Bosque del Apache

Sandhill cranes landing at sunset for the night

This place is a great as advertised.  Actually the stars of the show, the Sandhill Cranes are as great as advertised.

After driving north from Deming for a bout 4 hours through desert we arrived in the Rio Grande valley amidst chile and cotton fields.  We traveled back roads through instead of the interstate most of the time, except for about 40 miles.

Had lunch at visitor center then drove a few miles north to the "Birders Paradise" RV park to camp for the night.  Unhitched Ms. Toad and off we go to explore the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge.  Known as a winterhaven for the Sandhill Cranes and Snow Geese, we saw many other birds (I think Sraddha had 20+ on her daily list).  We drove around the farm loop looking for birds and found quite a few.
Rather than bore you with the details, I suggest you watch this 3 minute slideshow of photos I shot this afternoon at the reserve.  It speaks for itself. to view in full screen click on the little square in lower left corner of the video)