Bosque del Apache 2017

 When I was in Bosque del Apache in 2015,  I said I was not returning after visiting there several times.  How many images of Sandhill Cranes and Snow geese can one have? But the bad influences convinced me to return just for the fun and to photograph the birds flying across the December 5th supermoon.  So I found myself there again freezing in the early morning to watch the geese so called eruptions when they lift-off in unison to go and feed in the cornfields inside the parks and nearby farms.  Yes, it is spectacular and in particular the noise.  The sandhill cranes behave differently since they depart in family groups; they are very interesting in their behavior when flying - always communicating.  Can you tell the juvenile in the last image below?

 There are other birds in Bosque, as the Great Blue Heron below; these are territorial and one is assured to find them in specific places in the park…just like seeing an old friend.  The California quail is also interesting and always communicating in the underbrush; you don’t see them but they are there.  You probably have seen their photos from Bosque sitting on an old stump by the park’s headquarter; photographers fight for the choice place to get a shot. There are also less attractive birds such as the white-crowned sparrow.

 Bosque is also a rewarding place for scenery photography, but so is the whole of the New Mexico.  When I first started going there I found it ugly and polluted with abandoned farming machinery, old trucks, campers, trailers and collapsing adobe houses.  But it has grown on me now.  As most other nature places in the world the crowds are ruining the experience. The photography tours think they own the place with the hyperactive guides running from client to client helping to set up their gear, and if you are not part of their group asking you to move somewhere else.  The amount of high-cost photo gear is incredible; I wonder how many hundreds of thousands of dollars in Canons and Nikons congregate there.  During the winter time in the nearby town of Socorro where most photographers stay, the breaking into vehicles to steal photo equipment is paramount and in some hotels you find signs warning you about it.

 There are two ponds along Rt. 1 south of San Antonio where the crowds (above) congregate for the morning show.  The parking lots are full not just of cars but large SUVS; some people come and stay weeks at a time.  Yes, even the pets come; below the couple hear the train’s horn and were watching to see where it was coming from. There are more than birds in Bosque such as mule deer, javelins and the occasional bobcat that I missed.  By the way, the pair was not run over by the train.  A trivia moment: San Antonio was the birthplace of Conrad Hilton where he learned the trade at the Harvey House run by his father.

 After the excitement of the early morning bird experience, there was not much to do so I roamed around the countryside.  I have driven some of the roads before and marveled as to things that I missed before such as some of the Salinas Pueblo missions. Gran Quivira is an example; I passed it by unintentionally back in 2009 and is the oldest and largest of the Salinas Pueblo Missions.  What are left are the ruins of the Pueblo Mission and most unusual from the others in the area is that it is located in the top of a hill.  Vazquez de Coronado the Spanish explorer visited this area in the 1540’s when looking for the legendary gold city of Cibola.  Quivira is the best known and the largest of the Salinas pueblos and from the days of Coronado it was attributed with being the famous city they were searching for.  But all he found was not the mythical city he was searching but poor Indians of "very good build with their privies slightly covered.” The mission church whose ruins survive was erected in 1629 by Father Francisco Acevedo. It ended by 1675 due to the attacks of the Apaches Indians who invaded from the plains. As you can see it was built with flat stones. Next are the ruins of the church and of course it appears that some restorations have been done just as in the other nearby ruins. What is unique to this site is the long fenestration along one of the walls of the church and the wells.  First image below is a panoramic taken with an iPhone and the others with a full frame 11-24 mm lens.

 Below is a kiva, underground structures associated with Pueblans kachina beliefs used spiritual ceremonies.  These were common in the Southwest and their functions much debated and still used.  They appeared to have multiple functions and were used as grain storages in occasions.

 Quarai as the others, are misnamed missions are associated with the Spanish conquerors when in reality there were ancient Indians enclaves.  Franciscan priests introduced the Catholic religion to the missions mentioned and in fact, the Indians suffered from the famous Inquisition.  The Spaniards arrived in 1598 but the church of the Purisima Concepcion was not completed until 1632 and oddly included a square kiva inside the convent and may have been used as a conversion center from the Indian beliefs to Catholicism. 

 San Gregorio de Abo and Quarai are both located in flat land and made with red stones while Quivira is on a hill and of whiter stones. Abo was an active Indian community when the Spanish arrived around the 1580’s and the church built in the 1620’s but the complex was abandoned just as the other missions in the area by the 1670’s.  Abo was the headquarters for the missions in the Salinas area. The Salinas Pueblo Missions discussed above were named after the salt lakes in the area used by the Indians as a salt supply and later by the Spanish colonizers.

 Another visited site that I had driven by and ignored in the past is San Lorenzo canyon.  It consists of a central canyon ending in a spring with smaller ones branching from the sides; some ending in water springs too.  The formations were formed by mudstone conglomerates.  The formation below is to the right of the entrance to the canyon and the convoluted mudstone formations are called “slickensides.” One can drive most of the length of the canyon but need to walk to the spring that is the next to last image below.  Since it was early winter most of the trees still had their foliage on with prevailing yellow color. 

 As previously mentioned the landscape opportunities are numerous and I will end with San Miguel Mission in Socorro founded in 1598 but not part of the Salinas Pueblo Missions.  In fact

Juan de Oñate arrived here in 1598, an Indian village named Teypana whose inhabitants provided the conquistadores with food and water; the reason for the name Socorro. Will I return to Bosque?  No but I said that before.

Bosque del Apache Again!

 

Every year for the last 4 years, while photographing the sandhill cranes I said “this is my last visit here.”  But here I was again.  How many photos of these birds can you want?  There is always the lure of getting the perfect image.  This year was warm weather but I prefer it freezing cold. 

 

  I enjoy just watching the behavior of these cranes, particularly listening to their conversations, courtship dancing practices and the poses that they adopt before taking off.  Before departing the groups crouch their bodies and extend the necks and stay that way until suddenly one takes off.  In reality, also watching the other photographers boarding the road ponds are also an entertaining bunch to observe trying to get the best spot for their tripods…I wonder if there is such a spot.

 

There are more than cranes in Bosque; such that the elusive Bobcat that everybody sees but me, the mule deer, a black morph of the snow geese and a great blue heron proudly displaying its late dinner meal. 

 

Bosque is located in old highway 85 (NM 1) near the village of San Antonio.  This road is paralleled by a railroad track and I was surprised to see a train with a Ferromex locomotive.   I had never seen that company name in the USA; it turned out that it was Mexican train.  I was lucky to be there a day when the Intermittent Tour Road was opened to traffic, I captured an image of a pond with red reeds; very unusual.

Most photographing at Bosque is done during sunrise and sunset when bird activity is more interesting and to take advantage of the early/late light that renders the best colors.  During the middle of the day, I just wandered around the area where great landscapes and old buildings make great images.  One day driving back to Socorro, I happened to run into a wonderful storm.  And near Magdalena, found a ghost town where I had capture and HDR image of the now abandoned Riley School, and a stucco ruin with a wonderful window…I wonder who used to stare out of it?  And I did not forget the indispensable odd house.  Bosque and the old ruins around the desert make a great photographing trip.  Will I go back next year?

 

 

Bosque del Apache...Again!!!

I returned to Bosque more as a social than a photographic destination because a few of my photographic traveling friends decided to meet there this year. Bosque is a challenging place to photograph mostly due to the lighting conditions. Most rewarding photo ops are early at dawn or sunset when the lighting levels are low and the reds overwhelm the rest of the color spectrum. Another issue, is that the prime locations for shooting mostly face the east in the morning and the west at the end of the day, so one finds himself shooting against the sun. The Sandhill Cranes that winters is what makes Bosque famous; you can visit last year's blog by going to the older posts at the end of the page.

There is something primordial about this bird that attracts me, it has remained unchanged for millions of years and its peculiar calls is reminiscent of other similar species. I have seen several species of cranes

around the world but my favorite is the black crowned crane in East Africa.

I appears that the interest in cranes is worldwide, just as in Bosque, there is another in Spain (DESDE MI CHAJURDO: "Festival de las grullas" ) that I found out from Anastacio's Fernandez blog. I happened to be in the festival in Bosque last year by cheer coincidence, there may have been at least a million dollars of long lenses lined along the marshes paralleling Route 1.

There are other migrating birds in Bosque, with the snow geese being to be most numerous. What great spectacles of nature is seeing at these
birds in unison noisely exploding into the air early in the morning to fly to feeding areas near the park. It is quick and if one is not ready, the action will be missed.

Bosque offers a refuge from hunting, but I could hear the shotgun of hunters firing at the birds from areas surrounding the park. Ironically some of the areas were hunting was taken place, are owned by the Federal of State government but were opened to hunting. At least a larger buffer area should be provided "free of hunting" to allow the birds to gain altitude and spread throughout the countryside.

There also bald eagles, harriers, smaller falcons, grebes, herons, cormorants, quails, songs birds; more than 371 species of birds have been recorded in Bosque. I was able to photograph perching on a tree above; a first one for me.

Mule deer was easily seen, although shy, they would expose themselves if you took the time. I saw a young deer next to a ditch at the end of a day, I suspected that he wanted to drink, I waited, and was rewarded. But all that flies in Bosque does not have feathers as confirmed below.

Usually the tradition at Bosque is to wake up early at dawn and run to refuge to get a choice photographing spot. After the birds depart the refuge, one cruises the park roads for a while and then go to San Antonio or Socorro for breakfast. Afterwards to the hotel to edit the images or catch some sleep. In the afternoon one returns to Bosque to photograph the birds landing at the swamps to spend the night. This year, I skipped the siestas and roamed the roads in the vicinity photographing other items of interest.