BOSQUE DEL APACHE

Snow Geese, Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, NM

Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, a wetland in the New Mexico high desert, is known as a wintering place for ten-thousands of Sandhill Cranes, Snow and Ross’s Geese. More than 370 species of birds have been observed since 1981, making it a favorite destination for nature lovers and photographers year-round. We stopped there exactly a month ago, which was a little early. Large numbers of cranes and geese arrive late November and stay until the end of February according to several websites. However, a few hundred birds were present during our visit. Bosque del Apache NWR remains on my list of places to visit for a longer period of time. Now, since we scouted the area, I have a better idea what to expect and how to plan a trip back to these floodplains of the Rio Grande River.

Shooting with 600 mm at the height of the day and no clouds in the sky makes heat shimmer inevitable. Nothing is really sharp in this photo but it still tells a story.

THREE GOOSE SPECIES

Green Island Wetlands, Greater White-fronted Geese, Snow Geese, Ross's Geese (far right)

A relatively warm Easter weekend lies behind us. I hope you had a great holiday, although the sun wasn’t out much here in eastern Iowa. On Saturday I introduced the Green Island Wetlands to part of the family. Well, the seven months old twins probably didn’t care too much about where we went…😉

My excitement went up when we saw a flock of Greater White-fronted Geese. My guess was about 400-500. They have still a long way to go before they reach their breeding grounds in northern Canada. With them were also about 50 Snow Geese, the largest number I have seen so far in the Green Island Wetlands. Looking closer at my pictures at home I found out that at least two blue-morph Ross’s Geese were among as well. This was a first sighting for me! If a more experienced birder than me has some other ideas about my identification efforts, I always appreciate your help and suggestions!

An overcast isn’t really helpful if you like to reveal the colors of birds in a photo but it definitely helped with this shot. This would have been a very high contrast scene if the sun was out, but with the overcast it allowed to show some detail in all of the different species, without tweaking much of the photo in post process.