rapidfire

Waterfowl Wow in New Mexico I

t’s a great wonder of nature to see thousands of snow geese departing a pond in a mass gaggle at sunrise. Most folks don’t realize how easy it is to witness this in person at Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge (NWR), located just off I-25 approximately 85 miles south of Albuquerque, N.M. Bosque is a 57,331-acre refuge along the Rio Grande established in 1939 to provide a stopover for migrating waterfowl. Managed wetlands comprise 8,000 acres; there’s also a visitors center with an RV park- ing lot, a cactus garden, driving loops, hiking trails, and several ponds. Visitors can look for over 350 different types of birds, from sandhill cranes and bald eagles to hum- mingbirds. Mammals include mule deer, coyotes, bobcats, mountain lions, javelina, and an occasional elk. With a wingspan of three-quarters of an inch, the pygmy blue but- terfly is one of the refuge’s smallest inhabitants of note. What to do: Wildlife viewing is the primary attraction at

Bosque. Miles of driving loops make the refuge accessible to people of all ages and physical abilities. Activities are

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scheduled throughout the year, the largest of which is the weeklong Festival of the Cranes in November. When to go: November through February is the time to find the greatest number of birds, as the geese and crane population numbers reach the tens of thousands, along with thousands of ducks and other waterfowl. Rise early to catch the sunrise mass departure of thousands of snow geese followed by the departure of the sandhill cranes from the flight deck or one of the other ponds. During the day, observe the geese and cranes feeding in the fields at Bosque or the nearby Ladd S. Gordon Waterfowl Complex. In the late afternoon through sunset, they return to the ponds. Don’t forget to look for other birds, waterfowl, raptors, and animals. Fall and spring are good times to view migratory songbirds passing through. In summer, there’s usually a good population of songbirds, waterfowl, and shorebirds. More Information: www.fws.gov/refuge/bosque_del_

apache, www.friendsofthebosque.org, (575) 835-1828. — Lt. Col. George F. Moore, USAF (Ret)

PHOTO: SHUTTERSTOCK