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)

Deming, New Mexico

Lined up at the propane refill spot

Fortunately the drive was only 5 hours drive to day from Tucson, because we didn't get going until very late morning.  good drive on interstate the whole way, with everyone passing me all the time.  I was driving in the right lane again around 62 mph which is fast for me.  We pulled into Deming New Mexico around 4:30 with sunset at 5:10 PM.  we drove slowly through this sleepy town to the east end where several RV parks are lined up.  We had selected one which had propane refill so we checked in, disconnected Ms. Toad, and pulled up to the propane refill spot and the park owner came out and filled it up.  I asked him what months are the busiest  for him and he said usually October thru May, however this year it was December-May.

Saw this interesting sign on the front desk when I was paying for the propane.  Thought it was pretty cool. The park wasn't very full and we were here just overnight.  We set up quickly and fixed dinner.

We are close to the interstate so can here the trucks but it is background noise and not too bad.  Spent another hour tonight troubleshooting the Verizon mifi hotspot device.  This after 2 hours yesterday followed by exchanging the device this morning for a new one since the firmware upgrade "bricked" it.  Sigh.

The sky is real big here.  pretty neat and inspiring.  we will go off the interstate tomorrow morning driving up to Socorro, NM with our final destination being Bosque del Apache national wildlife reserve, famous for its birding.  Photographers "flock" to this location for the incredible bird shots.   Many use high end gear (much more high end than I have), however, I hope to get a few cool shots.  We will see.

Hummingbirds and Skyscrapers

Sunday evening after a full weekend.  Just completed a workshop this morning at Ananda Tucson covering "all things online with Ananda"  We began with the Ananda.org site, reviewed blogs and youtube and other of the main ananda websites, and concluded with watching last Sunday's video from Ananda Village.  Am always amazed and impressed with the depth of inspiration available online through these sites.

Lunch with Elizabeth and Stanley at a wonderful Indian restaurant then helped Elizabeth and their graphic designer get set up with the Ananda graphics package on their computers.  I use a Mac and they use Windows.  I marvel at how anyone can get things done on windows computers these days without some form of tech support.  We have excellent tech support and education at the village for all the employees, but someone on their own in the world has to find other resources.  Usually some family member perhaps. Anyway, I am grateful for our tech support department back home.

He is eying his  competitor (other Costas)

Costas Hummingbird

Yesterday Sraddha and I visited Tohono Chul park nearby which offered  wonderful examples of desert gardens and all kinds of flora and fauna, well, flora and birds anyway.  I am finding that patience pays off with bird photography when I found this one little Costas hummingbird flitting around one of the garden areas.

As I watched, he would sit on a shaded perch (not good for photos) then, every few minutes, dart out to plants around the garden to feed then back to his little shaded area.  I found a spot to sit on the ground near one of the plant clusters he frequented and waited with the sun at my back.  Finally he returned and I was able to get several photos of him as he worked over the blossoms.  Remember this little guy is only about 2 inches long and flies real fast! REAL FAST!

House front near Tucson Art Museum

Charro's - Great pumpkin tamales!

Cool reflection in downtown

After lunch in the outdoor cafe (keeping an eye out for my little freind), we ran a few errands then ended up looking for a place to photograph around sunset.  We tried San Xavier del Bac mission, but a festival was happening with loud music so we ventured back downtown finding an area near the art museum with colorful walls and interesting arrangements.

We also captured this cool reflection on a modern skyscraper.

Sweetwater Wetlands

Nestled behind some industrial buildings north of downtown Tucson near the interstate freeway is this little area called Sweetwater wetlands.  The Sweetwater Wetlands is a water treatment facility, an urban wildlife habitat, and an outdoor classroom.  Amazing place.


We drove over from the Ananda Tucson center as it is only about 5-10 minutes.  Well, actually took us 25 minutes because the normal route is torn up for some construction.  I mean, who has heard of freeway construction in the middle of winter?  Oh, yes, this is Tucson, where the temp reached 74 degrees today.  Ok, no more rubbing it in for you "northerners".

taking flight

With the din of the freeway in the background, we walked around this tranquil park looking for birds.  From a bird photographer viewpoint it was late in the day and most of the bird sightings were shadowed and dark but Sraddha saw quite a few species.  this little duck fella posed for me in a small spot of sunlight the took flight.  I was using a rented 300mm telephoto lens with a 1.4x extender and trying to figure out how to use it.  think the photo turned out okay but not quite as sharp as I would have preferred.

Bobcat new Sweetwater wetlands

We walked around the perimeter of this pond which was a good 3/4 mile and there were 2 ponds like it.  You will see below the sunset photos to get an idea of the wonderful foliage.  
On the south side of the pond are 3 other rainwater fairly empty holding overflow ponds  overflow.  Too far to get any bird photos but I spotted this bobcat looking for dinner.  Nice kitty! Think he walked away hungry.  


As dusk approached, I left the kitty and raced around to the north side of the pond to catch sunset.  think the 3 photos below turned out pretty nice. Couldn't decide which one to show you so posted them all.  These were done via HDR.  Please tell me which one you like in comments section.

Sweetwater Sunset 1

Sweetwater Sunset 2

Sweetwater Sunset 3

Giving Thanks

The Sentinals

Today is Thanksgiving here in USA, in Arizona and in Catalina State Park.  We will be with our good friends of Ananda Tucson in satsang, watching a football game and eating some good food.

Swami Kriyananda wrote back in 1994 a letter about thanksgiving.  Here is a paragraph.

"We,too, at Ananda, have so many blessings for which to thank Him: our communities and way of life, our friends in God, the opportunity to serve God, and to serve Him in others. I know that many of us, myself included, thank Him daily for the sheer abundance of these blessings."

Reflections in Canyon

Giving thanks doesn't need to be relegated to the dinner table or thanksgiving day.  It is best done daily, hourly, even minute by minute, a state of ongoing gratitude for the blessings we receive every moment, even when it doesn't look right then like a blessing.

In the afternoon,  we hiked in Catalina State Park.  Started out through in a mesquite bosque where I was thinking, "this is kind of just the same here, just a bunch of thorns."  About 1.5 miles into hike we rounded a corner and walked down a short steep hill into this incredible riparian canyon teaming with water, deciduous trees including maples and saquaro cactus.  the afternoon bright light turned into late afternoon sunset and the light shifted to really make the saguaro shine. On the way out of the canyon I happened onto these cactus standing as sentinals to the mountain.  I only had my iphone camera with which to take these photos. (Memo to Kent - Take your real camera on hikes).  Still the light was incredible.  It was a blessing.

Whenever we remember, give thanks for what is happening, no matter the circumstances.  It is a blessing that we are where we are in life.