My new digs near the Bosque Del Apache

Click the pics before they migrate.

Camping in a little RV Park right at the gate to the Bosque Del Apache. I've never camped this close to the Bosque before, and I'm thinking this will give me more time to take pictures and less time driving back and forth.

When I got here it was a very comfortable 70°, I know nights are still going to be pretty chilly, but daytimes look pretty nice.

I had a smooth and uneventful drive, which is how I like all my drives to be, down I-25 past the town of Socorro, New Mexico, and into the tiny village of San Antonio, New Mexico, which is the closest town to the Bosque Del Apache National Wildlife Refuge.

The Bosque is a premier birdwatching site for many different kinds of birds but is most known for its large concentrations of Snow Geese and Sandhill cranes. Photographers from all over the world visit the Bosque at certain times during the winter to have a chance to stand on "the flight deck" and witness the awe-inspiring sight of the 20,000 snow geese "liftoff" at daybreak.

I've only watched "the liftoff" once, and I must say the magnitude of the event was only overshadowed by some of the coldest temperatures on the face of the earth, which had completely numbed my entire body before the sun ever came up, to the point I could barely hold my camera. That was about ten years ago, and only recently have I warmed up enough to even consider doing it again.

But fortunately for me, this is still too early in the season to have the full gaggle of Snow Geese present, so there's no reason for me to suffer as I did before for so few Snow Geese. And the Sandhill Cranes don't seem to copy the snow geese; they mostly straggle off in medium-size groups with nowhere near the impact that 20,000 snow geese have. So I am saved from having to decide to get up before dawn and stand in the freezing cold with icicles hanging out of my nose.

Theboondork

Parked next to some of the wetlands where there's a bunch of Sandhill Cranes feeding.

Most of the people I see at the Bosque Del Apache are just birdwatchers with no cameras, they just stand on the bank watching the birds, sounds boring to me.

The Bosque is definitely a haven for ducks and other waterfowl, this is a perfect habitat for them.