2017 10 30 Bosque Del Apache National Wildlife Refuge

Monday, October 30, 2017 - Bosque Del Apache National Wildlife Refuge

Halfway between Albuquerque and Alamogordo. We took the Auto Tour so we could keep the dogs with us. We had to detach the RV in the parking lot and, if I may say so myself, we are getting pretty good at it. 

We heard about this National Refuge from Eliza and Donald at dinner on Saturday. We were shocked to find out that 80 percent of the Sandhill Crane population uses this area for migration.  We are here just at the beginning of the migration season so we only saw a few hundred. The refuge has not been flooded in most of the areas but it was a sight in the few areas were they were congregated. 

Ruddy Duck - this is the only one we saw though apparently they are very common. This is a male in winter plumage. 

Mountains in the background.

The lone American White Pelican. It seems odd to find a pelican in the middle of desert refuge. 

Along the auto tour there are several overlooks but also some very nice walkways over the flooded areas so we could get even closer to the waterfowl. 

We saw several of these hawks. We think they are Northern Harriers, probably juveniles. They were swooping low over the flooded areas and occasionally diving toward the smaller birds. Not sure they were really trying to catch anything, maybe just practicing.  

Besides the Harriers, the Park staff said they also saw either a juvenile Bald Eagle or a hawk but we did not find it in the area. 

A Great Blue Heron on the hunt. This one was very close to the walkway above. 

Spots something moving in the reeds. 

And BAM! Captures his prey. A dragonfly. We were so surprised as we had assumed he would be hunting for fish. We had heard several splashing around as we walked along the boardwalk. 

In the mud at the edge of the reeds we saw several tracks. There appeared to be some raccoon tracks but the most interesting ones were considerably bigger. There are plenty of posting about this being Mountain Lion territory. But the staff also said someone had recently seen a bobcat drinking from one of the ponds.  

Sharp eyed Bob saw this Collared Peccary - Javelina wandering one of the service roads. 

This was truly a sight. The cranes are arriving for feeding before going to roost for the night. Their distinctive calls and slow descent as they circle a landing area is very memorable.  

We have seen plenty of White Tail Deer in Ohio but these were mislabeled by the Visitor's Center staff. Since they seemed larger and are grey instead of brown we checked further and discovered they are actually Mule Deer. When we saw this one and a second one nearby, they froze like...yep...deer in the headlights. Since we were only halfway to Alamogordo once we left the Refuge, we couldn't stay later to see the grazing deer and elk that are suppose to be there. 

One of the flooding canals.

Landing Cranes.

Harrier against the New Mexico skies.

So it's true that a diesel engine is not very efficient while crawling along looking at scenery. We assumed by our readings that we had enough fuel to make Alamogordo but once we hooked up the RV and hit the highway it seemed we had taken a lot longer than the scheduled two hours. It was a little scary thinking about running out of fuel out where there are miles of roads with nothing but sand, scrub and sky. And no cell phone service. We finally found fuel in a one stop-light town of Carrizozo. The gas station was obviously not designed for a 63 foot rig of RV and truck. Bob had a very tight squeeze to get positioned near the pumps. The winds were whipping through town and rocking the RV. It was a relief to know we could get to a campground. The only drawback was the setting sun and clouds rolling in. We were afraid we would be rained on. We had to call on short notice to the Boot Hill RV Park since the original park did not call us back. Getting the last slot and rolling in after dark we set up by the light of the passing vehicles and cell phone. The prince I married took care of everything outside while I settled the inside with the dogs. What a guy!!!  

A cloudy morning. We pulled into the Boot Hill RV Park after dark last night. 

Boot Hill RV on the left and to the right across the road is McGinn's Pistachio Tree Ranch...

...with the worlds largest Pistachio. We could not figure out what we were seeing while driving from Albuquerque and saw rows of trees. Turns out to be pistachio trees and vineyards. Who knew there was enough water in this desert area for that kind of farming.