Highlights of 2016

What are the experiences of 2016 I’ll remember the most?

The trip to New Mexico for the Festival of the Cranes tops the list for memorable travel. My husband and I enjoyed it so much we’re already looking for similar events at National Wildlife Refuges elsewhere in the country.

My son-in-law defending his research and getting his PhD…finding a postdoc for 2017…tops the list for memorable family event. It’s quite a milestone. My daughter will have a similar one in 2017. This kind of milestone is a huge change for them --- no longer a student, physically moving somewhere very different, etc. --- and has the potential to be a pivot point in their lives. It’s on my list for memorable experiences because of the flurry of activity we’re involved in these last weeks of the year…and knowing that there is more to come in early 2017.

Of course – there are many other things I could put on the list – courses, volunteering, travels to familiar places. I chose these two because they were so different...they are not part of the ‘norm’ that we enjoy all the time!

Coyote Gets a Duck

On our last full day at Bosque del Apache (last Saturday) Festival fo the Cranes, there was quite a drama as we drove around the north loop at midafternoon. It started with a scene that looked peaceful in one of the farm fields with cranes and ducks enjoying the bounty.

Then, off the right we noticed a coyote heading into the taller vegetation toward the back of the field. He disappeared into the small ditch and taller grass.

Suddenly, the ducks panicked and rose all at once off the ground

Leaving the coyote standing where they had been a few seconds earlier. The cranes were still nearby – all turned toward the coyote.

The coyote put his catch on the ground and shook away the water and

Then turned his attention back to the duck – seemingly a little surprised at his luck.

A crow confronted the coyote…but had no luck getting closer to the duck. Perhaps if there had been a lot more crows they could have convinced the coyote to share...but the one could only do a bit of harassing.

The coyote picked up his prey and headed back to the taller grass.

The cranes and the crow – continued to watch while the coyote ate.

And the ducks returned to the field to continue their feeding as well.

Stay tuned for other Bosque del Apache posts in the days ahead.

Home Again

We returned home yesterday after a week in New Mexico at the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge’s Festival of the Cranes. So many photographs….they’ll come out in blog posts over the next few weeks. We had early mornings at the refuge to see the cranes and snow geese take off from wetlands where they roost as the sun came up…and a few programs that were in the dark at the end of the day to see owls and for my husband to make a side trip to the Very Large Array Radio Telescope for stars and radio disk photography. We stayed in Socorro, NM and flew in and out of Albuquerque.

We drove from Socorro to Albuquerque on Sunday because our flight on Monday was early. I was reminded again of how much I like the ‘highway art’ of the area with the mountains, buttes and arroyos….the blue and terracotta of the overpasses…a Kachina themed sculpture… and a rabbit pebble mosaic on an embankment.

The airport is New Mexico specific too with sculpture and Black Mesa coffee.

The theme continues with the tile in the bathrooms…and I appreciated that they seemed to be cleaner than most airport bathrooms and that the stall doors opened outward (easier when you have roll aboard luggage in tow)!

We got home by mid-afternoon to a cold and breezy Baltimore. Today is grocery day….to buy all the fixings for our Thanksgiving feast!