In addition to the thousands of Snow geese and Sandhill cranes, the refuge is the winter home to many other shorebirds and waterfowl.  At one of the ponds we were fortunate enough to be able to position ourselves directly over a group of about eight Wilson’s snipes and a Least sandpiper.  There was also a small flock of what might (or might not) have been Dunlin.  I wasn’t close enough to them to obtain good photographs.

Wilson’s Snipe

Wilson’s Snipe

Least Sandpiper

In addition, we saw a single American avocet in winter plumage on the refuge.

American Avocet, Winter Plumage

The most common sparrows on the refuge were the White-crowned and the Lincoln’s.  In general the two species didn’t seem to mix… each group had their respective small areas of habitat.

White-Crowned Sparrow

The Bosque holds an annual event that they name the “Festival of the Cranes” and our visit was, fortunately, a week before the festival.  As it was there was considerable disruption of some of the habitat areas, chiefly the cactus garden, by erection of a giant tent for the celebration.