Sunday, November 16, 2008

Preparing for the Festival of the Cranes


You've all been involved in some kind of activity leading up to a festival or large event. There's usually all kinds of feverish preparation. Everyone does their part to make the big occurrence go well. There are meetings and publications and a great deal of planning and organizing. That's the picture at the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge and surrounding community currently. The Festival of the Cranes begins in a few days and will bring thousands more bird watchers to town. The Sandhill Cranes, snow geese and numerous brands of ducks and other birds are fully cooperating as well. They have gathered in this welcoming spot and will provide the main attraction. It's a wonder to watch.

(Photo by Carl Piesch as seen on www.birdersworld.com)



We volunteers are ready and willing to do our part as we sign up for various duties during the Festival, working alongside the Bosque fulltime employees. We take our turns at assignments ranging from tent setup and parking duty, to fee booth and tour guides. There are six days packed with tours, workshops, speakers, exhibits, etc. Topics cover a vast area, not just the migrating feathered friends. Some of the most popular are Sandhill Crane Behavior, The Fly In and Fly Out and Digital Photography. But there are also topics related to geology of the area, Rio Grande cacti, a Trinity Site tour and Field Guide to Duck Butts. It will be an interesting week.
I'll check back in a few days, after the dust has settled.


More infor on: http://www.friendsofthebosque.org/crane/

3 comments:

  1. Sounds very interesting. Bet you guys have been a huge part of it.
    c&J

    ReplyDelete
  2. A field guide to Duck Butts??? What is that, or should I ask?

    Hugs, Sharon & Ron

    ReplyDelete

Hi: Thanks for your thoughts.