Jan 6 - Morning sunrise fly out of Sandhill Cranes at Bosque del Apache

It was an early start of 5:30 am and we headed in the dark to Bosque del Apache for the sunrise fly out of the Sandhill Cranes.  We waited in the twilight of night which gradually changed to the predawn lightening of the sky.  We heard a Great Horned Owl call.  Dawn was coming and we could see shapes.  The Sandhill Cranes were still and quiet.  It took a long time for the Sandhill Cranes that were close to us to wake up, raise their heads and start moving.  It was cool and a there was a steady wind.  As dawn came and the sun was climbing over the the horizon, it looked like the Sandhill Cranes that were in the far back and the sun touched first, left first.  The birds seemed to move to the right in a loose row and lift off and fly out to fields to feed for the day.  This great fly out also brought out both Bald and Golden Eagles to check out the flock of Sandhill Cranes and all the numerous ducks that filled this cell of the body of water.  Coyotes also trotted out on the few "fingers of land" that extended into the water.  Both groups of predators were looking for "weak" or "unwell" waterfowl that could be caught for breakfast.  These opportunity predators were flying around or walking around with a purpose.  Which waterfowl appeared "weak" and perhaps could be caught.  Most of the waterfowl moved on quickly as soon as they saw the predators come within a close distance.  No one got caught.  This was nature at its best and worst.  We were happy to see this great fly out of hundreds of Sandhill Cranes and ducks.  We moved on to the cells that had thousands of Snow Geese.  Most of these had lifted off already and had settled in near by fields that we drove by.  We continued to look for the Common Crane but it was not reported in the last day or since Saturday morning.

We did a couple of the canal type sloughs and found selective groups of Northern Pintail in one area, Ruddy Ducks in another area and American Wigeon elsewhere.  We walked a mile and a half trail looking for sparrows and spotted several Song Sparrows.  The sun was up and things were warming up but there was a stiff wind.  We walked near a cliff wall which was interesting as there were all kinds of holes and crevices.

From here we went to the Owl Cafe in the little nearby village of San Antonio, New Mexico.  We had delicious Mexican food here.  From here we headed to Water Canyon, part of the Cibola Forest about an hour north of Soccoro.  At first, the Canyon was quiet.  The first bird spotted was the Acorn Woodpecker.  Then is was quiet again.  Western Bluebirds showed up.  Around 3:30 we were ready to leave but then things picked up.  Townsend's Solitaire, Mountain Chickadee, White breasted nuthatch - Western Interior and Juniper Titmouse showed up and gave us great views.  The sun was beautiful into this canyon and we had to leave, dusk was coming soon.  A Loggerhead Shrike also came out along the road down from the Canyon.  We really enjoyed the afternoon here.  The canyon and nearby campground area was a wonderful spot.

We had supper at another Mexican Restaurant, Sofia's off of Columbus Street and we all enjoyed our supper.  Tomorrow is another day of birding for part of the day and then we hit the road to drive home.  The drive is over 10 hours.