{"id":10180,"date":"2025-01-09T23:41:46","date_gmt":"2025-01-10T06:41:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/matchgrun.com\/blog\/?p=10180"},"modified":"2025-01-09T23:41:49","modified_gmt":"2025-01-10T06:41:49","slug":"bosque-del-apache-2024","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/matchgrun.com\/blog\/2025\/01\/09\/bosque-del-apache-2024\/","title":{"rendered":"Bosque del Apache, 2024"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

During the last week of the 2024, we made a trip to Socorro, to visit Bosque del Apache wildlife refuge. Soon after arriving at the Refuge, we had a couple of hours of birding, before the sun set for the day. One of the first birds that we encountered was this American Kestrel perched on a Cottonwood tree close to the entrance.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"3134-0002-American-Kestrel-Bosque-Del-Apache-2024\"
American Kestrel, Bosque del Apache, 2024.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The next morning, we headed out to the Refuge. Shortly after sunrise, we stopped by a pond where several Sandhill Cranes were busy feeding. Nearby, a Bald Eagle had caught a Snow Goose, and was feeding with two immature eagles; we were too distant to get a good view of that scene.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"3135-0014-Sandhill-Cranes-At-Pond-Sunrise-Bosque-Del-Apache-2024\"
Sandhill Cranes At Pond, Sunrise, Bosque del Apache, 2024.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

We continued to visit some other locations. The refuge have several ponds that are flooded during different years. We found a newly flooded pond that had several shore birds, in addition to the usual ducks and geese. We found a Greater Yellowlegs feeding in the pond.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"3135-0051-Greater-Yellowlegs-2024\"
Greater Yellowlegs, 2024.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

In another pond, we found several Northern Pintail ducks feeding along the edges of he pond. In this image, a group of male Pintails were swimming to a new location in the pond.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"3135-0062-Pair-Of-Northern-Pintail-Males-2024\"
Pair Of Northern Pintail Males, 2024.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

During the afternoon, we made a trip to the southern loop of the refuge. In one of the ponds we found a female Canvasback duck. In a previous year, we found a Canvasback in the same pond. Maybe this is the same bird?<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"3135-0082-Female-Canvasback-2024\"
Female Canvasback, 2024.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Towards the end of the day, we found a Say’s Phoebe. This flycatcher made several trips to catch bugs, returning intermittently to a perched on a thistle plant.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"3135-0103-Says-Phoebe-Bosque-Del-Apache-2024\"
Say’s Phoebe, Bosque Del Apache, 2024.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The ponds in the refuge are used by several waterfowl species that roost for the night. He they are protected from predators. A pair of Sandhill Cranes had flown in from daytime feeding grounds.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Sandhill
Sandhill Cranes Landing At Sunset, Bosque del Apache.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

There were several streams of incoming groups of cranes as the sun dipped below the horizon.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"3135-0159-Sandhill-Crane-Silhouette-Bosque-Del-Apache-2024\"
Sandhill Crane Silhouette, Bosque del Apache, 2024.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

I tracked several incoming groups of Sandhill Cranes as they were silhouetted against the evening sky. I waited until one of the cranes dropped its legs in preparation for a landing in the pond.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

During the last week of the 2024, we made a trip to Socorro, to visit Bosque del Apache wildlife refuge. Soon after arriving at the Refuge, we had a couple of hours of birding, before the sun set for the day. One of the first birds that we encountered was this American Kestrel perched on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[1979,423,1981,1980,426,1756,425,1982,1978,269,306,415,1766],"class_list":["post-10180","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-general","tag-american-kestrel","tag-bosque-del-apache","tag-canvasback","tag-northern-pintail","tag-ponds","tag-refuge","tag-sandhill-cranes","tag-says-phoebe-3","tag-shore-bird","tag-silhouette","tag-water","tag-wildlife","tag-yellowlegs"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t