The Bosque Del Apache ? ~ 4 coments
I pulled out of the boondocking Park early this morning and made my way the 8 miles to the Bosque Del Apache. There's not many things you can use the term world-famous about, but the Bosque is truly world-famous when it comes to professional photographers taking pictures of the birds that the Bosque is famous for, and I always feel so fortunate to be able to visit here, and occasionally even get to rub shoulders with the professionals that make a living doing what I do for a hobby.
It was a perfect day, mid-70s for a high, and a light breeze that kept it from getting too hot in the sun. It was a little cloudy, so the humidity was around 30%. But that perfect weather suddenly became meaningless when I drove up to the main Lake where all the birds usually are and not only saw nary a bird, but the lake was dry. And I don't mean kinda low, I mean 95% of the lake was bone dry.
I almost gave up on the Bosque when I saw that, but I decided to drive around to some of the little ponds that sometimes have a few birds in them. That was more fruitful since there was a little bit of water, more like a swamp, in some of the ponds, and I was able to get some pictures of the Sandhill Cranes, but they were pretty far away.
I only stayed around the Bosque about an hour, and seeing dozens of cranes instead of hundreds of cranes last year, and thousands of cranes the year before, I packed up my dog and pony show and said goodbye to the Bosque, not knowing when, or if, I would ever be there again.
Driving away from the Bosque, I noticed that the Bosque Del Apache RV Park owned by Mr. Trujillo was closed, and the main gate was shut. So with the lack of birds, and my favorite commercial RV Park being closed, I headed south on I-25 till I pulled into Elephant Butte State Park, and settled into the beach boondocking area, feeling more than a little sad that my world was changing and I hardly recognized it anymore.
Theboondork
A very dry lake bed, not a good place to find food.
The whole Lake has dried up, so there's no water for the cranes to sleep in to protect themselves from coyotes, so their lives are always in danger.
This dead tree in the middle of what was once a lake is kind of famous for being a place to see eagles roosting while they watch the cranes in the lake for any that are going to keel over pretty soon…..They also keep an eye on me.
A couple of pelicans...... There should be hundreds.
A rare and hard-to-spot, New Mexico Chicken Hawk.... And yes, they do taste like chicken.