Spring Migrations Celebration

Thursday with Cindy Robbins and Nancy Meyers · One Time Only Learn the fundamentals of nature journaling and discover a personal practice to record your experience in nature using pictures, drawings, words, maps, and numbers, while honing your observational skills and appreciation of nature in the process. The workshop will cover what nature journaling is, the benefits of nature journaling, techniques for expressing your experience in meaningful ways, and how to overcome your resistance to drawing. No skill or experience is required to participate, and you do not need to be an artist! Participants will create a nature journal page from photographs we will provide to record experiences at Spring Migration Celebration. The session will end with a discussion of supplies and resources for continuing your practice. This is an indoor workshop. A kit with all the supplies you will need to get started is included with your registration.

Thursday with Natalie Sanford · One Time Only Join the US Fish and Wildlife Service's Cultural Resources staff to learn about the magnificent archaeological resources and historical Civilian Conservation Corp structures that make up the cultural landscapes of Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge. Since time immemorial, this place has attracted wildlife, hunters, gatherers, farmers, and recreationalists alike, all centered on the life source of central New Mexico — the Rio Grande. Travel back in time with archaeologists to learn about these significant cultural landscapes, which teach us about the past and the present. Photo by Tom Leith.

Thursday with Mostafa Hassanalian · One Time Only Although many birds do not migrate, migratory birds perform either solo migration or fly in groups. For birds, flying together may be more efficient than solo flight. Flocking in migrating birds may offer a variety of advantages, such as greater area coverage, lower workloads, higher endurance, more resistance to predators, and less drag. Also, in flocking flight there may be a smaller probability of a bird losing its way during migration, considering the bird's age, experience, leadership, and social network traits. Flocking is the complex, collective, flexible, coordinated, and self-organized behavior of a group of birds that migrate together. Formation flight may have aerodynamic advantages for large birds, such as geese. Drag reduction would be an advantage in migration. Flocking and formation flight are possibly effective drag reduction approaches. Photo by Wayne Lea

Thursday with Cindy Robbins and Nancy Meyers · One Time Only Sit-spotting is a calming, peaceful approach to nature journaling that helps to focus attention, open the senses, deepen a connection with nature, and improve observation skills as preparation for recording experiences in a nature journal. Participants will board a shuttle at the Visitor Center and travel to a selected location within the refuge to spend our time journaling in nature. After a brief presentation of the sit-spotting process, participants will disperse around the location to find a space to apply this approach and create a nature journal page(s) of their experience at Bosque del Apache. This is an outdoor workshop; please dress appropriately. Chairs or stools will be provided. A kit with all the supplies you will need to participate is included with your registration.

Thursday with Chris Wiese and Scott Hillard · One Time Only Join tortoise biologists Chris Wiese and Scott Hillard (Senior Biologists with the Turner Endangered Species Fund) as they share how they study, what they've learned, and how you can help secure a future for the Bolson Tortoise, an iconic Chihuahuan Desert herbivore that is at the brink of extinction in the wild. The Bolson Tortoise is the largest and rarest tortoise in North America, and with only about 2,500 left in the wild, these gentle giants — who can live to over 80 years old and weigh as much as a medium-sized dog — are in need of our help. Young tortoises (nicknamed 'tortellinis') face dangers from just about every predator in the desert, from ants all the way up to mountain lions, while the main threats to older tortoises are changes to their environment and habitat loss. The good news is that dedicated conservationists have been working for nearly two decades to breed and release tortoises into the wild right here in New Mexico.

Friday with Max Havelka · One Time Only · The basking hours Spend the morning observing the spectacular turtles of Bosque del Apache. Six turtle species are known to occur at the refuge, and this region has some of the greatest turtle diversity in the Southwest. On this field trip, participants will learn to identify native turtle species and gain an understanding of their behavior and natural history, while exploring the reasons why these wonderful creatures are important to the riparian ecosystem of central New Mexico. Accompanied by a turtle biologist guide, we will train our binoculars and camera lenses toward basking sites along the many waterways of the refuge, attempting to capture these elusive species before they disappear into the water. In New Mexico, water is life (agua es vida), and these aquatic reptiles exemplify this mantra. Join us for a new experience at the refuge, in search of these ancient and fascinating creatures. Photo by Birgit Davidson.

Friday with Alex Harper and Holly Merker · One Time Only The Magdalena Mountains just outside of Socorro boast an incredible diversity of birds, with scenery providing an array of vibrant sensory experiences. The bubbling streams and lush pine mountain landscapes of Water Canyon National Forest are home to some of New Mexico's rarer montane nesting birds, including the highly sought after Red-faced Warbler. Along the trails, we'll have an opportunity to see a variety of birdlife, coupled with majestic views and better understanding hydro-scape and the important role these mountains play in the ecological health of the Rio Grande, which feeds directly into Bosque del Apache. Photo by Holly Merker.

Friday with Don Boyd and Mireille McNabb · One Time Only Poet Archibald MacLeish said "that a poem should not mean/but be." Join our group as we spend time together on a refuge trail sharing one or more nature-inspired poems with each other, reading aloud and sharing the being of poetry. Come prepared with a poem to share, which can be one of yours or a favorite from another writer. Come ready to take in refuge air, listen to birds, let everything else go, relax and enjoy the company of others who, like you, just want to explore and celebrate the joyful, soulful and playful nature of words and poetry. Photo by Pam Dorner

Friday with Cari Powell · One Time Only The Friends of Bosque del Apache has teamed up with refuge staff and the River for Monarchs project headed by the Institute for Applied Ecology to restore twelve acres of habitat to support monarch butterflies and other native pollinators. Join Pollinator Habitat Enhancement Project Manager, Cari Powell, for an overview of this exciting restoration project, now in its third year, on the refuge! Plants are the basis of any pollinator-friendly habit, and in this seminar, we'll review the history of the project, plans for the site, as well as how and why we decided on which plants to use. The presentation will conclude with steps you can take to benefit butterflies and other pollinators in your backyard! Photo by Jerry Perez

Friday with Max Havelka · One Time Only Central New Mexico is lizard country — home to some of the greatest lizard diversity in the United States. In New Mexico, lizards are our friends and neighbors, but what are they up to and why are they in such a hurry? Join us and explore the fascinating world of lizards along the desert trails of Bosque del Apache. Shift your binoculars perspective to the desert sands and rocks as we learn to identify the many lizard species of the region. With a herpetologist guide, we will explore the fascinating gender-bending reproductive biology of these icons of the Southwest. From the apex predators of the lizard world to the spectacularly colorful species that roam the boulder and rock-strewn desert landscapes, displaying their colors for the keen-eyed to see. Get to know these wonderfully beautiful creatures up close as we use bird watching skills and methods to observe and identify the lizards of Bosque del Apache. Photo by Max Havelka.

Migration Magic Saturday with Alex Harper These field trips will focus on seeking out which birds have dropped in for a refuel and recharge. This trip will guide participants around the refuge to seek out birds in various habitats, and will include a focus on songbirds, but will also highlight any lingering waterfowl, wading birds, shorebirds, gulls, and more! Experience yellow warblers zipping over in "morning flight", notice vermillion flycatchers as they claim nesting territories, listen to the sounds of joyous songbirds as they herald spring and new beginnings. Photo by Mike Endres.

Saturday with Holly Merker · One Time Only Immerse yourself in the breathtaking landscapes of Bosque del Apache NWR while sharpening your birding skills by sight and sound. This spring-focused session blends skill-building with joy, as we explore the refuge in search of migratory warblers, shorebirds, wading birds, sparrows, flycatchers, and more. We'll cover birding-by-ear techniques, field identification strategies, optimizing your optics, and smart app use — helping you grow both your confidence and your species list. Leave with practical tools you can apply wherever your birding journey takes you and experience the transformative magic of learning birds together in one of the nation's most scenic wildlife refuges. Photo by Steve Aicinena.

Saturday with Holly Merker · One Time Only This style of birding embraces an easy and relaxed pace, allowing more time to linger and get to know birds. For this trip, we'll be less focused on quick identifications and species tally and more focused on incorporating techniques to invite relaxation and enhanced awareness, fostering a more receptive learning environment. We'll still see a lot of birds, but the focus for this program shifts to deepening our understanding of birds and habitats through a hands-on learning experience, enjoying the wellness benefits of nature, and sharing the joy with others. Photo by Pam Dorner.

Saturday with Alex Harper · One Time Only In this workshop, we will spend time indoors and outdoors. We'll put into practice some of what we learn in class by then listening to the birds around Bosque del Apache. Your instructor will share personal tips and offer hands-on techniques for learning some basics of the language of birds, all of which you can apply wherever your birding journeys take you. Some of the goals of this program are to heighten your listening skills and teach you techniques to learn new species, while becoming less reliant on the Merlin App for ID. Photo by Jonathan Dowell.

Saturday with Holly Merker Like a good movie or tv show, watching birds can distract us from what's going on in our own lives, providing entertainment but also a mental recharge from our own hectic worlds. Observing bird behaviors and patterns can give us some of the best keys to unlocking the secrets to identification and help us acquire and quicken skills used by all birding experts. During this field trip, Bosque del Apache sets the stage for front-row viewing of dynamic behaviors of birds as we explore and learn together, adding new tools to our bird ID toolkits. Photo by Danny Hancock.

Saturday with Alex Harper · One Time Only How much time have you spent watching a small bird move through thick foliage? Do this long enough, and you'll notice that these small birds all do the most mundane things in their own ways. We see that kinglets hover-glean; wrens explore the nooks and crannies; vireos exercise patience; and orange-crowned warblers forage at a far slower pace than Wilson's warblers. This class is about observation at that level of detail. We will spend time watching the various ways that these birds survive in this world. This is about learning to observe the ways each species has learned to set itself apart from seemingly similar birds. It may change the way you look at the "little brown birds" in your backyard for good! Photo by Richard Eltrich.

Saturday with Friends Staff and Board and Keynote Mark Seth Lender · One Time Only Join us at the Socorro Convention Center for our annual gathering — hear State of the Refuge, State of the Friends, and Financial Reports, followed by our keynote presentation. Heavy appetizers served before the Friends portion of the meeting. Keynote Presentation When Birds Migrated to the Moon Frances Godwin, Bishop of Hereford, was a pillar of the Church of England but also a man with a sense of humor. In 1628 he wrote what is regarded as the first or second work of Science Fiction, “The Man in the Moone, in which protagonist Domingo Gonsales flies to the moon in a chariot drawn by swans. 50 years later, birds on the moon was taken literally by the physicist Thomas Morton. Everyone knew many bird species disappeared in winter. No one knew where. Morton deduced the only rational explanation was that they went to moon, a theory he backed with a fair degree of science, and one that did not entirely meet its demise until the late 19th century. With Godwin and Morton as a collective starting point, Mark Seth Lender will wax poetic on the subject of migration, what we know and remarkably, the many areas in which we know not! Mark will also share in photographs and in prose his rare experiences of the Great Migrations, beginning and ending with the sandhill cranes of Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge. 5:30 – 6:00 Come in and mingle with other registrants and Friends staff. Don't forget to enjoy the heavy appetizers. 6:00 – 7:00 Annual Meeting: Friends reports from Board President Jonathan Manley and Treasurer Mary Beth Kuderik. 7:00 – 8:00 Keynote Presentation: When Birds Migrated to the Moon 8:00 – 8:30 Q&A Photo by Mark Seth Lender.

Sunday with Holly Merker These field trips will focus on seeking out which birds have dropped in for a refuel and recharge. This trip will guide participants around the refuge to seek out birds in various habitats, and will include a focus on songbirds, but will also highlight any lingering waterfowl, wading birds, shorebirds, gulls, and more! Experience yellow warblers zipping over in "morning flight", notice vermillion flycatchers as they claim nesting territories, listen to the sounds of joyous songbirds as they herald spring and new beginnings. Photo by Jonathan Dowell.

Sunday with Alex Harper Like a good movie or tv show, watching birds can distract us from what's going on in our own lives, providing entertainment but also a mental recharge from our own hectic worlds. Observing bird behaviors and patterns can give us some of the best keys to unlocking the secrets to identification and help us acquire and quicken skills used by all birding experts. During this field trip, Bosque del Apache sets the stage for front-row viewing of dynamic behaviors of birds as we explore and learn together, adding new tools to our bird ID toolkits. Photo by Bill Gorum.

Sunday with Alex Harper · One Time Only New to birding? Or want to expand on your existing skills? This program is for you. This field trip will emphasize the basics of birding during a slow-paced tour around the refuge. Learn new tips and tools that will add to your birding skillset while you celebrate every bird with others who love them too. Photo by Jeff Colling.

Sunday with Holly Merker · One Time Only Mindful Birding blends bird observation with simple mindfulness practices, inviting you to slow down and experience birds as guides rather than focusing solely on identification. Through a gentle experience, we'll engage our senses — tuning into sight, sound, and presence — to deepen awareness and connection with the birds around us. Prompts and supportive techniques enhance observation skills while amplifying the wellbeing benefits that come from intentional time in nature. Benefits of mindful birding include stress relief, feeling more connected to birds and nature, enhanced sensory awareness, and strengthened observation skills. Participants receive a mindful birding journal with prompts to help continue the practice beyond the program. Photo by Holly Merker.

Sunday with Holly Merker, certified practitioner · One Time Only With its dynamic landscapes and birds, Bosque del Apache NWR in spring provides the perfect backdrop for forest bathing. With origins inspired by the Japanese practice of Shinrin Yoku, the practice of forest bathing helps unlock the health and restorative benefits the natural world holds for all of us. Birds are tightly linked to the habitats at Bosque del Apache, and with a framework of guided "invitations," we can deepen our connections to birds and nature by engaging the senses, noticing, and awakening our experience of reciprocity with the natural world. This experience will be a bit different than a traditional outdoor guided walk, not focusing on sharing naturalist knowledge or identification, but instead allowing the landscapes and birds to intentionally guide us into slowing our pace. A tea ceremony among the group will be included in the experience as we celebrate birds and the Bosque. "Forest Bathing with Birds" can be calming, contemplative, mindful, revealing, soothing, awe-inspiring, and more. Come experience your own "personal refuge" while visiting this beautiful Refuge. Photo by Barbara Magnuson.

Sunday with Alex Harper · One Time Only New Mexico Tech in Socorro is an oasis in the desert. With lawns, trees, sprinklers, and ponds, this campus is full of birds! Even in the afternoon, the wooded lawns and shrubby edges lure local birds for breeding, as well as provide stopover habitat for migratory birds. Expect to see and hear many of your familiar neighborhood birds chasing intruders from territories, gathering nest material, singing, and getting caught up in parenting. We may see migratory swallows, vireos, warblers, blackbirds, tanagers, and sparrows in the mix. Plus, folks heading to Albuquerque or Santa Fe are just a bit closer to home by wrapping up in Socorro! Photo by Larry Kimball.