inland seahorses

Trip to Bosque del Apache

My sister and I went to see the cranes.
First we had to get our ducks in a row.

She thought there wouldn't be any cranes around.
Then we spotted these, and I said "See?"
She replied "Three?"with the utmost disdain.

We saw thousands of snow geese.

Just three? No, there were plenty more.

The cranes, Boss, the cranes!

We were lucky to spot a field with geese.
As we walked farther south, we saw the cranes flying in.

My sister was greatly impressed.
"I didn't realize they were so big."

Many, many more cranes...we saw enough to satisfy the most demanding crane aficionado.

They just kept coming.

Other birds

You can tell I was much better focused on the cranes.
Here are some Canada geese --

some poule d'eau, or coots as I've heard them called here,

...an unidentified bird in the bush...

and a roadrunner that gave us a great show for the grand finale.

Sunflowers

at the end of their season, taken fairly early Sunday morning
at the Blackstone in Truth or Consequences