Today started out with a big blast and ended with a real dud.
It was back to Bosque Del Apache for the morning Snow Geese 'blast-off'. Yesterday I barely got there on time today I was really early. I wanted to get a broad view of the geese so had on my 24-105mm. The geese were some distance from us and spread out quite a bit so I could get a wide view and still zoom in a little.
It is such a rush when they take flight. The blast-off starts at one end with a loud racket and quickly spreads to the whole flock. It's followed by this eerie silence. I even thought about spending one more night just to see this again but there will be other opportunities in the future.
I decided to head over to the farm area to see if the Snow Geese had landed close to the road. Upon arriving there was a nice flock not far from the road. A few years back when I first came to Bosque there was a flock of geese right next to the road. They would blast off over and over flying back to the same place. This is something I didn't see 2 years ago but was hoping for it this year. So I thought this group might provide that spectacle. As I waited they kept flying away in small groups. I'd seen this behavior before. It meant no blast off. But I did notice a number of large groups off in the distance blasting off over and over. Hoping that they would eventually work their way over to us I went back to a spot closer to them.
I got my camera ready then had some cereal for breakfast waiting patiently. While I was waiting the Sandhills were returning to the fields. There were some good opportunities to shoot them flying overhead. Eventually my patience wore out and I had to leave. In the end it was a fun morning.
Last night I decided that I would mix things up a bit and head over to Santa Fe and check out some of the history there. After a night or two there I'll drive the High Road to Taos and spend a night in Taos before heading home. Well that's the plan but my plans have changes quickly so we'll see how this one plays out.
On the way to Santa Fe I decided to take in Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument. Last night I looked Tent Rocks up to get GPS coordinates so my Nav could get me there. After passing thru Albuquerque I exited I-25 on to US 550. After 20 miles NM4 headed to the right for the last 26 miles. Once I reached my destination I knew something was wrong. This wasn't where Tent Rocks were. In fact there was a mountain between me and the monument. It was 3pm and the sun sets a little after 5pm and I was determined to get there.
So after figuring out went wrong I backtracked the 50 miles to the interstate and headed north another 16 miles to the correct off ramp. Ah. there's a sign pointing to Tent Rocks. I followed NM22 for about 10 miles to a left turn toward Cochiti Pueblo. I went thru the pueblo and drove about 5 miles to a remote village. I knew this was not the way to the monument so I did a quick u-turn. Well as it turned out there was a sign to the monument just after entering Cochiti Pueblo that I'd missed. Finally I'd found it but when I drove up to the entrance it was closed. I'd been thinking of heading over there in the morning since it is just 40 miles from the Motel 6. What I wasn't expecting was the big 'NO DOGS' sign. Sure enough no dogs are allowed in the monument. Their site mentions some sort of human safety concern. HMMM, that's weird. Guess what I won't be doing tomorrow and no pictures, sorry.
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| San Ysidro Catholic Church |
So it was off to Santa Fe and the Motel 6 and what a nice Motel 6 this is. Tomorrow Thule and I will be walking the streets of old Santa Fe.
Roger
(-:)
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