Description

Sandhill Cranes, Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, San Antonio, New Mexico

More than ten thousand Sandhills winter at this refuge in mid-New Mexico, along the Rio Grande. They fly out early in the morning to feed in corn fields and other locations, but return each evening to roost in shallow water ponds. In March they head north, often stopping in Nebraska along the Platte River, before continuing into the arctic and sub-arctic to breed.