They’re back in force after last night’s snow. They also seem to be in greater numbers. Not only at our feeder but in the trees. And then they all take off on cue; very much like the snow geese at the Bosque. They fly off in one great flock that moves in unison and caws noisily. I counted 136 birds in the flock that left our house.
3 to 4 inches and most has already melted away. Hoping for more or it’ll be a very dry Spring.
While tromping around in the sub-freezing temps and 2 or 3 inches of snow we collected… I watched a band of Piñon Jays fly from the other side of the greenbelt, around and over the house and land on our Piñon tree (of course). I always enjoy watching their ruckus… they really make the Winter months less glum.
2 minutes of the Bosque at sunrise, January 26th, 2022
Shots from our early morning sojourn to see the famous take off. While not as large or as simultaneous as those we’ve seen earlier in the season… It was still fun to see the birds honking in unison as they took off. And of course, another beautiful sunrise.
We visited the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge near Socorro, NM to check out the Winter birds. It’s here that Sandhill Cranes, geese and other birds come to roost for the Winter. Sadly, due to the drought (and also being late in the season) the numbers were way down from our previous visits.
The Bosque was established in 1939; in part, to provide a habitat for the Whooping Cranes (who were close to extinction). In the Spring and Summer, crops that cranes prefer are grown and in the Fall, areas are flooded to provide a safe place for the birds to roost in the Winter. Photographers from all over the world come here to see the famous sunset landings and early morning takeoffs. It’s hard not to take oodles of pictures so more photos to come!
Lots of pinion jays are still stopping by our feed station for a sip n’ seed.
The photo below is of the Memphis garbage collector’s strike in April, 1968. Dr. King’s last speech was at a rally in support of their cause. He was murdered the next day.
The same epithets and paranoia they faced in 1968 are now used against Black Lives Matter. They are savage rioters, criminals and dangerous commies/socialists.
How fearful were folks that they needed tanks and bayonets to menace unarmed men walking single file? How scared are people now, that protests against police violence bring those same tanks and bayonets? And teaching about racism must be outlawed?
Dr. King’s words are more important now than they ever were.
Those who support banning CRT, depriving minorities the right to vote and the so-called “white replacement theory” are every bit as cowardly and evil as their forebears.
And another reason that I’m happy to live in this period is that we have been forced to a point where we are going to have to grapple with the problems that men have been trying to grapple with through history, but the demands didn’t force them to do it. Survival demands that we grapple with them. Men, for years now, have been talking about war and peace. But now, no longer can they just talk about it. It is no longer a choice between violence and nonviolence in this world; it’s nonviolence or nonexistence. That is where we are today.
The Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr.
April 4, 1968
