Bidding Farewell to Bosque

Fellow volunteer friends reported last week that the cranes have now left Bosque del Apache for the season to head north.  What a great winter we had together!

Hidden Secrets of the Bosque

Drive around the tour loops at Bosque del Apache NWR (or any National Wildlife Refuge for that matter) and you're likely see a few side roads with little blue and white "Area Closed" signs.  What's being hidden back there?  Well, come along and find out!

Bosque's Winter Birds

One of my major duties at Bosque del Apache NWR this winter season was to drive a tour van for the 4 free Refuge tours each weekend.  Surprisingly, not a single one of them was dedicated to the Sandhill Cranes that most visitors come wanting to see.

As magnificent and thrilling as the cranes are, let’s face it, they’re big and rather slow-moving, predictable birds.  Pretty easy to spot, sit and watch for hours at a time—no binoculars or bird guide books required!  So, the tours aimed to focus on all the other birds of the Refuge.  The ones that might take a bit more help to spot and identify.

White Christmases

After returning from my quick trip to Florida in mid-December to become a Floridian, I headed up to Colorado for an early Christmas with my brother and his family in the Vail valley.  As I approached the New Mexico/Colorado border, I caught a glimpse of my first snowy peak:

Have You Hugged a Wildlife Refuge Lately?

My January volunteering adventures at Bosque del Apache NWR have been filled with lots of new and exciting things (such as seeing the Refuge covered by snow for the first time!)...

But it has also been a bit unnerving to be living on a National Wildlife Refuge as we watch and wait for the armed occupation at Malheur NWR to end as soon as possible.  Some of the volunteers and staff here have served and/or visited Malheur-- they have friends there, and know the potential impact this interruption is having on that Refuge's important work, and the migratory wildlife who rely on it.

As I perform my daily duties here at Bosque, a few questions lurk quietly in the back of my mind-- could a Malheur situation happen at another Refuge?  Could it happen here at Bosque?