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Tree In Late Afternoon
A tree in the middle of a lake at Bosque signifies a shallow flooded field. Fields are flooded in rotation to help the birds and to grow crops for them. In this case, there were showers in the area adding to the beautiful sky. Shot at f/8 @ 1/3200 sec @ ISO 1600 @ 185mm.
Sandhill Cranes Taking Off
Two sandhill cranes have just taken off from a shallow lake and are working hard to gain altitude. It takes quite a distance for the cranes to get airborne and get enough speed to climb. The slow shutter speed here blurs their movement making it look like they are moving much faster than they are. Shot at f/32 @ 1/40 sec @ ISO 64 @ 400mm.
Sandhill Crane At Sunset
Set against storm clouds and with a setting sun lighting it up, a sandhill crane cruises over Bosque. The cranes will gather as the sun sets and wait out the night together in ponds. The next day they will leave in pairs and groups to fly to the fields where they will spend the day eating. Shot at f/6.3 @ 1/640 sec @ ISO 1000 @ 400mm.
Running For Takeoff
While most of the cranes were in the pond in the background, this one had walked up to a gravel road. Taking off is no trivial matter, so this one was running along the road trying to lift off into evening light. Shot at f/5.6 @ 1/1600 sec @ ISO 1000 @ 400mm.
Arriving Mallards
A flock of mallard ducks descending to a landing at Bosque. Bosque has such large pools and a few lakes but it is in a very dry area so these birds are coasting in past dry and brown hills. Shot at f/11 @ 1/640 sec @ ISO 160 @ 400mm.
Sandhill Crane Closeup
We spent some time at Bosque del Apache’s main site and then we headed north for about 45 minutes to the Bernardo Waterfall Management Area, also a part of Bosque. On a cloudy day I was standing next to bird blind and a sandhill crane flew over me pretty low so I was able to get some very nice shots. Shot at f/11 @ 1/2500 sec @ ISO 1600 @ 400mm.
Sandhill Cranes In Flight
A very clear shot of three sandhill cranes flying pretty low at Bernardo. They were taking off from a cornfield and moving to another field not far away. It is not possible to divine why the cranes or the snow geese would decide to move or why they chose their landing spot. Shot at f/11 @ 1/2500 sec @ ISO 1600 @ 400mm.
Sandhill Cranes On Ice
Sandhill cranes, as noted, spend the night together. Here, they are at Bernardo and the pond has frozen so they are all waiting for the sunrise with their head down. When they can warm up a bit they will fly about a quarter of a mile to a cornfield for the day’s feast. At 15 degrees it was such a cold morning that my camera briefly malfunctioned. Shot at f/8 @ 1/100 sec @ ISO 6400 @ 230mm.
Sandhill Cranes And The Moon
Some of the braver cranes managed to take off from the frozen pond, skidding at every step, and some walked to this field to get better traction. A line of cranes lit by the newly risen sun flies past the moon with Interstate 25 in the background. Shot at f/5.6 @ 1/1250 sec @ ISO 200 @ 98mm.
Tractor And Cranes
The fields in Bosque are managed for the birds so they are plowed, planted, and harvested to maximize the benefit to the feathered visitors. The birds are so used to this pattern that sandhill cranes, usually very shy and skittish around people, have no fear of a large tractor making a racket. Shot at f/14 @ 1/1000 sec @ ISO 320 @ 550mm.
Sandhill Crane Flareup
There was some kind of bad blood between these two cranes because they argued and bothered each other for a solid 10 minutes or more. This was one of the bigger spats they had. The cranes and geese pack in pretty tightly at the cornfield but none of the others seemed perturbed by the disruption on the edge. Shot at f/16 @ 1/500 sec @ ISO 200 @ 400mm.
Sandhill Over Corn
The cranes and geese invaded the un-mowed portion of the cornfield looking for more food. The geese were generally too short to see but there was soon a field of crane heads sticking out of the corn. Shot at f/5.6 @ 1/2000 sec @ ISO 80 @ 330mm.
Snow Geese Landing
After a brief group flight the snow geese return to the cornfield, coming in as a tight group and disappearing into the stalks. Shot at f/7.1 @ 1/1600 sec @ ISO 125 @ 400mm.
Immature Snow Goose
Snow geese sometimes appear in a dark morph that features a lot of black but, in this case, it’s an immature snow goose. When the geese were in the field they got pretty close to us but the cranes stayed much further back. Shot at f/5.6 @ 1/1600 sec @ ISO 80 @ 330mm.
Snow Geese Overhead
The combination of pure black and white birds against that sapphire blue sky was irresistible to me. Snow geese seem to have frequent minor panics so they lift off as a group, circle around a bit and then land again pretty much where they took off. It made for a lot of shooting opportunities, though. Shot at f/40 @ 1/320 sec @ ISO 1600 @ 180mm.
New Arrival
A single snow goose, black and white against that blue, blue sky, is very appealing. This one was coming in to land on the cornfield with the others but aborted the landing and was making a go around. Shot at f/40 @ 1/400 sec @ ISO 1600 @ 400mm.
Looking For A Landing Spot
Both the snow geese and the sandhill cranes often took a long glide as they came in to land. Since they were often landing in extremely crowded areas this gave them time to find an open spot and we had time to shoot them. If you look at the head you will see it is looking down for its target spot. Shot at f/5.6 @ 1/1000 sec @ ISO 80 @ 400mm.
Snow Geese And The Moon
Back at Bosque, a group of snow geese was coming in late in the afternoon, gathering with many others on a pond to spend the night. As they passed the full moon they seemed to form the “missing man” formation with the moon. Come morning, the snow geese will all take off in one huge cloud that is referred to as the “blast off.” Shot at f/10 @ 1/4000 sec @ ISO 1600 @ 400mm.
Pre-Dawn Arrivals
During the night, fairly groups of snow geese would sleep on Bosque’s ponds. Before sunrise large numbers of snow geese flew in and joined them in a sometimes raucous crowd. Here, a large number of geese fly in to bolster the group already waiting. Shot at f/8 @ 1/250 sec @ ISO 10000 @ 86mm.
Snow Goose Arriving At Sunrise
Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge is famous for its snow geese and sandhill cranes and also welcomes many other birds and animals. The Refuge is managed for the benefit of the birds with large fields that are flooded for their benefit. Some fields grow crops like corn that is then left for the birds or mowed to break it up for the birds. Here, a snow goose is coming in on a lake just after sunrise with the light from behind. Shot at f/9 @ 1/1250 sec @ ISO 640 @ 400mm.
Blast-off!
After a couple false alarms the whole flock of snow geese rose as one and took off with a din of honking. The signal that they were about to take off was undetectable but they all knew about it. Shot at f/8 @ 1/250 sec @ ISO 500 @ 130mm.
Lifting Away
The blast off began at the leading side of the flock and quickly spread back to those at the rear. We positioned our cameras near the leading edge so most of the geese had to fly right by us or over us. Shot at f/8 @ 1/250 sec @ ISO 500 @ 130mm.
Snow Geese Getting High
Back in Bernardo there were geese arriving from the main part of Bosque but there were also geese apparently heading somewhere else and they were very high up. All the little white dots may be hard to see here but they are all geese spreading across the sky. Shot at f/8 @ 1/400 sec @ ISO 100 @ 80mm.
Sandhill Cranes Over Mountains
A pair of sandhill cranes fly against a background of snow-capped mountains. Shot at f/11 @ 1/640 sec @ ISO 100 @ 400mm.
