Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge  (page 3)

Refuge overview (part 1 of 2)

To describe the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge briefly: It is comprised of two primary loops, each about 5 miles long that should be taken in a counter clock-wise fashion, that are connected in the middle by a two way road. As you enter the park from the western side just past the visitors center you will encounter a kiosk ($5 fee for all day), with the next road on the right taking you to the south on the Marsh loop. In the middle of the Marsh loop you will find a combination of open water, marshes, and riparian habitat. It is a good location for photography of geese and ducks. Bald and golden eagles tend to also hang out in some of the dead tree found in the middle of some of these flooded areas. You can also see a variety of hawks, owls, and other smaller birds in the more riparian habitat at the south-east portion of this loop. I have noted that the Marsh loop typically is NOT where you want to be at sunrise or sunset. That is because most birds tend to roost for the night in the waters as part of the northern farm loop as viewed closer to the Flight deck.

If you take the road straight to the east from the kiosk, this will allow you to skip the lower marsh loop and take you the Farm loop. Half-way across this bisection you will encounter the Eagle Scout observation deck on the left, that provides a nice vantage point of the more open water on the inside of the Farm loop. I have found it to be a good location for spotting eagles hunting above this open water. The last time I was here we also had the fortune to encounter a Road Runner. It seemed curious enough to jump up on the railing behind myself and other bird photographers, as we were all busy looking the other direction with our big lenses photographing a bald eagle in a tree. It was so close that I needed to creep back to the car to grab a shorter 100-400 lens setup on my full framed body instead.

Continuing on past the Eagle Scout deck the road will loop to the left as part of the Farm loop. On the north heading portion of the road you will encounter about four observation decks off to the left. These decks will provide a vantage point of some farmed fields that will have been harvested in the fall, with some of them potentially partially flooded. Geese and Cranes can be found here throughout the day grazing in these fields, with ducks and geese found in the more flooded areas. Based on the last time I was here, I have found the Willow and Coyote decks at the north east corner of the preserve to be a great location for photographing both Snow Geese and Sandhill Crane BIFs during the late afternoon (after about 3:30 PM) by shooting off to the right to get more side lighting on the birds. The Farm deck at the far end of the loop can also be a good spot for late afternoon lighting but can tend to require a bit more reach. Both areas will be somewhat dependent on the number of cranes that season and where they tend to be finding the most food to forage.  You really need a couple of days of shooting to get a feel for the birds flight and foraging patterns at different times of the day as it can fluctuate throughout the weeks and subsequent years depending on crop and weather conditions.