Now that I am back to school, settled in, etc... I thought I'd share some more details.
My cousin Grant and I left from my hometown in Iowa on January 9th and made it to Albuquerque in a day with a brief stop in Pratt, Kansas for some sleep in a Walmart parking lot and Dalhart, Texas to look for snow geese that had already left the lake to feed.
Once in Albuquerque we visited the Rio Grande Nature Center which I have to admit was slightly disappointing. We did see some birds but none of the areas had good spots to do some photography. The one plus of the center were some cranes and canadas just outside of it in a grain field.
The next morning we got up early to drive up the Sandia Mountains to Sandia Crest to look for rosy finches. Made it up early had had problems finding the birds right away but eventually did find a nice side area to view and photograph the birds. Saw all three species in one big flock of about 200 that flew across the valley to the surrounding trees as well as a lot of Stellar's Jays.
My cousin Grant and I left from my hometown in Iowa on January 9th and made it to Albuquerque in a day with a brief stop in Pratt, Kansas for some sleep in a Walmart parking lot and Dalhart, Texas to look for snow geese that had already left the lake to feed.
Once in Albuquerque we visited the Rio Grande Nature Center which I have to admit was slightly disappointing. We did see some birds but none of the areas had good spots to do some photography. The one plus of the center were some cranes and canadas just outside of it in a grain field.
The next morning we got up early to drive up the Sandia Mountains to Sandia Crest to look for rosy finches. Made it up early had had problems finding the birds right away but eventually did find a nice side area to view and photograph the birds. Saw all three species in one big flock of about 200 that flew across the valley to the surrounding trees as well as a lot of Stellar's Jays.
That afternoon we drove down to Soccorro and the Bosque del Apache NWR where we spent most of the rest of our time. We had a blast and saw something new and exciting every day we spent there. Managed to get a good look at a bobcat, some really nice mule deer, coyotes and thousands of birds. Got some good shots of species that I had seen before but never been able to get any decent shots and lots of new birds that I was able to photograph. The scenery and sunsets where inexplicable. Really a great experience all around.
We started back on the 19th and made brief stops at Las Vegas NWR where we finally saw prairie dogs and some monster whitetails, unfortunately both to far to photograph.
Minus Grant getting really sick on the way back and some brake problems we had a great time. As always I have more images on my website and my facebook page.
Thank you for looking as always.
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