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Friday, January 15, 2010 - Bosque Birdwatchers RV Park, San Antonio NM

 Gathering at the roost, Sandhill Cranes, Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, San Antonio NM, January 14, 2010
Gathering at the roost, Sandhill Cranes, Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, San Antonio NM, January 14, 2010

Yesterday my friends Kate & Terry invited me along for a sunset photo shoot of the Sandhill Cranes gathering to roost in the shallow ponds along the highway at the north end of the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge. I've seen the cranes flying between their roosting and feeding grounds down at Percha Dam State Park, Arrey NM and at PanchoVilla and I've seen them feeding with the cows here and there but this was my first experience of them roosting. Ever have a preconceived notion dashed? Somehow I had the idea these birds roosted on dry land, or maybe in trees even. I guess I never really thought about it. They roost in these shallow waters away from shore - out where the coyotes can't sneak up on them snoozing. Well, duh!

Night camp

Site 16 - Bosque Bird Watcher's RV Park, San Antonio NM

They do not Intrude on Each Other

The San Francisco Mountain lies in northern Arizona, above Flagstaff, and its blue slopes and snowy summit entice the eye for a hundred miles across the desert. About its base lie the pine forests of the Navajos, where the great red-trunked trees live out their peaceful centuries in that sparkling air. The pinons and scrub begin only where the forest ends, where the country breaks into open, stony clearings and the surface of the earth cracks into deep canyons. The great pines stand at a considerable distance from each other. Each tree grows alone, murmurs alone, thinks alone. They do not intrude on each other. ...

The Song of the Lark, Willa Cather, p265, Houghton Mifflin Co paperback edition 1987

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