Cranes, drains, and automobiles

Dec. 1—The migratory, majestic sandhill cranes have been wintering in the Rio Grande Valley for millennia, but these days, they do it with a little help from their friends at Bosque del Apache Wildlife Refuge.

The 57,331-acre refuge will hold its 34th annual Festival of the Cranes December 6-9, and park ranger Amanda Walker says preparations for the arrival of the big birds and other waterfowl began in early September.

Those preparations include mowing some of the fields while flooding others and providing food sources and rest stops for the 8,000 red-topped cranes that stand four feet tall with a wingspan of six feet. The refuge has also been clearing roadways for the thousands of people who will flock to the bosque to see big birds and other wildlife. The preparations are a massive undertaking for one of the state's most popular tourist attractions of the year.

"Bosque del Apache manages this land that falls within the historic flood plain of the Rio Grande as if the river still ran wild," Walker says. "When the river ran wild, it created some of these seasonal wetlands. As birds were moving from breeding grounds in the north to the south in fall and winter, they would search out these open fields to feed or rest in. We create those fields and wetlands with human help now, using channels and ditches and water control structures to replicate what the historic wild river would've done."

The Friends of Bosque del Apache, a nonprofit established to support the refuge, estimates that 80 percent of Rocky Mountain sandhill cranes winter in the Rio Grande Valley. That means a peak of about 8,000 giant birds; the sandhill cranes that visit the refuge start trickling in by late September or early October and reach their highest numbers in December.

The birds winter there into February before departing, and the refuge's visitor population peaks at the same time as the cranes. For Deb Caldwell, executive director of Friends of Bosque of Apache, it's not hard to understand why.

"Bosque del Apache really has wonderful birds in every season," Caldwell says of the refuge, citing multiple species of ducks and geese and eagles among them. "But cranes are very large birds. We call them charismatic megafauna. They have a big wingspan and even if you're not very good at spotting birds, you can definitely see cranes."

Every year, the festival — and the presence of the cranes — inspires so many artists that the Friends of Bosque del Apache created a popular art contest around it. The winning image is used on the festival's posters, apparel, and other materials, and the winning artist earns an opportunity to sell their work during the Festival of the Cranes.

This year, the festival will encompass about 70 events, some of them taking place in the fields at the refuge and others in classrooms at New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology in Socorro. Some are artistic events such as photography seminars while others will be educational.

Some of those educational presentations will feature Mostafa Hassanalian, who gained international renown for his drones made out of a taxidermy bird specimen. Hassanalian, an associate professor of mechanical engineering at New Mexico Tech, will lead a presentation on biomimicry in birds and butterflies and another on formation flight of migratory birds.

Nearly one third of the events on the festival docket are free — which Caldwell says is by design. The Friends organization's goal is to make the festival inclusive and affordable for birders of all backgrounds.

"We try to break even but really the festival is to celebrate wildlife," she says. "It's to celebrate the refuge, and it's to make new friends. We say it's friend-making or friend-raising more than fundraising. We try to price our workshops reasonably so that nobody is priced out."

While the grounds of Bosque del Apache are defined as wetlands, visitors don't have to get their feet wet. The refuge offers 10 to 12 miles of driving loops where visitors can meander and stop at their leisure to appreciate the bounty of nature around them (and a variety of hiking trails too). Walker says the wintering population of sandhill cranes seems to be stable; the only change biologists have noted about the cranes is that they're arriving a little later. The Festival of the Cranes used to be held around Thanksgiving, but now it's held in December.

"They're influenced by factors that aren't within their control or within our control, and that has to do with food and water resources," Walker says. "When food or water become less available wherever they are along their flyway, they start to move to stopover sites or overwintering sites. Over the last eight to 10 years, it seems to be a day or two later, and that's one of the reasons the festival moved to December. When we're welcoming cranes back to the Rio Grande Valley, we want to make sure there's cranes here."

details

Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge is located at 1001 State Highway 1 in San Antonio, New Mexico, 158 miles south of Santa Fe. The Festival of the Cranes is Wednesday, December 6, through December 9 and is held at the refuge and at Macey Hall at the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, located at 801 Leroy Place in Socorro.

For Socorro (located about 18 miles north of Bosque del Apache) hotel and camping information, visit socorronm.org. There's no camping in the wildlife refuge. In San Antonio, which is 10 miles north of the bosque, services are limited, but the small town is home to two of the state's best and most longstanding green chile cheeseburger destinations: The Owl Bar and Café (sanantonioowl.com) and the Buckhorn Tavern (buckhornburgers.com). Both serve top-notch burgers, so visitors should try both to make up their own mind about which rises to the top.

Some events during the Festival of the Cranes require registration. The refuge Tour Loop is open daily, one hour before sunrise and one hour after sunset. The entrance fee is $5 for the day (cash; there's no ATM at the refuge); the Bosque del Apache annual pass is $15.

For information about Bosque del Apache or the festival, visit fws.gov/refuge/bosque-del-apache or friendsofbosquedelapache.org.