Full Moon Rising 2010...farm loop, BdA NWR
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Leigh Ann Vradenburg, Executive director Friends of the Bosque del Apache NWR, and John Vradenburg, head biologist are pictured below standing outside the Art Show Tent during the final day of the Festival.
This was a hugely successful Festival - participants and exhibitors were happy, and many visitors to the Refuge were very pleased with the condition of the Refuge- it was perfect! So many were excited by the numbers of wintering birds and great visibility and viewing. People were lined up taking photos at various locations on the refuge, and cranes and geese were close, much to the thrill of the visitors!
We would all like to thank the many tireless and generous volunteers. The Festival absolutely could not have happened without your help! More than 50 volunteers staffed the hospitality tent and the information table at Macey Center in Socorro. More than 30 other volunteers drove vans, fixed meals and worked their hearts out to make this an enjoyable and successful event.
Everyone involved loves and is dedicated to the Refuge, and strives to have visitors feel the same connection to the birds and wildlife and the beautiful and critical habitat!
We are all in this together!
Thanks everyone for a fantastic Festival 2010!
Again, Thank you to our Festival attendees, our wonderful Festival volunteers, our many participants, the great refuge staff, the fine City of Socorro, Friends of the Bosque and everyone who helped and supported us during the popular 23rd Festival of the Cranes 2010!
We could never do this without your help!
© 2010 Sandy Seth (Festival Artist 2010)
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Hawks Aloft Inc. Elizabeth and Chuck (and friend)
HawksAloft.org
Conservation, Avian Research and Education
Albuquerque, NM
a few rare birds seen festival of the cranes
White-tailed kite seen (some say 2) seen near flight deck (today and yesterday)
mountain lion in "face-off" with coyotes (3 reports of this)
bobcat seen several times
surf scoter seen along marsh loop Nov 15, seen by leader of Audubon group from New Jersey
Lorraine McInnes Intrepid Rattlesnake Researcher Bosque del Apache
Services and Donations for Bob Merkel
Services for Bob Merkel, our beloved volunteer will be Tuesday in Socorro,
and the family wishes that donations be made to Friends of the Bosque NWR and Sevilleta NWR in lieu of flowers. With Thanks.
We will miss Bob, and are so grateful for his years of dedication,
and we send love to his family
Sevilleta Natiional Wildlife Refuge Jim and Pat Niner, Volunteers
Jim and Pat have over 4,000 volunteer hours with our
NM sister Refuge, Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge
Wildlife Rescue New Mexico Inc
Patty Elliott and rescue owl
Wildlife Exhibitor at the Festival of the Cranes 2010
Santa fe Raptor Center ambassador
The Center's main focus is the rescue, rehabilitation and release of injured raptors.
www.thesantaferaptorcenter.org
Santa Fe Raptor Center Laura Swartz
Festival Wildlife Exhibitor
Santa Fe Raptor Center Laura Swartz and Great Horned Owl, who, because of shotgun injuries (shocking and sad) is non-releasable. and has joined our group of educational raptors.
Friday, November 19, 2010
official f&w bird count nov 19, 2010
ok..changed from 7000 sandhills to 4777 seems like a lot more though.. 26,500 snow geese,,, 66,738 ducks, 259 canada geese, 3 eagles, 28 hawks & owls. Refuge looks beautiful...a bountiful winter home for our migrating sandhills, geese, ducks and more
Art show textiles and more
Judith Roderick nature painter judith roderick.com
silk scarves shown here
More and more from the Art Show and Fish and Wildlife
showing at the Festival of the Cranes Art Show
Daniel Perry, Outdoor Recreation Planner
Bosque del Apache NWR
Open house begins today at 1:00
RioGrandeCacti.com
Identifying collars for geese - Migration
From John Vradenburg's presentation on snow goose ecology-
Geese we will see at Bosque
Collar colors- origin
Lesser snow goose
RED Warngel Island Russia and la Perouse Bay, Churchill, Manitoba (Hudson Bay)
BLUE Alaska
BLACK Western Canadian Artic (Bank's Island)
YELLOW Central Canadian Arctic (Queen Maude Gulf)
GREEN Eastern Canadian Arctic (Hudson Bay)
Ross's Goose
BLUE (Queen Maude Gulf)
PALE (Quebec Blue- Central Canadian Arctic
YELLOW Eastern Canadian Arctic
Festival is in full swing.. 7,000 sandhills, puffs of snow geese and great workshops
Joel Sartore, photographer for National Geographic and other publications, gave a strong and entertaining keynote His powerful presentation showed all of us- again- how much the natural world matters, how much birds and wildlife matter. His current book, RARE is a gripping portrayal of what we are losing, and his dedication to helping to stop this loss and other losses is appreciated and invaluable. Thank you, Joel.
a friend lost ... a sad day
Bob Merkel, a wonderful man and a great supporter of the Friends, our newsletter editor and corresponding secretary who has devoted much of his time volunteering, has died suddenly. We are all saddened.
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
7,ooo cranes new count tomorrow promised by f&w great snow goose ecology workshop by john vradenburg will have photos tomorrow no wifi here
city of socorro, sponsoring the festival of the cranes along with the refuge and the friends
am heading for festival 12 am from santa fe will report this afternoom
driving past the sandia mountains
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
We've had a report of 2 Mississippi Kites at the Flight Deck.
More Sandhill Cranes are arriving. Snow and cold and fog up north should bring in more cranes a little later this evening.
The Festival is setting up a silent auction here at the Festival with lots of great donated items, the sale of which will support the Emerson Learn Bus Scholarship Endowment Fund. The permanent fund was started in Emerson's memory by the Friends of the Bosque in coordination with the family of G. Emerson Learn III. It provides stipends for New Mexico schools to visit the Refuge.
Encouraging education about the value and beauty of the natural world - birds and wildlife and the habitat which they rely on for survival- is a key goal of the Friends.
Long Lenses Photography- pre Festival workshop with the fun and helpful and talented Jerry Goffe- we will interview him in a few days...
Monday, November 15, 2010
Festival Coordinatior Robyn Harrison (left) and Friends of the Bosque Executive Director Leigh Ann Vradenburg dressed in the fun t-shirts for this years' Festival, featuring the Festival Art and sandhill crane tracks down one arm.
(If you buy anything in the Bosque Nature Store - or the online Bosque Nature Store, the money supports the Friends' great projects in support of our spectacular Refuge.)
OK- first off- the bird count-
There are more birds than reported officially since the count was a while back (the Friends' web site has the official report which is a combination of Nov 5 and Nov 10; and F&W "didn't get a good count.")
Light Geese 19,850
Sandhill Cranes 2,491 (more as of today, Nov 15)
Canada Geese 325
Ducks over 23,000
With good internet access at the Refuge, we'll have a blog you will love (we hope!!)
It won't start the first day because the main blogger is traveling down to the Bosque on Wednesday and getting set up, so the first report will be that afternoon and might be an interview with John Vradenburg about snow geese and his workshop.
This will be the beginning of interviews from the presenters and speakers and updates on the whole Festival from a variety of people..
We'll include photos from the Festival- of people, birds, art and more.
(and some surprises!)
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