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Saturday, January 22, 2011 - Bosque Birdwatchers RV Park, San Antonio NM

Foraging, Sandhill Cranes, Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, San Antonio NM, January 17, 2011
Foraging, Sandhill Cranes, Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, San Antonio NM, January 17, 2011

What do cranes eat anyway?

From what I can see, here they seem to be eating corn, which is grown for them, and the tubers of marsh grasses. You can't see it but this grassy meadow is flooded with a couple of inches of water. This area extends "upstream" from the shallow pond where the cranes roost. Pumps are running, pumping water into the upper end of this long meadow whence it flows slowly down through the grasses to the pond. Makes for good foraging and photographing.

Sandhill Cranes forage by picking and probing with their long bills both at and below the water’s surface, as well as on land. They prefer grain when available, but eat a wide variety of foods. In their northern breeding areas, they consume berries, mammals, and insects. Where resident year-round, Sandhill Cranes eat insects, reptiles, amphibians, small birds and mammals, seeds, and berries. Source: Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology.

Night camp

Site 10 - Bosque Bird Watcher's RV Park, San Antonio NM

Monopoly Money

During the 1990s I knew all the dot-coms would go to hell, because when I thought about them the only images I saw were rented office space and computers that would be obsolete in two years. There wasn't anything real I could picture; the companies had no hard assets. My stockbroker asked me how I knew the two stock market crashes would happen, and I told him, "When the Monopoly play money starts jerking around the real money you're in trouble."

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