Friday, January 15, 2010 - Bosque Birdwatchers RV Park, San Antonio NM
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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
- This is a basic, small Mom & Pop RV Park with full hookups.
- Verizon cell phone and Broadband service are available here with a strong signal.
- Locate Bosque Bird Watcher's RV Park on my Night Camps map
- Click for Google street view
- Check the weather in San Antonio NM
Alex Can Think
Animal researchers are finally beginning to catch up to the little old ladies in tennis shoes who say Fifi the poodle can think. The fights are always between a big group of experts who think animals don't have a lot of feelings or aren't very smart, and a much smaller group of researchers who think there's a lot more going on inside an animal's head than we know. The really nasty fights always seem to go one way: it's always the animal "debunkers" who are on the attack. At least, I don't remember a single big academic fight where someone got fired or lost their funding for doing a study where the animal turned out to be dumber than people thought, and lots of studies like that have been done. Claiming that an animal can't do something isn't considered blasphemous.