had to be back by noon because of the potluck turkey dinner this afternoon.  Was I interested?  You bet!

In 10 minutes we were on the way up a narrow canyon gravel road in his jeep.  The first cache was a simple micro in a cut out along the canyon wall, then we were back in the jeep and driving deeper into Box Canyon.  The sky was blue, the temps were brisk but not too hot or too cold, and the canyon walls were high.  The next cache was on top of one of those canyons.  When the GPSr beeped at 190 ft. we stopped and looked straight up - and up - and up.  It was a no brainer to drive to the end of the canyon, park the jeep, and hike back up the other side of the canyon's edge.  Only a quarter mile hike but really a beautiful view from up there. 


Just a little hike up and over that old mine

Looks like we found it!

Back to the jeep and deeper into the canyon we found our next two caches near the remains of some old abandoned silver mines.  More parking the jeep and hiking up hills.  Oh, and there was still snow and ice in the higher climes so there was just a little slipping and sliding in some spots.  Before I knew it the morning was over and we had to drive out the other end of the canyon onto the highway and back to camp for lunch. 

 

 

 

 

Here come the snow geese

And after lunch there were the birds in the refuge.  Lots of them.  And lots of folks standing around with cameras.  I was amazed at how many dedicated birders were spending the day watching the sandhill cranes.  But as the sun set I found myself standing in there with them perhaps feeling a bit of "lens" envy holding my little point and shoot camera in the midst of cameras with long range lens so large some folks have to wear back braces to carry them around.  Still I think my pictures came out pretty good.  I hope you agree.

Apologies for the long wait on a new post

Two roadrunners NOT on the road

I am embarrassed to say that the main reason I have been so remiss in posting to my blog is technical.  Google changed a lot of their set ups and it took me a while to cut through all the new stuff to find my way back to here.  Well, there's that and there's all the birding I've been doing.  And boy are there birds here to see!

What's that knot on that tree?

The Sandhill Cranes, the main stars of the show here, are coming in day by day and the latest count shows that we have a little over 3,000 with at least twice that many coming by the end of November.  And while they are beautiful to watch, I really like the snow geese which the latest count shows at a population of over 5,000.  And I can believe that.  Some mornings I look across the highway into the flooded grain fields and it's almost a blanket of white. 

Sneaky perch

But then things get ducky!  We have over 22,000 ducks here in the refuge.  I am busily learning to tell them all apart.  One day last week I was manning my post at the spotting scope on the Marsh Deck and saw a few ducks: ring necked, bufflehead, cinnamon teal, widgeon, pintail, mallard, redheads, and ruddy ducks.  Wow, it is really hard to pick some of them out because most of the males are still in their drab summer plumage. 

Buffleheads in the afternoon sunshine

Of course there are numerous Canada Geese along with all the red wing blackbirds, the hawks, the eagles, the woodpeckers......  well, as you can see, we host a large variety of creatures here.  And I am loving it despite the wintry weather beginning to set in.  There is snow up north on the mountains but so far it hasn't found it's way here and I hope it doesn't.  Well, OK Madeline Ruth, I do think it would be pretty to see the place covered with a light dusting of snow. But just a LIGHT dusting. 

Next week the Festival of Cranes will begin and I'm told there will be over 5,000 birders and photographers here for that.  It should be interesting.  I'll try to do better at posting some pix from that.

The Cranes Have Arrived!!

It's the middle of October and still the government is shut down.  But the birds don't know.  I stopped at the viewing kiosk on the north end of the bosque which is not closed off to the public like all the trails inside the area.  There was water in the field beyond the kiosk which is normally dry.  We haven't had any rain so obviously the rangers had to have flooded the field.  Of course the Canada Geese were there and lots of mallards and susies.  I saw a big spot of white which with my binoculars I was able to identify as the first snow geese of the fall.  Thinking I was done I started to leave until I noticed some movement near the back of the field.  Yep, there they were.  The first Sandhill Cranes of the year.  One pair feeding along the back of the field.  Talked with another birder who had stopped to see the snow geese and also hadn't noticed the cranes at first.  Finally I went home wondering if the canes will continue to come since the rangers aren't allowed to work in the refuge knocking down the corn fields that the cranes feed on.  Then yesterday I stopped at the same spot on my way home and watched as wave after wave of cranes flew in.  By dusk there were at least 200-300 cranes in the field.  OK Washington.  Get your act together so we can feed the birds!

Up, Up, and Away

I

f you ever get the chance to travel to New Mexico in October, be sure to check out the hot air balloon festival in Albuquerque.  It's a 90 minute drive from my campsite at the bosque, but so worth it.  The festival lasts 10 days and I tried to content myself with watching live coverage on the local news show each morning.  Finally I couldn't stand it, so I drove up to the big city on the day of the shape balloon contests.  I arrived about 2 hours before dusk and walked around the field seeing all the signs and talking with the crews.  That's the great thing about the festival.  Not only do you get up close and personal with the balloons, but you also get to talk directly with the crews.

Just as light was fading the aprons started rolling out.  That's the term for large tarps spread out on the bare ground to protect the balloons as they are unfurled and inflated.  Soon crews were scrambling around with fans and tethers and all sorts of ballooning gear.  The red, white, and blue rocket ship was first up and joined quickly by Peg Leg Pete and then Chica.

All the while guests walked in and around the aprons watching and taking pix.  By the time I left there were somewhere in the number of 60 shape balloons in the "glodeo".  That's what they call when all these balloons are tethered on the ground but glowing with the flames of their firing hot gases to keep the shape open.  I left before the fireworks show thinking I would be able to see that from the r
emote parking area and be ahead of the traffic to start my drive back home.  It was a beautiful night and I'm glad I got to see it.  Next step?  Ride in one of those babies over the city.  Why not?!

Welcome to the Bosque

I have finally arrived at my home for this winter -

My office

Some of my neighbors

Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge in San Antonio, New Mexico.  The weather is nice for early fall: low 80s in the afternoon and cool evenings in the 50s.  My walk to work from the volunteer camp takes about 2 minutes and is interrupted only by the bugling elk herd in the field to the north.  I work three days a week in the visitor center or out roving the refuge.  On my first day I saw 5 female mule deer, a flock of long billed dowitchers, a few white pelicans, and a six foot rattlesnake sunning himself in the road.  In the afternoon I return home to Seeker to check email and listen to what sounds like a large croaking frog.  Instead I find that a local Chihuahuan Raven has taken a post on top of the utility pole behind my parking spot.  I have
accepted the fact that he was here first and named him Edgar.  I hope he eats the mosquitoes that are still around and large enough to saddle.  Right now with the cool nights I love to sleep with my window open and even gotten used to the serenade of a local night owl.  I love everything about my new home except the government shut down that has idled us all.


The rangers have asked us to just hang out and wait for the reopening so I guess I'll do some exploring.  Sadly the refuge that I would like to explore is off limits to us all right now.  But I'm sure I'll find something to do. 

 

My Excellent and Not So Excellent Arizona Adventures

I am an only girl blessed with 4 brothers.  If you ask them they will all tell you I was spoiled and at this point in my life I will have to agree.  I was spoiled by having 4 big brothers (well Ronnie is younger but he has been bigger than me since he was 12).  They are all distinctly different in their looks and their careers and their lifestyles.  And I love them all so much, but it is difficult to spend a lot of time with them since they are somewhat scattered.  Last year Clint came to visit my campsite just outside of Nashville on his birthday and after fixing a couple of things on Seeker (he's my go to guy for car stuff) we spent the rest of the evening talking, cooking dinner on the grill, and just catching up.  I hope he enjoyed his birthday as much I did.  Ronnie is hard to get face time with.  His busy career of over the road trucking keeps him running around the country.  I did get to meet up with him at a truckstop diner in KY last year along with cousin Madeline, but was unable to meet up again somewhere along I 40 this summer.  Now I'm afraid I'm too far west but who knows.  Of course Mike is always just outside of Atlanta, mostly on Lake Lanier fishing if things are going his way.  He is really enjoying his retirement.  I did spend the month of December with him last year and did my best to help him and Linda through a tough time.  Of course I spent most of my first year of rv life in Georgia and we got together a lot back then.  Now days we just talk on the phone.

And then there's Pat.  Pat is one of the reasons I have come so far west.  He and his wife have settled in Arizona for their retirement years so it's a little trickier to visit with him.  I did visit for a few days back in 09 or 10 (I can't remember which) but that was long ago, so I made it a point to get to Arizona this summer.  I had planned to visit for a week to 10 days, and they were kind enough to let me park Seeker at their place so that I could be close.  In fact, it was so hot out there in September that it was just better that I stay in the house in the spare room.  And what a house!  Have I mentioned yet that Pat and Teresa are both artists?  Everywhere in every room there is evidence of their talent: stained glass, etched glass, glass mosaic, paintings, carvings, beadwork.  It is humbling to be around such talented folks.  One reason Teresa likes being where they are is the warm winters.  One reason Pat likes to be there is no yard work.  His take on mowing the grass: spraying weed killer on grass or weeds that pop up in the gravel that covers his front and back yards.  He does have some trees planted around the place that have really grown since I was there before.  And the lake out back provides lots of birdwatching opportunities as well.  I had a great time visiting with them and learning rv tips from Pat (he and Tee full timed for a while before settling in their home). 

And then one day I decided to visit a park about 60 miles away for some excellent birding.  Spent 4 hours walking trails and practicing with my new birding scope.  Despite the heat I had a great time and treated myself to a new, compact birding guide to keep in my backpack.  My mainstay, the heavier Petersen's Guide will now stay in Seeker.  So feeling good about the day I left and went into a nearby town for some lunch and to browse.  Finally decided to start heading back toward Pat's house but took a different route thinking it might be quicker.  BIG MISTAKE.  I soon found myself on I 10 heading away from Phoenix area but folks were getting off work and traffic was building and it was about 104 outside.  My little car was not liking the heat and since I didn't need to hurry home I decided to get off at the next exit and wait out the traffic.  That's when it happened.  I got caught up in stop and go traffic on the ramp and got sandwiched between 2 cars.  The guy behind me kept running up really close and made me too nervous.  I paid too much attention to him and ended up hitting the rear end of the girl in front of me and the guy behind me hit my back end.  Not hard, but enough to do some damage.  So we eased up off the ramp and as soon as there was enough room on the shoulder the car in front of me pulled off and I did the same. The guy behind me just went around us and kept going.  Luckily all he hit was my bicycle and the damage was minimal but it did put a new scratch on the back gate of my car.  When I told the police officer about the guy leaving he just shrugged and said it happens a lot. 

The good news is that no one was hurt and damage was minimal.  The car in front of me was from California and actually heading back the next day.  She just needs a near rear bumper.  I was able to drive the rest of the way home (about 40 miles) and had to delay my departure I had planned for the next day for a week while my car was in the shop.  But now my little orange car has a new hood and front bumper.  And I got to experience flooding in the streets in Arizona during the monsoon season.  What an amazing adventure.  Hope I don't have too many more like it. 

Boothill

Well, I feel like I have come full circle in my western pursuits.  Been to Dodge City, seen the cattle driven through the streets of Ft. Worth, and now that I've stood at the OK Corral, all that was left was a visit to Boothill.  Here's the pix.  Hope you enjoy the visit too!

 

 

 

 

 

Ghost Hunting

 

Well, I just couldn't be in the old west and not go visit a ghost town.  Actually there were 2 on my trip today.  Cuchillo has a church, a small café/store (and the only place in town with a public restroom but you must buy something first), a couple of farms, and a population of about 12.  It was once a stage stop on the way to the silver mining towns of Chloride and Winston.  And yes, the old saloon has been verified as haunted by Ghost Hunters.  I stopped to take a picture of the old church which is still being used but by whom?

After leaving Cuchillo I followed old highway 52 another 22 miles.  52 is a very curvy 2 lane road that climbs up and around the mountains and provides some spectacular views and fortunately has some pull offs for tourists so we don't run off the side of the mountain.  During the monsoon season (that's now) the rains mean watch the low places in the road for water (I ran through 3) and rock/mud slides.  In fact, just before I entered Chloride (which is where the road dead ends) the county had some heavy equipment out clearing a big mudslide.  I didn't mind waiting my turn to go down the cleared lane.  Serious mud slide there!

Chloride was founded just after the Civil War when a man named Pye staked a mining claim and started pulling out silver.  Lots of silver.  Soon the town was booming with others ready to cash in.  Churches, saloons, mercantile, and homes were built up quickly, but when the silver played out the town went bust.  And Pye, well, had a run-in with some Apaches and lost.  For a long time the town was indeed a ghost town.
Today there are 13 hardy residents of Chloride.  One of the residents who is involved in restoring the old buildings gave us a tour of the museum housed in the old general store.
When they bought the property in the late 70s it was inhabited only by bats and rats, but all the old merchandise was till on the shelves.  Slowly they have worked to restore this building as well as the saloon next door.  In each case they have saved as much of the contents as possible.  Anyone interested in a heart of pine child's casket from 1903? 

The old bank is now a café and the owners bake all their bread and desserts from scratch.  So yummy.  And while the place seems like the right kind of spot for ghosts, there are no official reports or sightings.  After lunch at the bank café and a little shopping at the artists' coop housed in the old saloon it was time to start crossing water and mudslides and find my way back home. 

Let it Snow!!

Probably the most amazing sight for me on this leg of the trip has been what appeared at first to be a low hanging white cloud bank to my west as I was crossing Apache Pass. 
The closer I got the more I realized it looked like snow.  In the desert?  When I finally found a place to pull off the road and really focus and consult my map, it finally came to me.  White Sands.  Yep, that's what I was seeing 60 miles out to the west in a stretch as far as I could see.  White Sands.  Thirty miles closer and I could really see how large the place was.  And when I actually got there, well, let's just say "wow!" doesn't cover it.  It was almost like being lost in miles of snow drifts.  If you've seen sugar sand on the beach you think you're ready for this, but it's just so much more.

Families come here everyday with snowboards and snow disks, climb to the top of the highest dunes, usually around 60-75 feet high, and sled down.  I confess I didn't try it, but I did take off my shoes and walk around barefoot in the lower dunes.  Honestly, it's just an amazing place and I kept thinking how much Aiden and Addy and Drake would love this place.  After a full day of roaming around the sands and learning about the geological causes and impacts it was time to head out to my campground.  The next day I actually had the chance to visit the museum at White Sands Missile Range.  It's the only part of the military post civilians are allowed on and the scrutiny for getting in is a bit of a hassle but well worth it.  I actually spent some time with one of the original V2 rockets taken out of Germany at the end of WWII.  And of course the museum had quite a display on Oppenheimer and the trinity test site.  Twice a year, the first weekend of April and October, civilians can sign up for a tour of the actual test site including the ranch house where the scientists set up their first clean room.  I was really excited thinking of ways I could be in the area at the beginning of October until coming across a big sign explain that budget cuts cut out the October tour.  Oh well, guess I'll focus on April now.

Feeling "Alien" ated

Roswell is a town unafraid of embracing its past no matter how "alien" it may seem.  Think Area 51.  Roswell, 1947.  This is a quirky little city and I like the feel of it very much.  Not too big.  Not too small.  Friendly folks everywhere I went.  And while I spent most of my time at the state park or out seeing sites within a short drive of Roswell, I did take a couple of days to just see Roswell.  I laughed a lot of the time there too.  How can you not laugh at things like Alien City Florist or mailboxes painted up like R2D2?  So here's a picture tour of a city that is just too much fun.  And if you have no plans yet for next July 4th week, try coming to the UFO Festival here.  I hear it's (groan) OUT OF THIS WORLD!