We went to Bosque Del Apache National Wildlife Refuge this afternoon. It was cold with temps between 47° to 54°. Windy too. But I was a trooper and braved the bad weather. I haven't been taking many pictures of late, so I was like Shaky the Moyle (on Seinfeld). I got all excited seeing the birds, pointed my camera, and couldn't focus for diddly. I'm taking picture of open sky and blurry birds! My husband was patient and gave me enough time to keep trying. I want to go back. I need to go back! The sound of thousands of snow geese is incredible.
It wasn't as awesome as last year though. That's a terrible thing to say, eh? But there were more birds last year. I suppose they're there this year too, but a lot of the lake is frozen. Strange, because the weather hasn't seemed that cold. But where it was frozen the birds were quite far away. Too far even for my telephoto lens.
Son had an amazing sighting this morning - four bobcats playing on the ice that had formed on a small lake outside the park. He was riding with one of the rangers in the truck when they spotted them. What luck. Who gets to see one bobcat let alone four, let alone playing on the ice in plain daylight. They stopped on the side of the road and watched until the bobcats wandered into the brush. Couple nights ago my son and I saw three big, healthy raccoons trying to get in the garbage bin. They ran across the street in front of us as were driving by. In three years we've never seen raccoons here. Oh and tonight on my way home from church I saw a big, white owl take off from the top of a stop sign where he was perched. The first time I saw him last year I about jumped out of my seat - he startled me so. This year I noticed that I hadn't seen him and I wondered if he was still around. Guess he is. He must have a wing span of four feet. Huge.
