Thursday, My "Free" Day

Getting up before dawn, rushing over for the fly out, finding the "best" spot for the dawn. Yes, this is what I usually do when i visit the Bosque. Watching the vibrant colors of the sunrise, seeing the sun as it emerges for the day, and watching the birds in the golden light of morning - what a natural high!

We made our way around the loops of the refuge looking for our bird friends - the shy pheasants that live in the thick coyote willows, the kingfisher at his pond, the sandhill cranes foraging for their food. With so many recent field trips, I found a ruby crowned kinglit flitting among the empty branches of some trees. I identified a dark eyed junco from my bird book.

After making the loop a couple of times, we headed over to the Owl Bar in San Antonio for their famous green chili cheeseburgers. And then back to the refuge where I took the boardwalk over the marsh. Knowing there were Clark's Grebes and Western Grebes, I studied each grebe carefully trying to determine whether the black extended over the eye (Western) or whether the eye was in the white areas (Clark's) So many times they were far enough away it was really hard to tell. But I was pretty sure I was seeing both of them. There was a volunteer manning the boardwalk. After checking with him, yes I had been seeing both of them. And I had correctly determined there was a mother and a young one on the far side.

Having gotten off with only one battery that was low, we had to run back into Soccoro to get the other charged batteries before sunset. But we got back in plenty of time to get set up. Since I was trying to do differnent things this year, I set up at the Willow Deck hoping to get silhouettes of the flyin with the crimson sunset as a backdrop.


I was treated to a Red Tailed Hawk sitting on a far tree. Even with my monster lens, he is still just a small dark spot on the fork in the tree, but I enjoyed seeing him sitting there surveying his territory.

And then the magic of the evening begins. The sun fades behind the mountain. And the snow geese and sandhills begin to come in. At first they come in in groups of 3 and five.




But then suddenly the air all around is filled with calling birds. The horizon is filled with thousands of geese - both near and far- finding their sheltered spot for the night. As a photographer I try to capture the wonder knowing that the light is dim, I end up shooting at iso 1600 knowing there will be noise in the photos. But the beauty of the scene calls out to be captured to share with others. It is a sensory feast with the cool evening breeze on your face, the visual wonder of the mountain and bird silhouettes against the constantly changing hues of the sunset and the incredible caucauphany of the thousands of bird calls. Henry's camera shoots video complete with sound. To hear this amazing evening chorus, click here.