Winter 2006 - to Bosque del Apache

It is hard to believe we are starting our eighth week on the road. It is such a relaxed lifestyle, even when we cover a lot of ground, the time passes so quickly. We got a later start today and decided to go birding at the Santa Ana refuge. We first walked the long loop trail and found lots of interesting birds including another life bird, the Red Naped Sapsucker as well as several others new for this trip. We ate our picnic lunch watching the bird feeders then hiked a shorter loop trail. This one had fewer water views and it was pretty quiet birdwise. On the way home we stopped to look at several hawks along the powerlines. We found Cooper’s and Harris Hawks and a White Tailed Kite (yesterday this was a life bird, today we find a second one; birding is like that). We stopped to say good bye to Ken and Judy then went back to the coach for our last dinner in Brownsville.

With a long driving day ahead of us, we got started early. It was mostly interstate driving and the 400 miles went quickly. We checked in at the Junction, TX KOA and settled in. After getting the motorhome set up, we went for a walk around the campground to stretch our legs. We took binoculars, “just in case we saw something interesting”. It turns out we are very close to the transition point between “Eastern” and “Western” birds so we will soon be seeing many new species. This evening we saw Black Phoebe, White Crowned Sparrow, House Finch and Western Bluebird. Great additions to our trip bird list for a 400 mile day.

The birding was so good last evening that we decided to start the day with a bird walk. Unfortunately, the birds had gone elsewhere and it was pretty quiet. Once on the road we made good time heading west on I-10 in very light traffic. So light in fact that after our lunch stop, we drove for half an hour without overtaking or being overtaken by any westbound traffic. Sandy spotted a Greater Roadrunner as we drove; a life bird for us. We arrived at Davis Mountain State Park about 4:30. It is a lovely park up in the hills of West Texas. Once again we went for a bird walk. We heard several Barred Owls calling their distinctive, “Who, Who, Who cooks for you”. We also saw Pyrrhuloxia, Canyon Towee, Black Chinned Sparrow and White Winged Dove.

Today is our only day in Davis Mountain and we are determined to do everything; birding, skyline drive, the national historic site and McDonald Observatory. We are up early for a guided birdwalk led by a delightful, entertaining and knowledgeable volunteer guide. After some time viewing birds at the park feeders, Bert gave a short lecture on identification of local birds. Remember those Barred Owls from last night? Turns out there are no Barred owls here. It was the roosting White Winged Doves hooting their evening chorus. Next we hiked into the low scrub across from the campground. It had gotten very windy and most of the birds stayed close to the ground and out of sight. Still, we had 36 species for the morning. After lunch we visited the Indian Lodge, a hotel built by the CCC during the depression, at the head of the canyon, designed to look like a series of pueblo dwellings. Next we drove Skyline Drive along the ridge of the canyon with magnificent views across the valley. Though still windy, the air was transparent and we could see forever. Of course, in this part of Texas, when you can see forever, there is still nothing to see ;-).

Next we drove into the Fort Davis National Historic Site, a restored US Army fort built in 1854 to provide protection against the raiding Apache Indians. We toured the well done visitor center and visited several of the restored buildings including barracks, the commanding officer’s house and the hospital.

Back to the interpretive center for the afternoon bird feeding where we saw a few additional species then back to the coach for supper which we ate out at the picnic table so we could watch the juncos, sparrows and finches at the feeder we hung out behind our site.

After supper we bundled up and drove to the top of the mountain to McDonald Observatory. With three large telescope domes along the ridge line, McDonald is run by a consortium of US and German universities and managed by University of Texas at Austin. We toured the visitor center for about 30 minutes then went to the outdoor amphitheater for the “Star Party”. It was pitch black, with only faint red lights to guide us to the benches while preserving our night vision. An unseen narrator gave us a tour of the sky, pointing out constellations and planets with a powerful light. The sky was so dark and or eyes so well adapted, that we saw more stars than we ever saw before. Even the constellations familiar to us were confusing because there were so many additional stars. After the sky tour, we went around to each of the five telescopes set up for the event. We saw star clusters, the Crab and Orion Nebulae, the Andromeda Galaxy and Saturn. It was fascinating and we both enjoyed it a lot.

Another 300 mile driving day, this time with a cross wind or head wind. The first 40 miles were interesting as we drove up the mountain, past the observatory. After that it was flat and featureless. As we merged on to I-10, Carl spotted a huge convoy of semis coming up behind us. With the strong head wind, 20 rigs were cruising nose to tail, about a trucklength apart. That works out to a half mile of tractor trailers. We stayed out of their way and soon were mostly on our own. We stopped at a super Walmart in El Paso for lunch and shopping. We were less than two miles from Juarez, Mexico and at least ¾ of the cars in the parking lot were from Mexico. Once back on the road, we crossed into New Mexico and drove the final 75 miles north to Alamogordo. We got laundry done and spent a quiet evening in the coach.

We began the day with a trip to the White Sands National Monument. This area of blazing white dessert sand was created by evaporation of gypsum laden runoff water from the nearby mountains. The water gets trapped in the valley leaving shallow pools that evaporate in the dessert sun. The wind tumbles the gypsum into small white grains and builds ranks of marching sand dunes across the landscape. We drove the length of the park road and enjoyed the interpretive trails.

Back at the coach for lunch and packing for our move to Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, THE PLACE to see wintering birds in this part of the country. Tens of thousands of Sandhill Cranes and Snow Geese plus thousands of other waterfowl migrate south from Canada and spend the winter here. It was a short 125 mile drive to reach Bosque Birdwatchers RV Park less than a half mile from the refuge entrance. The campground is nothing but a large gravel lot with water, electric and sewer hookups for RVs. Just as in Real Estate, the only thing that matters is LOCATION. As we were checking in, Carl got his early 60^th birthday present. The cost to repair his broken camera was close to the cost of buying one on eBay. Since that didn’t make much sense and since he has a big birthday coming, Sandy bought him a new Nikon D200, the latest Digital SLR for passionate photographers. It was shipped to the campground and was waiting for us when we arrived. Talk about a happy camper!!!

Carl put the new camera down long enough for us to go for a jog in the late afternoon. We headed into the refuge and soon heard the rattle of Sandhill Cranes in the nearby fields. As the sun got closer to the horizon, the sky filled with waves of cranes and geese returning to the refuge for the night. It was an awesome sight even without binoculars. We can’t wait until tomorrow!

We saw and photographed thousands of birds today. The first new bird we saw was a Gambel’s Quail. This one we spotted while sitting eating breakfast in the coach. The feeder and water we put out attracted many types of birds, including the quail. We drove the auto loop in the refuge, stopping at many overlooks. A sign at the Visitor Center listed the estimated bird counts; 33,715 Snow Geese and 11,557 Sandhill Cranes.

After lunch we drove to the nearby town of Socorro to pick up our mail. After sorting and reading some of the new mail, we headed back to the refuge for what is known as “Fly In”, as thousands of Snow Geese and Sandhill Cranes return to the refuge after feeding in the surrounding countryside. Wave after wave of birds sweep in from the east and settle on to the refuge ponds for the night. While Carl continued to photograph the birds, Sandy put aside her camera and began scanning the geese looking for Ross’ Geese, a very similar goose that makes up about 1 % of the flock. Soon she was rewarded with the sight of two Ross’ Geese, a life bird for us. The weather continued to cooperate with clear blue skies. However, as often happens in the dessert in winter, there was a 40 degree temperature swing from 28 at 6:30 to 68 at 2:30.

Early to bed, early to rise, see thousands of geese as they flies. We wanted to see the Snow Geese, “Fly Out” this morning so we were up at 5 and standing on the deck overlooking one of the refuge ponds at 6:20 AM (dark and 34 degrees). At 6:35 the birds began to chatter in chorus and a minute later they were all gone! In an incredible coordinated eruption, several thousand geese burst into the air, formed into ragged V’s and headed north. In less than a minute there were only a few ducks and cranes in the pond. We moved to the entrance road pond where we watched the Fly-In last night, Surprisingly, geese were arriving, filling the pond. We waited for about a half hour, the sun came up, warming our ears and finger tips. We chatted with some of the many photographers lined up along the dike with thousands of dollars of cameras and lenses pointed at the flock. The pond was covered with white birds except for a dark line of cranes midway across the pond. After a few false starts, the chatter once again spread through the flock and the sky was full of birds. They swirled around, some flying directly overhead, then drifted off to the east. Two to three times as many birds as we had seen earlier. This was an extraordinary sight and we are sure the pictures will not do justice to this phenomenal experience. As we looked back at the pond, the line of Sandhill Cranes remained yet there was not a goose in sight.

This was a tough act to follow. We toured the other refuge roads, got some good shots of a Greater Roadrunner (think “Beep-Beep” and Wiley Coyote) and hiked up a hill for a beautiful, early morning view across the refuge.

After lunch and a relaxing afternoon, we returned to the refuge for the evening Fly-In. Not as dramatic as last night but still a marvelous experience.