On the morning we left Socorro for Santa Fe I spotted this leucistic grackle in a Walmart parking lot. Since I started this web site with a leucistic Varied thrush I had to obtain a photo for the continuity. I didn’t have my good camera at hand, the light was too bright and the bird was walking around a parking lot, but I did obtain a few photos. This bird should be all dark, but as you can see, part of its tail is white.
I’ll be featuring just a few more images taken at the Bosque del Apache NWR in New Mexico, then I’ll move to Santa Fe for a couple of posts and then it will be back to Skagit County for an interesting story or two and a couple of features on some nice birds.
For now, here are some photos of some of the “quackers” I photographed at the Bosque…
Female Northern Shoveler
Male Northern Shoveler
Male Northern Pintail
Male Northern Pintail Experiencing a “Bad Hair” Day
Male Dabbling Ducks… Probably Northern Shovelors
“Quackers” can generally be divided into two groups, dabbling ducks (which don’t or can’t go underwater due to positive buoyancy) and diving ducks which dive underwater for much of their food. Mallards, Northern pintails and Northern shovelers are examples of dabbling ducks.
Quacker! (: )
The photograph above is of a nice “quacker” but I’m unsure of the species. Somebody out there help me!
Killdeer
So that’s it for the Bosque, but not before I showcase one more bird under a separate post.
This Eurasian Collared dove was with several others in the small community of San Antonio, NM, just outside the entrance to the Bosque del Apache NWR.
Eurasian Collared Dove
The following day this Pyrrhuloxia was at the same location.
Pyrrhuloxia, cousin to the Northern Cardinal
Western Meadowlark
This Western meadowlark was beside one of the local roads just off of the refuge.
Another Western Meadowlark
And back on the refuge, this Loggerhead shrike was in the same general area for all three days that we were there.
The Bosque del Apache NWR is located in central New Mexico, a little over an hour’s drive south of Albuquerque, NM. It’s my favorite location for birding. Much of the effort in managing the refuge is for the benefit of Sandhill cranes, Snow geese and other waterfowl. In the winter months the refuge is home to tens of thousands of these birds. But like any other natural place, good habitat attracts a wide variety of birds and other wildlife.
Management of the refuge must be a fairly complicated matter. There are many different areas that are, or can be, flooded by use of irrigation channels. Parts of the preserve are dedicated to growing crops (corn) that will attract and provide food for the birds through the winter. And the refuge is constantly being inundated with invasive salt cedar which is battled with considerable effort and cost.
During the day a substantial number of the cranes and geese can be found in, or around the edges of, cornfields. The birds are generally somewhat hesitant to enter the cornfields because the coyotes can hide in the corn and ambush the birds as they feed, so the majority of the birds stand around the edges of the cornfields while some of the ones that are hungrier or bolder enter the standing corn for food. Throughout the winter portions of the cornfields are knocked down to provide food for the birds.
Sandhill cranes and Snow geese feeding in and near one of the cornfields at the Bosque.
In the late afternoons the coyotes, which are mainly nocturnal, employ various tactics to make a meal off the birds. They skirt the flocks of birds in and around the corn fields looking for any that might be sick, injured or just not up to par on self-preservation. Although I’ve never seen a coyote take a bird you must assume it happens on a regular basis or else the coyotes wouldn’t spend the time or effort in their pursuit. While some coyotes appear to try to sneak up on the birds, others are fairly open concerning their intentions. In the photo posted below, this coyote is taking the direct approach to a cornfield but on the previous evening we watched for almost an hour as a coyote sought to hide in low cornfield stubble and ambush unwary birds.
Coyote making a direct approach to the cornfield.
Just before dark the cranes, geese and ducks fly in small groups to the relative safety of the shallow ponds that are scattered over the refuge, where they spend the night. The ponds often freeze over during the cold nights but offer some protection from the coyotes. The water probably provides some warning of coyotes’ approach and perhaps the coyotes are somewhat dissuaded from entering the water or venturing out on thin ice.
Sandhill cranes flying back to one of Bosque’s ponds for safety during the night.
Each winter morning there occurs just before sunrise what is termed ‘the fly-off’. Within a very short period of time, sometimes measured in mere seconds, the thousands of birds that have over-nighted at the refuge rise together and fly off to feed in the various fields both on the preserve and on private land in the general area. This event attracts observers and photographers from all over the world.
And each and every day of the winter the cycle repeats itself.
You can learn more (and perhaps obtain more accurate information) about the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, including their weekly bird count, by visiting these web sites:
Our Anacortes weather hasn’t been conducive to taking photographs and I’ve been busy with seasonal activities, so to be able to keep the postings flowing I’m going to post some photos and commentary relating to the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge just south of Socorro, New Mexico. The Bosque, as is familiarly known, is known for its Sandhill crane population that winters on the refuge. I’ll go into a little more detail regarding the cranes in a future post, but first I want to highlight a remarkable photographic engineering fete regarding the camera and lens I use.
As stated elsewhere on this site, my primary camera is a Nikon D-300S. With it I use a Nikkor F4 200-400mm lens, occasionally augmented by a 1.7X tele-extender, an additional lens that fits between the primary lens and the camera body. The Nikkor lens has image stabilization which is very useful, and I usually obtain further stabilization from a carbon fiber monopod which, while not as steady as a tripod, nevertheless provides good stabilization and more flexibility.
One evening at the Bosque, as the sun was setting, I took the following photograph of a Sandhill crane in flight.
Uncropped Sandhill crane in flight
Due to the magnification of the lens at 400mm, the photo was taken at a range of something I would estimate at 50 yards or more.
Cropping the photograph to make it more interesting (ie, eliminating a considerable amount of surrounding ‘nothingness’) gives the following image.
Cropped photo of Sandhill crane
But the amazing feat of this camera and lens is that magnifying the images even more reveals that it is still very sharp… so sharp, in fact, that you can see through the hole (nostril?) in the crane’s bill! 
Keep in mind that this was in fading light, with a 400mm lens and a subject in motion!
Next up: Coyotes versus Cranes in the Cornfields (How’s that for alliteration? I have several prior English teachers who, were they still alive, would be very proud of me!)