Snow geese and sandhill cranes flock in the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge near Socorro, New Mexico (@ Tim Fitzharris/Corbis)

Snow geese and sandhill cranes flock in the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge near Socorro, New Mexico (@ Tim Fitzharris/Corbis)

comments,

• Looks like everyone\s flown home...""From the early-bird buffet
• Each year, after the cranes and geese arrive for the winter, the locals throw them a party.""The fun begins in just a few weeks
• Whoever said mud baths were just for people?""It\s obviously for the birds, too
• From Socorro through Las Cruces, the Rio Grande keeps things green in an arid landscape.""And that makes for this enchanting “Woods of the Apache”