The day started at 5:45 this morning when my eyes opened 15 minutes before the alarm went off.

Today was Bosque del Apache day.

I was on the road by 6:20 after I got clothes and camera gear together and the cats taken care of for the day and the coffee made.

I figured I’d try and stop a place or two somewhere along the 100-mile-or-so drive to the bird refuge to try and take advantage of some fine morning light. The morning skies were clear, but the nip of winter was definitely felt. I had my layers, though, so I was good to deal with the cool.

My meandering took me off I-25 at an exit about 15 miles north of Socorro. I came over a hill and saw cattle in a pastoral field to my right, and a broad plain of green crowned with giant golden trees to my right, and so I took the next off-ramp that appeared quickly, and followed the frontage roads to the left and the right for a short ways to photograph both the tree plain and the pastoral field.

My folks left home about two hours after me, and we ended up arriving at the bird refuge about the same time. We made a quick run through the Festival of the Cranes exhibit tents and the Visitor Center, and then we slowly drove the two loops.

Bird club.

We were probably looking at birds and scenery for five hours, and in that time, besides the cranes, geese, and ducks, we also were pleasantly surprised to see a red tail hawk and a bald eagle chilling in trees, three coyotes walking up a path by an irrigation ditch, and a flock (or “rafter”) of wild turkeys partying down one of the park’s utility roads.

What’s in that tree?

For the grand finale, we circled back by the main irrigated field which greets you at the start and end of the bosque loop drive, and unlike previous years, it was completely devoid of snow geese. We thought we had just missed seeing any of them as we began to leave the park, until we looked up and over the road ahead of us, and there were several “V”s of incoming white birds. We pulled over to cheer them on, and to take a few photos of the approaching geese.

The main part of the day enjoyed, we caravanned on to Belen where we topped the day off with dinner at Pete’s, a tasty Mexican food restaurant in the city’s old downtown area.

I ended up with nearly 900 photos from the day. I am not sure if I will ever get through looking at them all, but there were plenty of enjoyable scenic points along the drive today. The weather was ideal all day as well. And it was another escapade that I could enjoy with my parents.

Thank you, bosque, birds and beasts for making us feel welcomed.