Please enjoy the slideshow above and if interested, continue reading for more insight into the trip and the photographs I took.
Our visit to the Bosque del Apache reserve was the last stop on our 2021 New Mexico trip. After visiting and doing some photography at White Sands for a few days, we drove over to Carlsbad Caverns for a night and hiked down to the bottom of the caverns. The following day we drove over to Las Cruces to visit an old friend and eat some good New Mexico Mexican food. The next morning we started heading north towards the Bosque. We stopped in Hatch to eat lunch and buy some chile before arriving at our campground in the afternoon. After checking in we headed over to the reserve for the late afternoon arrival of the birds.
Bird photography is very different to landscape photography where for the most part the subject is static and I'm composing the image with the camera on a tripod. Photographing birds requires different technique and equipment to be able to capture the birds in movement. I brought along my Canon 1DX ii with a 500mm lens mounted on a 2x extension. The 1DX can shoot at 12 - 16 frames per second and has decent auto focus capability. The 500 is heavy and long so I had a mono pod mounted to the lens to help support it. I knew I was out of practice for this kind of photography and really had no idea what I was about to witness this evening and the following morning.
We still had some time before the arrival of the birds so we drove around a bit to get our bearings and explore. It was enough for us to realize we could spend some days here. As the day wained we could see some birds starting to arrive at their landing strip so we found a parking spot and I got out with the camera while Lisa started to video the scene with her phone. It started out relatively calm as there were a few pairs of snow geese with some ducks also coming in so I was able to dial in the settings and practice my search and panning technique.
There was a steady flight into the landing area over the next half hour or so. As the birds arrived the volume of their speak increased and the symphony of their voices was non-stop. Many of the birds began to settle right away and others, especially the cranes, began a social dance as they fed. This got my attention and I began to point my camera at a few different pairs as the light became more and more beautiful. Following are photos that are additional to the portfolio images I used in the slideshow above.
The snow geese were the first to arrive and settle after a bit of feeding.
Then the cranes began to arrive and with their arrival the volume of their cackle increased. I encourage you to watch the slideshow to hear a little of the noise.
I followed this pair as the the day wained. Their dance was slow, graceful and somewhat hypnotic. See the slideshow for more photos of these cranes.
I kept shooting as the day turned to evening enjoying the amazing New Mexico sky as it became red with that warmth reflecting off the surface of the water and onto the cranes I was photographing. It was a truly amazing experience to be able to witness this and be immersed in the hypnotic effect of their flight and dance. After a long day and knowing we would be up well before dawn the next morning we headed back to the RV park for dinner and rest.
We headed out into the cold well before first light to stake out a parking spot and wait for...what, we didn't know. We could hear the quiet cooing and warbling of the birds though it was too dark to see anything. As I was getting my camera ready and Lisa was in the running jeep staying warm, the quiet of the morning was rudely and surprisingly disturbed by someone's vehicle alarm going off. Along with the horn blaring the headlights, which were pointed in the direction of the birds, were flashing. It was extremely startling and did the job of waking the birds and they subsequently took flight into the darkness. Needless to say I, along with many others, were flabbergasted as it took the owners of that vehicle 3-4 minutes to turn the damn thing off. Damage done, or so I thought. I spoke to someone nearby expressing my frustration and he simply said not to worry, that they'd be back. Sure enough as soon as the alarm stopped the birds returned and took up where they left off quietly moving about waiting for the day to break.
As the predawn light grew, a few groups of cranes and geese took flight and with each departure there would be increasing interest of the birds still in the water as they looked on at the departing birds. These first flights made for some nice captures as their bodies were siloetted against the red morning sky. The snow geese were in many of these first groups to take flight and this took my attention with the camera as they were usually in smaller groups making it easier to capture. With each departing flight, the level of activity and noise increased and signaled, unbeknownst to me, the chaos that was to come.
The birds were consistently taking off and flying towards the northeast leaving those still in the water to turn and stare in that direction. Then they began to move, the cranes taking slow steps with their spindly legs while the geese and ducks slowly paddled in that direction. It was a slow blur of constant movement towards the northeast as the noise was on a constant gain.
Then as the light began to break over the horizon, warming the breasts of the birds, and the sky lost its deep red and orange cast, it seemed a signal to the majority still in the water that it was time to go. With surprising voracity they all started to leave. My photography became a frenetic search for subjects as I panned that big lens around and the shutter whirred away. This is when luck played a great role in the images that I included in the slideshow. When the cranes began their take off, their steps became longer until they were seemingly running across the surface of the water before taking flight. This was fascinating to watch and I tried as best I could to capture this but the level and density of activity was so thick it was near to impossible to isolate this dance.
Then with a mad flourish of exodus, it was over. It was one of the most chaotic, activity filled, photographic sunrises I had ever experienced. I have spent many sunrise sessions waiting for the light after I was set up with the camera and then chasing the light as I scrambled to correct the exposure. But chasing the light, while chasing tens of thousands of subjects that were in constant movement? No this took the cake but it was a blast and we only felt that we wanted to return someday for more.
I hope you enjoyed reading this and as always I thank you for taking the time to share in this with me. Please let me know your thoughts below in the comments and feel free to share this with others.