Bosque del Apache

I took a couple of days and went to visit my sister in Springerville, AZ. I left Rio Rancho and drove to Socorro, NM and then a half hour south to the village of San Antonio, NM where I turned off on another road to go to the Bosque del Apache Bird Refuge. I have been there several times over the years but it had been about 15 years since I was last there. It is a wonderful place where you can see just about any bird that can be found in New Mexico there most of the year. In the winter the place is home to lots of migratory birds, especially the Sandhill Crane and Snow Geese, as well as Canadian Geese and about a dozen kinds of ducks. Or they usually are. I was disappointed to not see the thousands of cranes and geese I had remembered seeing the times I had been there before. I did see more deer than I remembered seeing before as well as lots of Redtailed Hawks and Cooper's Hawks and 3 Bald Eagles. This refuge was started in 1939. The Festival of the Cranes is held every November when the Cranes come back with lots of special people to talk about birds and other things at the refuge. There are lots of other animals here, too, like deer, coyotes, bobcats, rabbits, javalena (a type of wild pig native to the Americas) There are many different kinds of lizards and snakes, too. There is a large visitors center and gift shop.

Canadian Geese

Redtailed Hawk

Bird viewing deck

Redtailed Hawk

Pair of Bald Eagles in the tree. A bit hard to see in this photo.

Bald Eagle using my zoom lens

A different Bald Eagle sitting on dead tree that I remember having been in this pond for at least 30 years.

Mule Deer

Sandhill Cranes

Canadian Geese

A pair of Mute Swans were grazing in a pasture outside of the Refuge near a private home.

Old train depot, I think, as it was by the tracks in San Antonio, NM

Old church in San Antonio, NM that is no longer in use. There was a fence around it so couldn't get close. Couldn't find out any history on it.