Bosque del Apache

Bosque del Apache ("Forest of the Apache") National Wildlife Refuge is located in the Middle Rio Grande Valley, west of the river. Estabished in 1939, the reserve protects important wintering habitat along the Rio Grande for waterfowl, particularly sandhill cranes. The altitude here is about 4500', so the winter temperature can vary 30 degrees or more between dawn and noon.

Photographing at Bosque del Apache: the closest places to stay are bed and breakfast places like Fite Ranch, or motels farther north in Socorro. Huge lenses are the norm here during winter months when the reserve is very popular with bird photographers.

sign Rio Grande River Fite Ranch sign Fite Ranch

Paul cars of photographers Charlotte at morning fly-out

Scenery

corn field geese and cranes in field geese and mountains pond geese and mountains ducks and mountains channel

The morning sunrise fly-out of snow geese and cranes attracts crowds of photographers.

photographers

geese geese geese geese geese geese crane over geese crane over geese geese roosting cranes and geese geese geese geese geese geese geese geese geese and cranes geese geese geese geese geese

Sandhill cranes (Grus canadensis): winter migrants.

cranes and mountains cranes in water crane in water flying crane flying crane cranes in field crane in marsh cranes in flight crane in flight crane in flight crane in flight cranes and geese cranes in flight cranes flying over mountains crane landing crane landing crane landing crane landing crane in flight crane in flight cranes in flight crane in flight cranes in flight cranes in flight cranes in flight crane in flight crane landing cranes in marsh cranes in field cranes roosting in pond

Geese:

Canada Geese (Branta canadensis): common, especially in the winter.

Canada geese in flight Canada geese flock Canada geese Canada geese Canada goose

Snow and Ross's Geese: Most snow geese (Chen caerulescens) are white, with black primary feathers and pink legs and bill. They can be distinguished from the smaller Ross's geese (Chen rossi) by their larger size and black "lips". In the third image here, on the left a Ross's goose is standing in front of a snow goose. "Blue" geese, like the one in the last image, have a white head and upper neck, a mostly grey body though the belly may be white, and black-tipped wings.

snow geese flock snow geese flock snow and Ross's geese snow geese snow geese snow geese snow goose snow geese snow goose snow geese snow geese snow goose snow geese feeding snow geese snow geese snow geese snow goose snow geese snow geese blue goose

Hawks, eagles, and kestrels: Note that we are not raptor experts. We may have misidentified some of these birds, especially Cooper's and sharp-shinned hawks. Contact us by email if you find errors.

Northern Harrier Hawks (Circus cyaneus): the female is brown while the male is grey. Both sexes have an owl-like face. They like to roost on the ground or on low foliage rather than in tall trees.

female female female male male

American kestrels (Falco sparverius): small falcon.

kestrel kestrel kestrel kestrel kestrel kestrel kestrel taking off

Red-tailed hawks (Buteo jamaicensis): most common hawk. Immature birds are fairly tolerant of people (at least of people in cars).

red-tailed hawk red-tailed hawks adult juvenile juvenile juvenile juvenile juvenile juvenile juvenile adult adult

Cooper's Hawks (Accipiter cooperii): found in cottonwood woodlands.

in flight Cooper's hawk Cooper's hawk Cooper's hawk Cooper's hawk in flight Cooper's hawk Cooper's hawk Cooper's hawk Cooper's hawk Cooper's hawk

Sharp-shinned hawk (Accipiter striatus): smaller than a Cooper's hawk.

sharp-shinned hawk sharp-shinned hawk sharp-shinned hawk

Bald eagles (Haliaeetus leucicephalus): common in the bosque during the winter, when they feed on old or sick geese.

adult adult adult adult and juvenile juvenile juvenile feeding juveniles adult

Sparrows

white-throated sparrow white-crowned sparrow white-throated sparrow song sparrow white-crowned sparrow white-throated sparrow

flock flock in the air flock flock in the air flock flock taking off flock flock in the air

Red-winged (Agelaius phoeniceus) and Yellow-headed (Xanthocephslus xanthocephalus) Blackbirds congregate in huge flocks that move like swarms.

blackbirds blackbirds blackbirds blackbirds red-winged blackbirds red-winged blackbird

Greater Roadrunners (Geococcyx californianus): common, like to sun themselves along the side of the road, fluffing up their feathers to allow the sun to warm the dark down feathers on their backs. When the bird raises its crest, you can see the blue, white, and red strip behind its eye. Roadrunners can fly but usually run instead, and are fairly tolerant of people in vehicles.

fluffing crest up running across the road crest down tail up running head on

Killdeers (Charadrius vociferus): relatively uncommon in winter.

killdeer

Ducks:

Northern pintails (Anas acuta): a dabbling duck, the pintail forages by tipping over in the water with its tail sticking out.

female male roosting roosting two males two males and a female

Northern shoveler (Anas clypeata): has a long spade-shaped bill and is mainly a surface-feeding duck.

shovelers male male shovelers male male shovelers females female juvenile

Green-winged teal (Anas carolinensis): smallest North American dabbling duck.

green-winged teal

Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos): common.

male female and male

Bufflehead (Bucephala albeola): small diving duck.

drake drake drake diving female and male female

Ruddy ducks (winter plumage) (Oxyura jamaicensis): a diving duck.

ruddy duck ruddy duck

Redhead (Aythya americana): diving and dabbling duck.

redhead ducks, female and male

American Coots (Fulica americana): ducklike water birds.

coot coots coots on land coots coot footprints coot walking coot coots

Gambel's Quail (Callipepla gambelii): found in open areas with some ground cover.

Quail

Great Blue Herons (Ardea herodias): common along the irrigation canals. They tend to remain very still and are human-tolerant.

great blue heron great blue heron great blue heron great blue heron great blue heron great blue heron

Crows (Corvus brachyrhynchos) and Ravens (Corvus corax)

in flight on the ground biting a branch eating a mouse sitting perching eating a duck perching

Say's Phoebes (Sayornis saya): small flycatchers.

phoebe phoebe

Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura)

mourning dove

Dark-eyed Juncos (Junco hyemalis)

juncos

Western Meadowlark (Sturnella neglecta)

Spotted Towhee (Pipilo maculatus)

towhee towhee

Tundra swan (Cygnus columbianus)

tundra swan

Coyotes (Canis latrans)

coyote on road coyote coyote

Mule Deer (Odocoileus hemionus)

mule deer closeip mule deer mule deer mule deer mule deer in field mule deer mule deer mule deer mule deer mule deer mule deer

The evening fly-in

cranes flying in goose flying in geese flying in geese at sunset geese at sunset geese arriving geese flying in geese flying in cranes flying in cranes flying in geese at sunset sunset over the bosque sunset colors sunset colors

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Contact us at mermaid@underwater.org.

Last modified 24 June 2016