A couple new friends and Sand Hill Cranes by the thousands

Do you remember our exciting stories of seeing Sand Hill Cranes at the wildlife refuge in Roswell, New Mexico?  Well, neither do we, but today we rectified all that.



Signs at the entrance of Whitewater Draw

Last week we signed up to join a caravan of folks for a trip to Whitewater Draw, a winter resting area for Sand Hill Cranes.

So Joan, who doesn’t much like getting out of bed until 9 a.m., was up and at ‘em early so we could be at the starting point for the trip which was near the office of the park. When we signed up we added our names to a list under a couple who had volunteered to drive.

One of the things we enjoy (as much as getting out of the miserable Michigan winter weather) is meeting new people in our travels. Today was no exception. The couple who volunteered to drive, Randy and Candy were extremely nice and we enjoyed their company for the entire day.

They are from Oregon and are traveling in a fifth wheel just down the street in the park where our trailer is parked.



Joan (and the bonnet) enjoying the bird views

We shared great conversation about travels, work, family and were grateful that for this day at least I didn’t have to drive for once. Unfortunately for Randy, he had just washed his truck and some of the back roads were unimproved and dusty.

The trip out to Whitewater Draw took about an hour and a half, but once we were there we were greeted by the sounds of thousands of Sand Hill Cranes. Many of them had landed in a nearby pond, but clouds of others were still circling or approaching the area from the north.

As most of you know, Joan loves her bird watching and today was very special for her.  If you click on the photos you will see black specks in the sky. Those are all Sand Hill Cranes.


“I have never seen this many big birds in one place,” Joan mentioned as we surveyed the scene of literally thousands of the birds from an observation deck overlooking the pond. The leader of this drive was the same man, Brad, who led the hike on the Arizona Trail last week.

We spent more than a half hour at one observation deck and then moved around the ponds on dirt trails to other concentrations of the birds.



Isn't she pretty with her bonnet?

At one spot, Candy pointed out a large bird hiding in some high weeds and it turned out to be a Bittern. We were supposed to have seen a Bittern at the Roswell wildlife refuge, but didn’t. There was also a large Egret and many varieties of ducks in the pond. A flock of Snow Geese could also be seen flying over.

We enjoyed a healthy lunch with Randy and Candy at a picnic table and they the caravan of five cars left for a stop at Lavender Pit, a former copper mine at Bisbee, Arizona. The stop there was brief, but the 850-foot deep hole in the ground was a testament to a once bustling business in the area.

When we were last here in October 2011 we visited another Bisbee copper mine along with the USS Cogswell reunion group.

We skipped an ice cream stop with the rest of the group and headed back to the RV park. Joan was pretty tired and laid down for a while and I went outside and continued reading my Shaara book in the warm sunshine.

Lavender Pit copper mine near Bisbee

Joan cooked “tube steaks” for dinner and we went for a short walk after dinner. I guess we missed the Inauguration ceremonies today, but I don’t think Joan would trade the experience of seeing so many Sand Hill Cranes in one place.

It rivaled last year’s trip out into the Gulf of Mexico near Corpus Christi, Texas to see the Whooping Cranes.

Tomorrow I am going to try a more strenuous hike  and I think Joan is going to stay home and rest a little. At least I hope so.

If you scroll down from this post you will see some additional photos from today's trip.