The Land of Enchantment.
Let me introduce you to a very special location in New Mexico, just south of Albuquerque. The place is called "Bosque del Apache" and it is considered a bird migration hotspot, one of the few remaining in the US.
After planning and rescheduling this trip for the past four years, the stars finally aligned and I made it there.
New Mexico’s state motto is “Land of Enchantment”, and you will see why it deserves this title. But first, a little info on the area.
Rio Grande.
New Mexico has desert plains and mountain ranges, and its lifeblood is the Rio Grande. But the Rio is not so Grande anymore.
The 1,900-mile-long river that flows from Colorado to the Gulf of Mexico is an essential water source for seven US States and Mexico. It cannot be overstated just how vital this water source is and how much it has been depleted. Only very little of its water nowadays reaches the Gulf of Mexico, and in some years nothing at all. The massive water consumption required to irrigate farmland and the never-ending thirst of cities (Santa Fe, Albuquerque, Las Cruces) have now reduced the river to a trickle.
With the white settlement of New Mexico came water rights disputes, between the states and also between the US and Mexico. In an attempt to solve them, the Rio Grande Project was agreed upon in 1905, the first congressionally directed allocation of an interstate river. As part of it, Elephant Butte dam was constructed in 1911-1916 for irrigation and flood control and it was considered a major engineering feat then. Now Elephant Butte also serves as New Mexico's premier water recreation facility.
However, persistent drought conditions and continuous over-usage have left the reservoir below 10% of its capacity. The Rio Grande in recent years from time to time has 50-mile-long stretches completely dry.
Cranes.
Let's turn to my primary reason for traveling to New Mexico - cranes. As some of you might know, I am a self-declared "craniac", madly fascinated by cranes.
Cranes are the oldest living bird species in the world and in one of my previous blogposts, “Birds of Heaven”, you can get a better understanding of this magnificent bird species.
Sandhill cranes are the main crane species in the US. The larger Whooping crane species has only a tiny population of approx. 500 left in the US (up from nearly total extinction).
The Rio Grande valley, from Colorado all the way to the Gulf of Mexico, forms part of the “Central Flyway” (marked in orange), a bird migration route from the Canadian prairies to the areas bordering the Gulf .
Flyways, the routes used by birds, are typically established because no mountains or large hills block the flyway over its entire extent. Good sources of water, food, and cover exist over its entire length.
Situated at the Rio Grande about an hour south of Albuquerque is the “Bosque del Apache” (Forest of the Apache), a thin green ribbon in the middle of the arid Chihuahuan desert.
It was established as a National Wildlife Refuge in 1939 to provide "a refuge and breeding ground for migratory birds and other wildlife", and to develop wintering grounds for greater sandhill cranes. The traditional grounds had been destroyed by "civilization".
The heart of the refuge is 8,000 acres of floodplain where the waters of the Rio Grande have been diverted to create extensive wetlands and agricultural lands. Enclosed by mountain ranges on each side, this is also a narrow part of the flyway and hence concentrates the birds in a small area. Today, Bosque del Apache is known as one of the most spectacular refuges in North America.
Sandhill cranes, arctic geese and ducks, and many other bird species make the refuge their winter home/stopover – tens of thousands of birds each autumn. Not only big birds - over 250 bird species have been recorded at the Bosque del Apache.
Can you imagine this scene before we decimated the bird population to a tiny little fraction of what it used to be?
At dusk, large flocks of incoming birds fill the air with their honking and guttural calls - a loud cacophony of sounds. It sure is party time at the Bosque! The birds are returning from a day of feeding in the harvested fields to roost in the flooded marshes of the Rio Grande. Flooded fields offer valuable protection from land predators like foxes, raccoons, coyotes.
Morning take-off is another spectacle. Just before sunrise, the cranes line up in direction of the wind. Think of it as the taxiing of planes at a very busy airport. One by one they advance to their starting position, and then, with a few elegant moves of their wings, they are soaring.
After morning blast-off the birds are heading for neighboring fields to scavenge for food all day.
Bosque del Apache is maintained by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and supported by private donations. Maintaining this refuge is critical for the survival of these birds and for our whole eco-system. If we waste all the water, dry up the Rio Grande, neither birds nor humans will survive.
Besides seeing cranes to my heart's content, and many other birds, I was taken by the landscape of Southern New Mexico. The terrain varied from desert to semi-arid foothills to snow-capped mountains. Low humidity made for vibrant colors at sunset and sunrise. We explored close-by attractions including White Sands National Monument and I will show images in a later post. New Mexico is definitely a location to explore further.
At this point I should give a shout-out to my support team - my husband Jim and my sister Maria. They braved the freezing temperatures with me every morning and had a hot thermos handy whenever needed (they also ate all the goodies).