November 24, 2011

White Dog and the White Dog Army shared the blueberry pancakes and pork sausage that Steve cooked up for our Thanksgiving breakfast. "Eat hearty, White Dogs," Steve said slipping another pancake on Yo's empty plate. "We are going to the Bosque del Apache today and it will be a long time until lunch!"

The Bosque del Apache is a huge bird and wildlife refuge about 100 miles south of our home. It is the winter over for thousands of snow geese and sand hill cranes. The refuge provides sanctuary to many of the world's remaining whooping cranes and bald eagles. It is an engineering marvel in that the Rio Grande has been diverted to create marshlands and farm areas and scrub forest habit for these species and others. There are miles of walking trails, observation decks, blinds...and wildlife photographers come from all over the world this time of year to capture the scene.

So this is how we spent our Thanksgiving Day:

Apologies for a lack of a telephoto lens but each of those lumps stretching across the screen about 2/3 way up is a sandhill crane. At this point the White Dog Army realized that if they all focused on a single bird together that they could, as a pack, perhaps actually score some jerky on the claw...it was awesome to see the idea dawn and spread as the pack began repositioning itself and communicating differently. When they all started the ears back crouch, we wisely decided to head back to the car to seek a different area...the fines for hunting are fierce.


We visited the snow geese and then walked back to Pumpkin for a more refined picnic meal of turkey sandwiches, veggies straws, cheese, duck jerky (Of course!)and pumpkin pie. Sated and tired, the WDA napped as Steve (who SO wanted to join them) navigated us home.

We hope your Thanksgiving provided opportunities for a walk in the sunshine, a reason to smile, a bird of your own, loved ones to share the day with...and lots of reasons to be thankful.