natural wildlife safari san antonio in december

We would be derelict in our foodie duties if we neglected to highlight an exceptional burger just down the lane from the refuge. The event features myriad ranger talks, photography excursions, hikes and other activities. If you’re lucky enough to visit New Mexico in early December, don’t miss the Festival of the Cranes, a three-day celebration of the refuge’s most famous resident, the Sandhill Crane, with its impressive mating display and shock of red head feathers. Scores of other species, including Mule Deer, bobcats, coyotes, elk and Mountain Lions make their home here. The ecosystem supports more than just birds. You’ll see wild turkeys and fiery colors in fall, Bald Eagles in winter, wildflowers in spring. But really any time is magical in the bosque. The most exciting time to visit is between November and February, when thousands of migratory birds return to wait out the winter. Peer out the picture window and you’re likely to spot quails at the birdfeeder. Learn about the preserve’s more than 340 species of birds – some of which travel more than 3,000 miles from Alaska’s Aleutian Islands to overwinter in the bosque. The visitors’ center is worth a visit after it opens at 9 a.m. You might even spy a herd of elk or a family of funny little javelinas. Listen for the hammering of ladder-backed woodpeckers and the song of the yellow warbler. Farther around the road, visit the Rio Viejo loop, a family-friendly jaunt through Cottonwood forests. If you luck out, you can peer across the partially parched, sandy marsh to catch a glimpse of American Pelicans fishing in deeper waters. Then, as the sun creeps up, head south along the loop road and stop off at The Boardwalk, a raised wooden walkway that wends through towering marsh grasses. If you’re visiting in winter, arrive early – that is, pre-sunrise – to catch the migratory birds’ mass ascension. Whether you’re a birder or a broad-strokes nature enthusiast, Bosque del Apache has a majesty not worth missing.

Dozens of species’ footprints mingling in the sand. A Red-Tailed Hawk alighting on a Cottonwood tree. A troupe of pig-like javelinas scrounging for breakfast. Around every corner, through every hedge, in every field, a new discovery. To visit Bosque del Apache, a world-renowned sanctuary that draws thousands of birding enthusiasts each year from every corner of the globe, is to experience the closest thing in North America to an African safari.

Moments later, as the din subsided, the sun crested the horizon. For a couple glorious minutes, the sky darkened again with the silhouettes of soaring creatures. The moment drew near.Īnd then in a flurry of wings that sounded more like a jet engine, the flocks took to the sky. The sky lightened from gray to pale blue. On one pond’s banks, near a boardwalk aptly named The Flight Deck, dozens of human visitors propped up tripods and affixed footlong lenses to scopes and cameras. The trilling bugle of dozens of massive gray Sandhill Cranes joined the calls of hundreds of Snow Geese in seeming celebration of a reunion many months and miles in the making. The sun had yet to peek above the distant Oscura Mountains, but the otherwise placid ponds of Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge already hummed – or, rather, honked – with activity.

Natural wildlife safari san antonio in december