To start off the new year, we decided to do some domestic travel, starting with our annual pilgrimage to Bosque del Apache in New Mexico to see the cranes and geese, then heading to the Southern tip of Texas for some songbirds. And later in the spring going to Homer Alaska’s for some eagles (see separate blog here).
Bosque was as expected with lots of snow geese and sandhill cranes
with the added bonus of New Mexico’s beautiful landscapes
A special treat for us was photographing the road runner. While common to Bosque, they are so shy and fast we rarely get any pictures of them
Our next stop was the southern tip of Texas, right on the rio Grande. There we also saw cranes, those were the relatively rare whooping cranes, and there were a lot fewer (roughly 600ish in the US, less than what you would see at Bosque) and they weren’t as photogenic on Bosque’s Sandhill Cranes.)
Though we did manage to get close to one family of mom, pop and kid.
In South Texas we were shooting out hides
and our focus were the many small birds of the area such as Golden Fronted Woodpecker
and the Pyrrhuloxia and Green Jay
The weather was wintery, as we got some rain in New Mexico
At this time of year we expected South Texas to be at least warm, but we hit a cold snap and it was not much warmer than New Mexico.
We spent our time bird blinds (or hides) and the birds were attracted to the food made available in the area.
While some birds were able to eat peacefully, for many it was more of a competitive situation.
In addition to the small birds, South Texas we saw a some birds of prey. While it looks like a hawk, this crested caracara is actually a member of the falcon family.
They usually get along just fine
But not always
The next part of our domestic trip was to head north to Homer, Alaska and photograph the eagles there. https://www.wherearetheynow.today/homer-eagles-again/