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?

15 Favorite Images of 2015

As we paddled out onto the crystal clear waters of Baja's Bahia de Concepcion last January, little did Millie or I know what monumental changes were in store for us in 2015.

Cancer took Millie just 2 months later, and a month after that, I got my own cancer diagnosis.  Life is very different now at the end of 2015 than it was at the beginning-- not in a significantly better or worse way necessarily, just forever changed.

My photography took a bit of a back seat to the more urgent matters of life this year.  Not as much time and energy for tripods, dragging out the best (heavy) lenses and cameras, or enduring long waits or long hikes to get "the shot."

Yet, looking back over all of my 2015 images, I did manage to experience some pretty diverse scenes this year-- so without further adieu, here are my 15 favorites from 2015.  Enjoy!