Birding at Bosque Del Apache NWR, New Mexico, USA
Paradise for Birders, Heaven for Photographers...
Bosque Del Apache NWR in New Mexico is a winter home for thousands of Snow Geese, Sand Hill Cranes and a variety of ducks. Careful land and water management of the refuge that comprises of nearly 12,000 acres has seen a steady incline of numbers of migrating Snow Geese and Sand Hill Cranes over past few decades. The refuge offers remarkable opportunities for shooting up, close and personal shots as well as Flight shots of the Snow Geese and the Sand Hill Cranes.
Planning a photo adventure
Getting There
Bosque del Apache NWR is located along the Rio Grande river, just off Interstate 25 South, about 85 miles from Albuquerque. Socorro is the nearest town to the refuge that provides very good lodging and boarding facilities. Socorro is located at exit 150 on I-25 South, about 75 miles from Albuquerque. To reach the refuge from Socorro, get on to I-25 South to exit 139. Drive for about 1/4th mile to the flashing light in San Antonio. Turn right at the flashing light and drive for about 8 miles to the visitor center. Entrance to the Auto Tour loop is about 1/4th mile further on the same road.
Bosque Del Apache Tour Loop
The auto tour loop provides the main access for viewing and photographing wildlife on the refuge. The tour loop opens one hour before sunrise and is open till one hour after the sunset. The tour loop is about 12 miles long, mostly one-way graded road with two-way cut-off road that divides the loop into 2 shorter loops called Farm loop and Marsh loop. You can stop as often as you wish along the tour loop as long as you pull to the side and do not obstruct other visitors.The corn fields at the North end of the refuge are used by the migrating Snow geese and Sand Hill Cranes for feeding during the day and provide excellent, close viewing and photographing opportunities. The corn fields are accessible via the Farm loop.
The following map shows the tour loop in the refuge.
Map copied with permission from Friends of the Bosque Del Apache site
Photographing in the refuge
The birds in the refuge feed in the corn fields around the refuge during the day and return to the various water bodies in the night to roost, trying to keep safe from predators like coyotes and bald eagles. As the first light of the morning touches the refuge, you may not be able to see them, but you can clearly hear them. If these birds get spooked by something or think that a coyote is around, they take off immediately (blast off) calling out loud, circling the sky till the danger is cleared. If it is still dark, the water is still safer than the corn fields in the North. When the sun rises, such blast offs can provide excellent photo opportunities. At the Flight Deck (see #7 in the map above) the blast off can been experienced with the sun rising right in front of you. The flight deck also provides ample opportunities to photograph low flying geese, cranes and ducks as silhouettes against the beautiful morning skies.On the first and last day, I went to the Flight Deck, hoping to experience a good blast off. During this time of the year, the sun rises at about 6:00 am. Exact sunrise and sunset timings can be confirmed at the Bosque visitor center. I was in the refuge at 5:30am, trying to setup the camera in the dark. Carrying a head lamp can be very helpful in this situation. In winter the nights at Bosque can be very cold, windy and temperature can drop into teens. Luckily I was wearing multiple layers of clothes to keep me warm along with gloves and a hat. I had also carried hand and toe warmers which are certainly recommended. On a very cold morning, as the sun rises, the mist from the water can provide really excellent interesting photo opportunities. Fortunately (or unfortunately) I didn't experience extreme cold mornings on this trip.
Above picture was taken from the flight deck, at dawn as the sun started to illuminate the lake. I love how the back lit grass adds warmth to the cold, sleepy morning at Bosque.
This was my first time at Bosque so everything was magical for me. I experienced the famous "blast off" on the first day. I thought it was great, but regular Bosque visitors thought otherwise. This year there were more than 50,000 geese, around 7000 cranes and nearly 30,000 ducks present in the refuge but they were scattered all over. On the third day, I experienced a really nice blast off from the flight deck.
On the second day I chose to go to the Willow Deck (see #4 in the map) instead of the flight deck which can get very crowded sometimes. Willow deck is on the other side of the tour loop where we were facing west, with the sun rising from behind you. This can be an excellent spot for photographing in-flight birds as they come to the pond in the morning. I experienced one of the most spectacular blast offs from this deck. As thousands of birds took off from the pond at the flight deck, the geese filled up the sky in front of me, with the mountain providing a gorgeous backdrop.
The pond in front of the willow deck was used by large number of ducks for overnight roosting. As cranes and ducks started to fly in, a large flock of ducks took off from the pond.
I found many ducks and cranes congregating in the sunlight to warm up after a very cold morning.
Once the sun was up, the birds would typically fly north to the corn fields. The sand hill cranes; because of their larger size; have to run some distance to become airborne. The cranes make their intention to fly by pointing their bills and bodies into the wind and craning their neck.
When the cranes come in for landing, their legs drop and they slowly parachute-in.
So by mid-morning I was at the fields (see #6, farm deck in the map) trying to photograph birds in-flight. The birds like to fly and land into the wind so every day can be different, depending on the wind direction. The first day I had the wind blowing towards me, so I positioned myself to get some nice sidelight on the geese as they came in to the corn fields.
On the second day the wind was blowing from behind me, so I could photograph the geese coming straight towards me for landing. Every day was different, every moment was different.
By 10 am the light typically becomes harsh so I headed out for breakfast. The Owl Bar and Cafe in San Antonio is a nice little place about 8 miles from the refuge. I then headed back to the hotel by lunch time to download images and to work on the action plan for the afternoon. The sun used to set at 5:30 pm, so I would return back to the refuge by 3:30 pm to catch the birds in the last light of the day. All three days I found myself at the fields near the farm deck. Those fields were very active, providing good opportunities to photograph birds from close distance.
In the following shot, I liked the beautiful light falling in the geese as well as the trees in the background. I found that the opportunities for flight photography are abundant in Bosque. The action there can some time become very overwhelming. I needed to slow down and look around for different photographing opportunities. Like in the following shot, just by shifting few feet around, I could use trees illuminated by the setting sun as a background.
After the sun started to set, the beautiful pinkish sky added a nice touch to these flight shots.
And when it was dark, the birds fly back to various ponds for roosting.
Apart from the flight photography, I liked to look for opportunities to click some behavior shots of the birds. The geese showed a very interesting behavior. Large number of geese would pour into the corn field, packing it up like stuffing an explosive material in a small box and then with a trigger of some kind would explode in to the sky, calling out loud and circling around to come back again.
Similarly cranes are also fun to observe. The following shot was taken when few cranes started calling out to the other cranes by raising their bills into the air.
Also look for shots like this in the North Field.
Just before the sunset consider heading back to the flight deck, where cranes fly-in in the evening and can be photographed as silhouettes against the setting sun.
Bosque has lot more to offer, more than sand hill cranes, snow geese and ducks. The attractive Roadrunners and Gambles Quail are commonly seen in the refuge. During the migration season raptors like Merlin, Red tailed hawks and Bald Eagles can be easily found in the refuge. In this trip, I didn't get a chance to photograph any of these birds but there is always something for next time. Yes, I am already thinking about my next trip to Bosque.