JAN 5 ALBUQUERQUE TO SOCCORO

It was a cool fresh morning with not even a cloud in the sky when we checked out of the Drury Inn in Albuquerque, NM by 8 am.  We were heading to Silver River in Albuquerque for the reported American Dipper.  This is the spot where the Rio Grande starts and it is just a small river called the Silver River.  Further on outside of the city, the river expands and it becomes the Rio Grande.  We parked and walked to the small trough of a river.  The highway is nearby.  We looked around on one side and some of the group noticed a duck acting funny by the bank.  They went down and looked and the fish had fishing line coming out of its bill.  One of the group went back to get scissors to help cut and shortly after another one went to get a box and cover to put the duck in.  We would try to get it to a rescue place.  Some of the group continued to look for the American Dipper.  The Dipper likes fast flowing splashing water and we really did not see too much of than in the creek sized river.  One of the group notices the bird on a rock in the river.  It was a lifer for this group member and so very lucky to also have spotted it.  We watched the bird and took some photos.  The bird was almost impossible to find in the dark shadowy water.  We returned to our cars in the parking lot about 1/2 mile away. 

One of our cars had been broken into.  A backpack and cooler were missing and a rear passenger door window had been broken.  We all felt badly that it had happened but nothing really important was taken.  Also there was more in the car to take but it was left behind.  We could only surmise that the burgler was interrupted and took only what could be taken quickly.  Who would take a cooler?  Also since this item was not small and awkward to run with, there must have been an accomplish car.  We were all disappointed and it was the only car that was damaged and something was taken.  Each of cars was packed to the hilt as we had just checked out of the hotel.  We waited for the police to come and report the crime.  Then the damaged window had to be closed with cardboard and duct tape.  We carried on.

We drove to nearby Tingley Beach where there are ponds filled with all kinds of waterfowl.  The people that predominated are fisherman of all ages and sexes.  The ducks are up close.  There are a lot of them and there is a city worker pressure washing the walkways all around the ponds.  We had some close up views of Wood Ducks, Ring necked Ducks, American Widgeon and Northern Pintail. 
Here we also cut some of the fishing line from the duck we had rescued and left behind with the other ducks.  We could not get the duck to a rescue place and maybe the duck could manage or not, but at least it the fishing line was gone from its mouth. 

We continued on to Socorro and the nearby Bosque del Apache.  We had a quick lunch and drove to the park.  Along the way we saw flights of birds.  At the visitor center's Desert trail we saw Gambel's Quail and Lesser Goldfinch and many other birds. We proceeded to the ponds to look for the reported Common Crane from Eurasia.  In the ponds and over the course of the couple of hours we were there and into the early evening we saw many strings of Sandhill Cranes come in to the night roost ponds.  There were Snow Geese also flying in and once dusk was upon us, a herd of Havalinas (Collared Pecary) crossing the roadway and Elk also settling in for the night.  There were thousands of birds in the ponds and more coming.  We could not see well as it was getting dark but we could hear them in the ponds with the various calls.

We went back to Soccoro and checked in the motel - Econolodge, then went to the Soccoro Springs Restaurant for a later supper.  I had a delicious pizza. 

Tomorrow we are going back to Bosque del Apache very early to see the waterfowl fly out in the early morning to their grazing grounds.  I must get to bed early...