Crows swarming over the Rio Grande and bosque this afternoon reminded me of Alfred Hitchcock’s movie “The Birds.” A pair of Sandhill Cranes were trying to land on the river, but they were having a hard time making their way through the swarm of crows. They tried flying through the crows two or three times before the crows thinned out enough for them to land. Each attempt they would start down, zig zag a few times, pull back up and circle around before making another attempt. On one of their circles they got close enough for me to get a clear shot of them above the crows. A flotilla of geese were leisurely floating down the Rio Grand to where they spend the night about a quarter mile from where I was standing. When they saw me on the bank they turned into the current and started treading water, staying in the same spot for some time while they discussed among themselves whether or not is was safe to float on by me. They finally decided to stay in the water and continued on their way, hugging the far bank as they floated past me. A couple of ducks floated down after the geese, but they decided it wasn’t safe to float on by me and took flight.
Off Center & Not Even 
Wow some amazing shots. I would love to see what you could do with the bats around here. They are really cool to watch.
Thanks Rebecca. I would love to get some great bat photos, but bats are very difficult to photograph in flight. Scott Altenbach, retired biology professor at UNM, is the premiere bat photographer (I took biology from him years ago). He developed super high speed flash to photograph bats in flight. Here’s a link to Scott’s bat photos on Google Images (if the link doesn’t work, just google “scott altenbach bat photos”) http://www.google.com/search?q=scott+altenbach+bat+photos&hl=en&tbo=u&tbm=isch&source=univ&sa=X&ei=qBefULitCsbtygHqj4GgDw&ved=0CCsQsAQ&biw=1394&bih=784
Wow He does have some amazing photos.
Beautiful images, as always.
Friday afternoon it was sunny here, and my mom and I decided to go to the Open Space area on that side of town. We both agreed we would be ready to go in 30 minutes. By the time I got to my mom’s to pick her up, it was raining and there were very dark clouds over on your side of town. Another day. . .
These pics are fabulous.
Even though the rain messed up your plans for a nice outing, we really needed it. Let’s see if we really get the snow they are forecasting for tonight.
I totally agree about the need for rain (or snow). It is now Sunday morning, it is 25 F on my back porch, and not a cloud in the sky. I know there will be a day in the coming week when we can go. If it had not actually been raining, we would have liked the cloud cover because we thought it more likely the cranes would be feeding in the corn field. But I’m really enjoying these bird pics of yours, because I was ready to try to photograph birds, and then didn’t. Again, these pics of yours are just wonderful.
It’s 20 F and sunny. My weather widget still shows cloudy with a high of 43 for today.
It was really cold and windy up here (I think it made it to 37 F) today, but I am hoping for some better outdoor-even-if-bundled-up weather later in the week. But, it was COLD all day today!