Last Friday Mom flew from Grand Rapids to Phoenix as many other snowbirds do for the winter. I volunteered to deliver her car to Phoenix so that she’d have wheels for her six month stay. To make my drive more productive, I turned the 2000 mile journey from Grand Rapids into a mini photo trip.

Just as many retirees make the trek to warmer climates in the late fall, so do many northern birds. One of their gathering spots is the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge. I leave Grand Rapids on Tuesday at noon (ahead of Mom) and set the destination in my GPS for Socorro, New Mexico – about 90 miles south of Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Eight hour later as I’m passing through St Louis, I’m attracted to the night time lights of the Gateway Arch. I exit the interstate and head towards the Mississippi River where I find a place to park my car adjacent to the river front. Here’s what I see:

Four Seasons casino and resort

the Gateway Arch

After 30 minutes I’m in the car and back on the interstate. My next stop is a rest area in Oklahoma near the Texas state line at 3am. I grab a few hours sleep in the car until I awake from the cold. Drive on. Approaching Amarillo, I spot an unfamiliar aircraft circling the airport. Then I recognize it as a V-22 Osprey doing touch and go maneuvers. I pull off at the next exit and grab my camera with a long lens.

V-22 Osprey doing touch and go’s

what a beautiful looking aircraft

On the road again, it’s a pleasant drive on a warm, sunny day across the high plains and farm lands of New Mexico. For the next few hours I pass by towns with great names: Tucamcari, Cuervo, Santa Rosa, Moriarity, Albuquerque.

The final leg is south on Interstate 25 to Socorro about 1500 miles and 28 hours from Grand Rapids. I check into the Howard Johnson motel, drop off my suitcase and hop back into the car for the short 30 miles trip to Bosque del Apache. My goal is to be able to see the sunset at Bosque.

Nat’l Wildlife Refuge Visitor’s Center

sandhill cranes feeding in the marsh

coming in for a night landing

alone again

The next morning I’m up at 5am to arrive at Bosque again to experience the solitude of dawn.

dawn arriving at the north pond

early morning flight

From here on, I’ll skip the text and show you some of the snapshots

small flock of snow geese

northern pintail enjoying the pond

juvenile northern harrier scanning for food

sandhill crane touching down

high flying adult northern harrier

gorgeous warm and sunny day at the NWR

spectacular flyout by thousands of snow geese

this harrier scared an awful lot of snow geese

 

 

Here’s a short video of the flyout

 

duckling enjoying a swim

sandhill crane moving in late afternoon

Although I had only 16 hours to explore Bosque, I thoroughly enjoyed this amazing outdoor environment. I dispensed with the typical hiking clothing and footwear; although unpaved, the park roads, hiking trails and boardwalks are well cared for. While there, I shared the refuge with several hundred other nature lovers – some with binoculars or scopes and others will ample photo equipment. I’ve already seen some of their photos on Flickr. Go to flickr.com and search for the Bosque del Apache group.

warm and sunny day at the NWR

While my stay at Bosque ended on Thursday evening, I awoke on Friday to complete the drive to Phoenix. I had a much shorter 350 mile drive ahead of me and again I turned it into another mini-photo trip. More about the Socorro to Phoenix leg in my next episode.

It’s that time of the year again. Almost all of the leaves have fallen from the trees, the days are noticeably shorter and the temperature has decided to fall as well. With the onset of winter, this is when Mom is preparing to leave Michigan to head south for warmer environs. She’s booked her flight to Phoenix and is anxious to again become a “snowbird”.

Of course she’ll need a car in Phoenix for her winter stay. For the past several years, I’ve been the chosen one – I drive her car to Phoenix and then fly back home to Grand Rapids.

This year I’ve decided to make a slight detour on the drive to Phoenix. I’m planning to join the migrating birds at Bosque del Apache, a large bird sanctuary near Socorro in western New Mexico. I’ve heard about this wildlife refuge for a long time so now is the time to take the plunge, so to speak.

In preparing for the visit to Bosque, I found out about another close-by site. The Very Large Array (VLA) is an astronomical observatory made of 27 antennas each 80 feet in diameter. The VLA collects large amounts of data from outer space. Being only 50 miles from Socorro, I’m planning a short stop at the VLA following my visit to Bosque.

My drive is a southernly route taking me through Missouri, Oklahoma, the Texas panhandle and to Albuquerque; then south to Socorro. Up to here, the route is all interstate highways and the weather should be snowfree in early November. When I leave Socorro, I’ll head west following US 60 which takes me through some mountainous and forested areas in New Mexico and Arizona before flattening out near Globe, AZ. Hopefully the snow will hold off until later in the month. From Globe it’s clear sailing to Phoenix.

Many consider a cross country trip such as this an arduous undertaking. I have always enjoyed driving long distances and welcome the chance to stop at Bosque and VLA. I’m hoping that they will both offer me some interesting photography opportunities.

If the cameras are working and I make good with the photography opportunities, I’ll have some pictures here soon.