Lst week, I finally made a trip I have been wanting for several years. I visited the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge in central New Mexico.

It was a long drive there and back from my home in southern Nevada but was well worth the trip.

I saw and photographed many snadhill cranes, snow geese, and other birds. I have posted a photo essay on the trip at

http://www.worldisround.com/articles/349650/index.html.

I hope you enjoy them.

I have no idea where you were, but the pictures were awesome. thanks for sharing.

Sorry. Bosque del Apache is a wetland along the Rio Grande river about 15 miles southeast of Socorro NM and about 140 miles south of Albuquerque.

Fantastic pictures dwooddon, you always seem to take the most interesting trips! I enjoyed your pictures indeed.

We saw the first bald eagle of the season at Bosque del Apache a few years ago - a thrill for my kids.

Thanks for posting the link, dwooddon! Your pictures are wonderful.

Lee Ann

We have only been once, a few years back but the evening fly in was breathtaking!

Great pictures, I can't imagine how you were lucky enough to capture all the different birds you saw!

I need to hunt up my pictures, now that I think of it.

Deb

Hi

The pictures of the harris hawk and the peregrine falcon - were they taken during the raptor photography session on Thursday?

Pamela

Yes they were but the sessions were on Wednesday, if that matters. Were you in the seminar?

Outstanding!

Hi

We went to the raptor photography session on Thursday morning. It was really windy which actually was very good for photographing the birds. My husband got some really nice shots with his Nikon D60 and I even got a few good ones with a point and shoot non-SLR digital camera (oh how I hate that delay - I have many more pictures with partial / no bird)

I really enjoyed viewing your photo essay. Thanks for posting it.

Pamela

Pamela - it sounds as if we were at seaparate events. I was attending a Canon long lens photo seminar at the Refuge and we had the raptors on Wednesday morning and afternoon. In the monring, we went out in the fields a few miles east of the refuge and a falconer flew several of his birds for us. That's where I got all the flying shots and shots of those three birds in the brush and on the ground.

In the afternoon, the raptor rehabilitation center from Albuquerque brought several birds and we were able to photograph them on the visitor center grounds and in our seminar room. Those were the birds on the cactus plant and indoors.

It was a good seminar. I learned a lot about long distance photography and we had the added advantage of working closely with the captive birds.