Leaving the Bosque

For me this was a different visit to the Bosque than the ones in the past. For one thing, I was here for the Festival. Lots of opportunites to increase my birding skills and knowledge. A lot more people at the various decks at sunrise and sunset. And I started my visit tired because I came from an intense schedule at the Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival coupled with a long two day drive between the two festivals.

My schedule at the Festival of the Cranes had me going from the Bosque area and back to Socorro to the Macey Center for the various things I'd signed up for.

I found myself in the learning mode rather than the photography mode. Plus I had another symptom I was not expecting. I got some really great shots last year. The ponds where I usually photograph the cranes in the morning had not been filled yet this year. Somewhere in the back of my brain was the fear that I could not outdo the shots from last year . . . . Plus I do better with my photography when I have time. Friday I finally got some of that time. I did not have any events scheduled for Friday. So . . . I had time at dawn on the flight deck, time to make the loop drives, time on the boardwalk over the marsh, and time at the Willow Deck for sunset.

Most years at the Bosque I take 8 or more memory cards of photos every day. This year over the five days I only took 7 cards. While the photographic part of my brain felt a little cheated, the reality was that this was truly a different kind of visit. My focus was on educating myself to improve my bird identification skills, and to enjoy time around other birders.

I also enjoyed the Festival booths on Saturday. There were so many rescue birds. I enjoyed seeing a merlin up close and personal. I did not realize that they have blue in their beak and in the area around their beak. There were a number of species of owls - all sizes. Too many people around and undesirable backgrounds were part of the reason I was not tempted to pull out the camera. In one tent were artists booths, in the other displays from various nature conservation organizations and some optic booths. In still another area they were capturing and banding tiny sparrows, the smallest I've ever seen.

After the refuge tour, I did one last loop. I saw the number of cars coming in for the "fly in" so I headed over to the marsh loop. There were fewer people over here. I drove slow. And I made the entire loop. At the very end, near the main pond, I turned off my engine and soaked in the beautiful musical caucophany of the snow geese honks, the crane calls, and the duck's quacks. While I know I'll be back (Lord willing), I also knew I was saying goodbye for this trip.