Bosque Del Apache, Dec 2012

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We arrived at the pond near the "Flight Deck" around 6:45 AM. These cranes look like they are trying to sleep in.

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Snow Geese gathering. There were perhaps a few thousand on the pond in front of us, with more coming and going over the next 20 min or so.

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Snow Geese and Cranes milling about, about 15 min before sunrise.

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Starting to have enough light to actually see the birds, not just silhouettes.

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Still more Snow Geese arriving. The Refuge estimates about 35,000 of them are wintering at Bosque this year.

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Bottoms up!

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Here are the Snow Geese massing on the pond.

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Looks like the Cranes are beginning to wake up, too.

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A lone Sandhill Crane out for its early morning walk.

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Some of the Geese are stretching their wings.

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Some late arriving Geese

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Snow Geese, looking very stately in flight

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Who's in charge here, anyway?

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A couple of Mallards searching for food

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And kick!

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Cranes and Geese

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Mass flights of Snow Geese coming in

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Just a few seconds before sunrise-7:09 AM, and all is calm.

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Blast off! About 15 sec later, the ponds erupted as thousands of Snow Geese flew off for a day of foraging, just as the sun rose over the mountains.

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Takes a while-but not too long-for this many birds to clear the pond.

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About 10-15 seconds, and they are already clearing the area.

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Thirty seconds later virtually all of the Geese are in flight.

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Less than 40 seconds after the Snow Geese began flying they are gone, leaving the Sandhill Cranes to enjoy sunrise in peace and quiet.