What About Bosque?

Homer Late Registration Discounts

If you are at all interested in traveling to Homer with me in FEB/MAR 2023 to photograph Bald Eagles, shoot me an e-mail for late registration discount info.

San Diego IPT Late Registration Discounts

If you are at all interested in traveling to San Diego to improve your photography and enjoy the phenomenal Brown Pelican photography this month, please shoot me an e-mail for late registration discount info.

What’s Up?

I photographed for three hours in a light drizzle on Wednesday morning. Though not as productive as most of my mornings have been, I created more than 2,000 images including many superb flight sequences, most of those made when things brightened up at about 10:00am.

Today is Thursday 5 January 2023. The week long prediction of “rain all day” has fizzled. They are now predicting partly cloudy skies from sunrise till about 11:00am. Much better. This blog post took about 90 minutes to prepare and makes two hundred eighty-three days in a row with a new, educational post just for you. Wherever you are and whatever you are doing, I hope that you too have a great day.

My plan is to continue to post every day until the streak reaches one year and then go back to posting every other day.

Please remember to use the B&H and Amazon links that are found on most blog pages and to use the BIRDSASART discount code at checkout when purchasing your new gear from Bedfords to get 3% back on your credit card and enjoy free second-day air FedEx. Please, also, consider joining a BAA IPT. You will be amazed at how much you will learn!

You can find some great photo accessories (and necessities, like surf booties!) on Amazon by clicking on the Stuff tab on the orange/yellow menu bar above. On a related note, it would be extremely helpful if blog-folks who, like me, spend too much money on Amazon, would get in the habit of clicking on the Amazon logo link on the right side of each blog post when they shop online. As you might expect, doing so will not cost you a single penny, but would be appreciated tremendously by yours truly. And doing so, works seamlessly with your Amazon Prime account.

Please remember that if an item — a Delkin flash card, or a tripod head — for example, that is available from B&H and/or Bedfords, is also available in the BAA Online Store, it would be great, and greatly appreciated, if you would opt to purchase from us. We will match any price. Please remember also to use my B&H affiliate links or to earn 3% cash back at Bedfords by using the BIRDSASART discount code at checkout for your major gear purchases. Doing either often earns you free guides and/or discounts. And always earns my great appreciation.

Induro GIT 304L Tripod

Out of production for more than two years, BAA just sold its last one. The good news? We have located two more new-in-the-box tripods. They will be available for shipping at the end of January. Best to order yours now to be sure that you get one. We will not run your card until your item ships. The 304L was my go-to tripod for more than a decade. Best to grab order yours right now to avoid being disappointed.

What About Bosque?

For the past few years, folks often ask, “How is Bosque doing?” The answer, unfortunately, is “Not well.”

I first visited the refuge less than two weeks after the death of my beloved wife Elaine Belsky Morris in late-November 1994. Using Fuji Velvia pushed one stop, I created two BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year honored images, “Blizzard in Blue” and “Fire in the Mist.” The latter was wrap-around cover art for “Light on the Earth,” a collection of the best winning images from two decades of this prestigious contest.

Over the next decade and a half, Bosque became one of my soul places. I reveled in the magic of glorious sunrises and sunsets and skies and pools full of Sandhill Cranes and Snow and Ross’s geese.

Phil Norton, a soft-spoken, gentle man, skillfully managed the refuge for 14 years, from 1986 to 2000. He managed for the birds, for the visitors, and for the huge numbers of photographers who visited each year during late fall and winter. He understood and brilliantly managed the web of habitat, water, and vegetation to attract the many tens of thousands of geese and cranes that visited each season. His relationships with the local farmers and the cooperative farming program that he instituted at the refuge ensured an ample supply of corn and other grains for the ravenous avian winter visitors. All that food led to blastoffs and blastoffs and more blastoffs.

Phil founded the Festival of the Cranes that served as the blueprint for the now hundreds of annual birding festivals in the US. And he formed the first volunteer program where skilled folks worked their butts off for a motor home hook-up and a thank you from Phil. That program also served as a model for the refuge system.

Today at the refuge there is little food for the birds, and thus, very few birds.

I received this e-mail from David Policanksy on 27 December:

Hi, Artie. I went to Bosque today; partly cloudy, mid-50s, south-south-west wind about 15, less later. Lots of water including at the crane pool, and bth routes to the north are open. The birds weren’t concentrated or flying where it was easy to photograph them, but I got a few images I liked. Lots and lots of great-tailed grackles wading in shallow water, which I don’t remember seeing before, and an ibis, glossy or white-faced, likely immature so I don’t know which. I’ve never seen an ibis there before.

With love, Dr Fish

An e-mail conversation with Alistair Montgomery

BAA: Hi Alistair,

Re:

Alistair: Do you have an update on Bosque del Apache NWR bird photography?

BAA: I understand from others that there are very few birds.

Alistair: I understand from refuge publications on the internet that several changes including constructing levies and new ditches have been made to cope with the drought and optimize food supply.

BAA: There are few cranes and almost no geese this year. The mis-management plan has succeeded. They have completely ruined one of the crown jewels of the NWR system.

Alistair: Do you still run IPTs there?

AM: No sir.

Alistair: Happy new year and thanks! Alistair Montgomery

AM: Thank you, and ditto.

With love, artie

I copied Phil Norton on my reply to Alistair and received the e-mail below from my old friend. It is reprinted here with his permission.

Arthur, I have been watching Bosque become a shadow of its former self. When I go to the refuge, I always leave upset. There have been issues for sure. Water, COVID, and staffing for example. But when I look at what is happening, I consider it to be a result of incompetence and apathy. It’s hard to watch. I would be happy to visit with you if you would like to discuss things in more depth. Phil

Bosque Though the Years with Phil Norton

In this 51-minute video, Phil Norton, the former refuge manager at Bosque del Apache NWR, shares the history of the refuge through his eyes. When he left the refuge, things went downhill fast. In 2019, when I interviewed him, things were looking up. Since then the refuge, once the crown jewel of the NWR system, has gone completely into the tank. Phil talks frankly about the good and the bad. Everyone who has ever visited the refuge will appreciate the backstory.

Since his retirement for the NWR system, Phil has run a Bed and Breakfast in the tiny town of San Antonio, NM with his partner Phoebe — the self-described love of his life. In his spare time, he is an avid bowl turner, working on a lathe in his workshop out back. Phil and Phoebe will be closing the doors of Casa Blanca B & B at the end of this season. Join me in thanking Phil for all those great years at Bosque and in wishing him a long, happy, and healthy retirement.

Fire in the Mist: Light on the Earth wrap-around cover art

Light on the Earth

Quite a while back I received an e-mail informing me that one of my images, “Fire in the Mist,” had been chosen for inclusion in the book, “Light on the Earth,” a compilation of twenty years of the best winning and commended images in the BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition. I was thrilled of course, but a bit disappointed that only one of my five (at that time) commended images had been chosen. What can I say? I am greedy. As I read on, I was quite a bit more thrilled when I learned that “Fire in the Mist” would not only appear in the book but would be used as cover art, gracing the wrap-around dust jacket. The book, which features 170 images, is–at 224 pages and just under five pounds–a large one by any standards. The images are of course for the most part breath-taking (though I would disagree with a few of the choices…) In addition to the images, there are essays by some of the world’s premier photographic artists including one of my idols, Jim Brandenburg.

We have a limited number of signed copies available. The book will be signed on page 35 where “Fire in the Mist” appears. If you would like me to personalize the book, please let us know when you order and I shall do so on the title plate. If you request a personalized copy and I am on the road, your order will be shipped when I return home.

Typos

With all blog posts, feel free to e-mail or to leave a comment regarding any typos or errors.