This was my third trip to Bosque Del Apache which is located about 15 miles south of Socorro, New Mexico.  I have been there in the spring and late summer but had never made it to see the great migration of Sandhill Cranes and Canadian Snow Geese.  Between these two groups of birds there can be as many as twenty to thirty thousand Sandhill Cranes and forty to sixty thousand Snow Geese in different years.  This is not counting the huge amounts of other bird types that also migrate to, or make their home in the Bosque Del Apache.

The name of the refuge means "Forest of the Apache" in Spanish, referring to a time when Apaches frequently camped in the riverside forest there.*

The heart of the refuge comprises approximately 3,800 acres of Rio Grande floodplain and 9,100 acres of irrigated farms and wetlands. In addition to this, the refuge contains 44,300 acres of arid grasslands and foothills of the Chupadera and San Pascual Mountains.  About 30,000 acres of this is designated as wilderness. A twelve-mile-long loop road divided by a cutoff into a "Farm Loop" and "Marsh Loop" allows automobile drivers excellent views of wetland wildlife and raptors, and there are several short (1.5 to 10 miles) walking trails. The road affords good views of the fields where crops are grown for the benefit of the birds under cooperative agreements with farmers. Adjacent to the Visitor's Center, a desert plant garden is maintained.*

Some 377 species of birds have been observed on the refuge since 1940. The wetlands attract the huge flocks of wintering cranes and geese that are the refuge's most interesting feature. Many other species—notably waterfowl, shorebirds  and birds of prey—also winter in the refuge. Striking vagrants such as a groove billed Ani have been found there. In the Chihuahuan desert terrain outside of the Rio Grande riparian zone, the refuge also hosts three federally designated Wilderness areas (Chupadera, Little San Pascual, and Indian Well).*

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Bosque Del Apache Natl Wildlife RefugeThis was my third trip to Bosque Del Apache which is located about 15 miles south of Socorro, New Mexico. I have been there in the spring and late summer but had never made it to see the great migration of Sandhill Cranes and Canadian Snow Geese. Between these two groups of birds there can be as many as twenty to thirty thousand Sandhill Cranes and forty to sixty thousand Snow Geese in different years. This is not counting the huge amounts of other bird types that also migrate to, or make their home in the Bosque Del Apache.

*Portions of the above description taken from Wikipedia