Birding in Bosque

Location: Socorro, New Mexico

Bosque del Apache – unless you’re a birder, you’ve probably never heard of it. I don’t remember how we became aware of this National Wildlife Refuge located an hour and a half south of Albuquerque. The best time of the year to visit is from early November to mid-February, so it seemed like a logical place to spend a long weekend for Thanksgiving.

The nearest town is Socorro, and we stayed at the top rated accommodation (the Holiday Inn Express). As it was Thanksgiving weekend, a lot of restaurants were closed so we wound up at Denny’s and the El Camino for a few meals. We were there for the photo ops though, so no big deal.

We had three full days in the area, and all followed this pattern:

• Wake up ridiculously early, hit the McDonald’s drive through for coffee, drive 20 minutes south to the reserve.
• Shoot the morning “fly out”.
  
  
  

• Drive around the reserve until the light got washed out.
  
  
  
  
  

• Get something to eat and then go back to the hotel for a nap.
• Drive back to the park for a few hours of shooting before sunset and the nightly “fly in”.
  
  
  
  
  
  

• Drive back to the hotel and go to sleep early.

If you are into wildlife photography, or birding, Bosque should definitely be on your list.