Look! It's a bird, it's a crane: Annual festival celebrates the migratory avians of the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge

While the Festival of the Cranes offers a variety of attractions for nature enthusiasts, nothing quite captures the spirit of the event like those moments just before sunrise and sunset.

“In the morning, you kind of hang out while it’s still dark, get there before even the first light shows up. And then once the sun starts to pop up … there should be thousands of snow geese that will just lift off all at once and fly out into the day to feed,” said Cari Powell, festival manager. “There’s lots of honking and feathers and wings flapping, and it’s really kind of a magical experience to start the day.

Look! It's a bird, it's a crane: Annual festival celebrates the migratory avians of the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge

“And in the evening, it’s not quite as all-at-once spectacular. It’s more of a slow burn,” Powell added. “Family groups of cranes coming in, groups of ducks and geese. They all come to land and roost in the safety of the water overnight. And so you’ll get to watch the sunset colors … that beautiful golden hour light, and you get to see the cranes with their little landing gear — (that’s) what I call their little dangly legs. It’s just an awe-inspiring experience to see so many of these large birds all coming together for safety in that water.”

The Festival of the Cranes, which was created to celebrate sandhill cranes, snow geese, ducks and other migratory birds, has expanded for its 35th anniversary. The festival takes place from Wednesday, Dec. 11, through Sunday, Dec. 15, (one more day than in years prior) and features more than 85 classes, tours, hikes and workshops — an increase from the approximately 70 that were offered in 2023. It’s worth noting that a number of the offerings — both free and paid — reach capacity, so it is important to visit festivalofthecranes.org for online registration to see what is still available.

The event is a fundraiser for the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, which hosts many of the tours and events, and is also meant to serve as an educational opportunity for the public. The majority of classes and workshops that aren’t held in the field at the refuge will take place at the City of Socorro Convention Center.

“It’s just kind of a great time for folks to come learn about Bosque del Apache, learn about Socorro County, learn about this area and how we are able to support the birds at the refuge in the winter and throughout the rest of the year,” Powell said.

In addition to more workshops, classes and tours, the festival will host an opening night celebration for the first time since its inception. This will showcase various vendors and conservation organizations, with hors d’oeuvres and a cash bar on hand. The evening will conclude with a presentation on crane behavior in the evening.

“It should be a really fun night to get people oriented to the space, to meet some new friends and see what our expo vendors have,” Powell said.

This year’s festival will have a primary point of emphasis when it comes to the educational aspect.

“We have a focus on water. The keynote (speaker) at our annual dinner is focused on historical water patterns and the middle Rio Grande area,” Powell said. “And then we’ve got a water panel on Saturday (Dec. 14) that will be talking about how water is used and managed in this area.”

While the warmer fall season has made the bird migration slower than usual, Powell is still expecting a healthy turnout to enjoy all that the Festival of the Cranes has to offer.

“Our numbers after COVID are lower than what they used to be, but this year, we’re hoping for about 500 to 600 total attendees, whether those are folks who are registered for classes or people who just come through the Socorro Convention Center,” Powell said. “And probably a few hundred more will be just passing through the refuge, driving the tour loops because they’ve heard about the festival and want to check out the refuge.”