While the 30,000 spectacular Snow Geese are, without doubt, in charge of the spectacle at the Festival of the Cranes at Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge each year in November…with their mass panics that fill the air with swirling geese, and their dawn and dusk fly-outs and fly-ins against the sunrise and the sunset…it is still the Festival of Cranes.

The title dates back, in part, to the 1980s abortive attempt to reintroduce Whooping Cranes by fostering them on the flock of Sandhills that make Bosque their winter home. It was a grand experiment, at time when environmentalist needed some reason to hope. It garnered more than its fair share of attention, and inspired the first Festival of the Cranes. The experiment floundered when the Whooping Crane colts grew to breeding age, and it was evident they thought they were Sandhills. Still, there were some exciting years there as the Woopers grew up among the Bosque Sandhills. The last hybrid Wooper/Sandhill failed to return to the refuge many years ago.

And yet, it remains the Festival of the Cranes. Between 7 and 14,000 Sandhill Cranes do make an impression. They are magnificent birds. Larger than you expect, always, in every situation, surprisingly graceful, and endlessly interesting to watch as they feed and interact.

Even though fall is not breeding season, there are always some young males trying out their confrontational skills in November.

At Bosque, during the Festival of the Cranes, the Refuge management has learned to put on a good show for the tourists (FofC is the largest single contribution to the local economy each year, with some $2 million in revenue for local hotels and restaurants and the Refuge itself). They hold the fields by the viewing platforms on the back side of the tour loop dry until the Friday night of the Festival, so they are fresh flooded in the morning on Saturday. The flooded fields are full of Snow Geese, ducks, and Cranes, all feeding together right below the platforms. It is that kind of view that keeps people from all over the country coming back to Bosque in November every year.

They also maintain the viewing areas along New Mexico Route 1, just inside the Refuge, by the shallow ponds where the Cranes gather in thousands for the night. The Cranes come in early, while it is still light, and leave late in the morning, well after sunrise, so they are show of their own both before and after the spectacle of the geese.

And so it remains The Festival of the Cranes.