We have returned again to volunteer for Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge. This is our second time here and it felt like home when we arrived in late October. It's a beautiful refuge in New Mexico where Sandhill Cranes, Snow Geese, Hawks, Eagles, songbirds, and lots of ducks migrate here to spend the winter.
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| Sandhill Cranes |
The refuge recreates what the Rio Grande used to do and an elaborate system of water canals and dikes flood areas for the birds to enjoy. The refuge planted lots of corn and grains for the birds and will harvest over 1.1 million pounds of grain to feed them. The Sandhill Cranes and Snow Geese will now remain with their young until late January.
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| Wild Rio Grande Turkeys |
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| Mule Deer |
We work three eight hour shifts in exchange for our site with full hook ups and WiFi. There is a very comfortable volunteer lounge with TV, game tables, reclining chairs, library, and a huge kitchen with industrial style stove and ovens. We have lots of potlucks and game nights with board and card games. We will be here until the end of February and folks arrive here in a staggered fashion with the majority of volunteers here now for the busy season.
John's responsibility will be working in the fee booth and roving (driving around the refuge monitoring and talking to visitors). I'll be working in the Visitor Center and roving.
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| Sandhill Crane Choir |
When we first arrived there were only a few Sandhill Cranes and no Snow Geese and very few ducks. Each day more and more have arrived. In a couple of weeks the Sandhill Cranes will increase to 12,000, Snow Geese 30,000 and duck of all kinds to over 80,000. It's an amazing place.
All the staff and volunteers have been very busy getting ready for a fun event called the Festival of the Cranes. Visitors come from far and wide to participate. This event (31st) brings in lots of money for the local economy and there are presenters offering over 140 programs in photography, birding, and lots of field trips to local attractions such as the Very Large Array for the night sky, Owl expeditions and so much more. To see this years catalog click here.
We have all helped with landscaping, cleaning, and an extensive orientation was presented by the staff to help us be ready. The festival started on Wednesday and its been so much fun. John has driven a van for some of the presenters, roved the refuge talking to visitors and monitoring areas. I've worked in the Visitor Center and Bull Pen (central area for communication), cleaned conference rooms and bathrooms and even walked around with a Sandhill Crane puppet. All hands on deck are necessary. The refuge and Friends staff work very hard organizing and helping out.
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| Early morning before the Fly Out |
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| Snow Geese |
The highlight for most visitors during the festival is the Fly Out and Fly In. The Sandhill Cranes and Snow Geese roost at night in several wetlands each night. You can sign up for an early morning Fly Out and be taken by school bus to one of these areas just before dawn. Then as you stand there the Cranes start to wake up and soon a huge chorus of thousands of them start calling. Aldo Leopold describes the sounds of the Sandhill Cranes as "tinkling of little bells, the baying of some sweet-throated hound, and a pandemonium of trumpets, rattles, croaks, and cries". Then slowly in groups of three the cranes start to leave the wetland area and head out to the farm fields just as the sun rises. What's really thrilling is when the Snow Geese lift from the field. Oftentimes, they will fly out in one huge flock and swirl around the wetland area for several minutes. It almost looks like a shaken snow globe. The sound of them lifting is really loud and it's so thrilling.
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| Snow Geese at Fly Out |
We signed up and paid for two classes. John attended a Raptor ID class. It lasted for five hours and the presenter, Gail Garber with Hawks Aloft, had the van driver explore areas of the refuge helping the attendees find and learn how to identify them. Later in the day she also brought in five rescued hawks for an up close look at them. I attended a Point and Shoot camera class and it was great and easy to follow. Our instructor, Stephen Ingram, initially took us out to the fly out and talked about how to use our cameras for morning light, landscape photos, and close ups photos of birds. He told me about features of my camera I was unaware of. Our presenter has written a book if you are interested in learning more. Click here for the details.
The Fly In can be equally impressive. The Cranes and Snow Geese return from the fields and land in the wetlands or fields for the night. You can hear the Snow Geese coming from the distance in big flocks. Our visitors and all of us really enjoy witnessing this event. It's magical. This will happen each day now until about late January. If you are in the area please stop by to see us. We will love showing you our "backyard".
