Bosque del Apache, NM: Festival of Cranes: Rescues

Great horned owl, Festival of Cranes, Bosque del Apache, New Mexico

I spent the first part of my day at Festival of the Cranes at the fun duck-banding activity. For the balance, I visited the many exhibits outside the visitor center.

Kestrel, Festival of Cranes, Bosque del Apache, New Mexico

Lots of raptors! I think there were perhaps four separate rescue organizations represented, each bringing owls and hawks, and one bringing a wolf.

Harris hawk, Festival of Cranes, Bosque del Apache, New Mexico

Back of great horned owl, Festival of Cranes, Bosque del Apache, New Mexico

Great horned owl, Festival of Cranes, Bosque del Apache, New Mexico

Screech owl, Festival of Cranes, Bosque del Apache, New Mexico

Wolf and penitent owner, Festival of Cranes, Bosque del Apache, New Mexico

About the man with the wolf. He bought the wolf when it was eight weeks old, and quickly realized that raising a wolf is not like raising a dog. His current mission is to educate people about the stupidity of taking on wolves as pets. His wolf, now about three years old, lives in the Wild Spirit Wolf Sanctuary, where the man now also lives and works.

There was also a rather large representation of snake lovers at the festival.

Bull snake, Festival of Cranes, Bosque del Apache, New Mexico

I had in mind to take a walk at the refuge, but by the time I finished visiting all of the exhibits, I was ready to push on, thinking perhaps to swing through Capitan on a circuitous route home to Alamogordo. 

On the way out, I stopped by a lake with snow geese.

Snow geese, Festival of Cranes, Bosque del Apache, New Mexico

Heading home, I took Highway 380 east, the reverse of my way to Bosque del Apache in the morning. What a pretty highway, and the foliage is changing color, resulting in soft yellows and ivories, deep oranges.

Colored hills in November, near Fite Ranch, Highway 380, New Mexico

November colors, Fite Ranch, Highway 380, New Mexico

November colors, Highway 380, between mile markers 56-57, New Mexico

November colors, Highway 380, between mile markers 56-57, New Mexico

I passed a tall cholla cactus with what I thought were yellow flowers, but on further research, must be buds, which will transform perhaps to violet-colored flowers. If so, I look forward to seeing that. Anyway, I passed this tall plant, so turned around and went back to get photos. I found a herd of them.

Cholla cactus, between mile markers 56-57, Highway 380, New Mexico

Cholla cactus, between mile markers 56-57, Highway 380, New Mexico

Cholla cactus, between mile markers 56-57, Highway 380, New Mexico

And now that this has been maybe my third trip down this highway, and the spectacular basin view, here's a pretty-good photo of same:

Highway 380, New Mexico, between San Antonio and Carrizozo

But I hope to get many more opportunities to find that perfect shot.

It's pretty special to live in New Mexico for this year, to be able to look at these spectacular sights so often. 

Coming up: Another pass through Carrizozo. And Tularosa.

Bosque del Apache, NM: Festival of Cranes: The Ducks

Mallard duck, Festival of Cranes, Bosque del Apache, New Mexico

Whoa! The Festival of the Cranes at Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge almost got away from me, even though it was on my list of events to attend from even before I arrived in New Mexico.

Because I didn't catch my oversight until yesterday afternoon, I knew in advance I'd miss the climax of the event, either the sunrise or sundown, which means the cranes either leaving Bosque del Apache for the day or returning. Tomorrow, Sunday, is the final day of the Festival of Cranes. (But since the cranes don't care when the festival begins or ends, I may see about catching a dawn or sunset this coming week.)

In the meantime, below is a beautiful video filmed by New Mexico Tourism in 2011, very relaxing, with cranes, snow geese, and ducks at Bosque del Apache:

I left Alamogordo a little after 6:00 a.m. for the 2.5 hour trip.

On Highway 54, between Tularosa and Carrizozo, the mountains on the west glowed pink as the sun rose over the eastern mountains.

The trip there was uneventful, and I arrived 10 minutes before the bus for "duck banding' was to leave. And it was pure luck that I was able to participate, as most people had registered a month ago and the event was full. But I guess there were some no-shows, so I and some other lucky folks got to go.

Biologists had arrived early in the morning and trapped the ducks with a net while the ducks ate corn scattered along a lake bank. Before we arrived in two vans, the biologists had already sorted the ducks according to species (pintail and mallard), gender, age, and those unbanded versus previously banded.

Sorted ducks, Festival of Cranes, Bosque del Apache, New Mexico

 

We were shown how to hold the ducks and how to identify gender.

All of us got a chance to band a duck with an aluminum band. One of the participants, a gentleman from Texas, who hunts birds, has collected numerous bands from his and his friends' kills. When you send a band in to the appropriate location noted on the band, you get a certificate of appreciation that explain where the bird was originally banded.

Collection of bird bands, Festival of Cranes, Bosque del Apache, New Mexico

The process included: 

1. Slipping band on duck's leg and closing it with pliers
2. Noting band number, wing measurement, and weight on written log
3. Measuring duck's wing
4. Weighing duck
5. Releasing duck

Measuring wing, Festival of Cranes, Bosque del Apache, New Mexico

Putting duck in sock before weighing, Festival of Cranes, Bosque del Apache, New Mexico

Releasing banded duck, Festival of Cranes, Bosque del Apache, New Mexico

Nearby, people logged in data on the birds that had been trapped, but had been banded previously. Participants really got into holding the ducks. Twice, a duck flew out of the arms of an attendee and the biologist literally caught them on the fly. In the instance I saw, caught the fugitive, mid-flight, with her left hand, while she held another duck in her right. The photo below shows her holding the two ducks.

Festival of Cranes, Bosque del Apache, New Mexico

There came a time when everyone had to release their ducks.

And we were finished. I think everyone loved being part of this event.


Up next: Raptors, wolves, and snakes

Rootless Relocation, Part 4: Exploration

Maps and lists of important things in my next base:



The New Mexico Independent Coffee Shop Map   (2 in Alamogordo)

Albuquerque, New Mexico

New Mexico Wineries Map  (3 around Alamogordo)

New Mexico Events and Festivals from Offbeat New Mexico

What New Mexico is famous for

Tribal feast days, festivals, and events


Some things I'm going to do this fall:

Sunset Stroll at White Sands National Monument 

October 6: Follow the Alamogordo caravan to the Trinity site, open to the public only two days per year.  DONE!

October 12-14: Cowboy Symposium, Ruidoso (about an hour from Alamogordo)  DONE!

October 29: Full Moon Hike at White Sands National Monument

November 3: New Mexico Line Dance Jamboree (in Alamogordo)

November 13-18 in there somewhere: Festival of the Cranes, Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge in Socorro

Deer crossing at Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Sanctuary, New Mexico

Socorro: Camino Real and the Unreal Fort Craig

Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge

[2010 Out West Road Trip.  Travels with Carol.]

In March 2010, my mother, Carol, and I took a road trip from Missouri to New Mexico, in search of sun and warmth. Here is Day 15 of our road trip. 

Wednesday, 17 march 10

  

MZURI'S REPORT

We're both pretty tired out this evening. And alas, we're in a kind of ... disappointing ... hotel room. We could have moved, but we just didn't have it in us to pick everything up and carry it to another room.  

 

Craftsman at Camino Real Center

We left T or C about 9:30 after a good breakfast at the Happy Belly Deli. Drove up I-25 toward Socorro, when we saw signs for the Camino Real Center, and we stopped. Wow, what a surprise! This place is pretty much in the middle of nowhere - and it is intended to be such, to give people an idea of what it was like to travel on the Camino Real (the royal road) during the 400 years in which it was active between Mexico and New Mexico. Beautifully designed, the exhibits are presented in interesting ways, and you are led in a natural progression through the exhibit rooms. 

Camino Real Center

There is a pretty outdoor area that includes a desert garden. The property abuts Ted Turner's Armendaris Ranch. In re: the location -- a historian who helped get the center off the ground walked 30 miles in the area to find just the right spot.  as our destination.

 

We subsequently went to another unplanned stop: Fort Craig. I'll let Carol share that story. 

 

From Fort Craig, we proceeded to Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge. Fascinating place, even when the bird population is not as huge as it is other times of the year. In addition to lots of ducks and geese, we saw white egrets, HUGE herons - a HERD of heron - plus roadrunners, pelicans, and a sort of brown egret or heron we were unable to identify. Additionally, Carol saw an animal on her wish list - mule deer. Evidently, bobcats have been seen frequently lately. We were advised as well that mountain lions had been sighted and that we should not walk alone. 

 

Along the way from some point A to point B today, we saw a longhorn chew on something plastic. 

 

 

CAROL'S REPORT 

The motel is a Howard Johnson and apparently we got the last available room in Socorro as there is some sort of Christian Revival or Meeting in town.  Just because the showerhead (one of those kind that have tubes leading from the faucets to the working end) is tied with string, microwave but no refrig, a phone that doesn't seem to work right, no working light over sink and very early we got someone else's wake up call (M's side of the bed), the place doesn't seem too bad to me.  The situation on Fort Craig in a few words -- didn't exist except for placards at intervals describing what we were not seeing i.e. one indicating "this was the parade ground located behind the enlisted mens' quarters".  The brochure showed what I expected to be seeing...the fort.  The parking area was distant and high flora prevented the eye from seeing the nothing it was.  St Patrick's Day yesterday.  We ate at a K-Bar and I ordered a baked potato with all kindsof good stuff on it and when it came I saw the biggest potato ever seen - about 10 inches long spilling forth butter, sour cream, scallions, bacon bits and broccoli.  Ate most of it to my shame and can only say it was in honor of the special day and the fact I was tired of rice.  Today we will tour the active Church San Miguel featured in Bishop Lamy's sojourn in the 1600s, as New Mexico was his diocese.  The main character in Willa Cather's Death Comes For the Archbishop is patterned after his remarkable history. 

Very little of the original interior remains of course.  Am hearing some ominous clunks from the transmission and the nice proprietor at this motel checked the fluid for me which was full.  M not as concerned but I would hate to breakdown in the desolate mountain roads.

READER RESPONSES:

FROM HOLSTEIN BOY:
...am hearing some ominous clunks from the hallway, will send Mzuri to take a look...oh noooo it's Georgia O'Keefe and she wants to show us some awful paintings.

FROM SHILO GIRL:

...am hearing some ominous clunks and squeaks at home, coming from the basement....too scared to go look.  will stay close to the unlocked back door while watch the stairs.  ready to run out of the house at the first sight of the top of someone's head!  will run with or without Shiloh!  I will leave the door open for her.  its every man for himself! 

 

I watch way too many scary things on tv!

 

heard a little rumble from the kitchen.  Shiloh and I just looked at each other then settled back down.