Features
For Wildlife & You
The refuge uses many different tools to actively manage these lands for the benefit of wildlife, habitat, and you.
Learn How
Wilderness Areas
Bosque del Apache Refuge
includes three designated wilderness areas: Chupadera Peak, Indian Wells &
Little San Pasqual Wilderness Area.
Designated by
Congress
2016 Festival of the Cranes
Festival of the Cranes is from November 15-20, 2016. Visit the link below for the festival schedule and to register starting September 6, 2016.
2016 Festival InformationVISIT TODAY!
Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge's visitor center and nature store hours during September 1st, 2016 through May 31st, 2016 are from 8:00AM to 4:00PM daily.
Visit our Nature Store, receive a refuge guide, and see out informational displays! * Closed: Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day, New Year's Day, and the Fourth of July.
Refuge's Upcoming EventsFishing Season Now Open
Fishing season is now open at Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge. Visit the Fishing Regulations link below or look under the visit tab and then visitor activities.
Fishing RegulationsAbout the NWRS
The National Wildlife Refuge System, within the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, manages a national network of lands and waters set aside to conserve America’s fish, wildlife, and plants.
Learn more about the NWRS
ENJOY NEW MEXICO AT BOSQUE DEL APACHE NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE!
Launched in 2002 by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and National Audubon Society, eBird Trail Tracker is a real-time, online checklist program that has revolutionized the way that the birding community reports and accesses information about birds. A birder simply enters when, where, and how they went birding, then fills out a checklist of all the birds seen and heard during the outing. The observations of each participant join those of others in an international network of eBird users. The link below allows you to set-up an account in eBird to submit your observations. Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge appreciates you entering your bird sightings on the eBird online checklist program. For more information about eBird go to: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/about/
eBird Online Program to Submit ObservationsA fossil of a crane was found in Nebraska that is estimated to be nearly 10 million years old. This makes cranes one of the oldest known species of birds in existence today.
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This band was worn for
36 and a half years by a Rocky Mountain sandhill crane (RMSH). It is one of the
oldest RMSHs known and the band it wore had limited wear for all that time in
the wild. The bird was banded with its brood mate (a two-chick brood) on 29
June 1973, one mile north of Border, Wyoming on the Thomas Fork of the Bear
River.
Frequent Flyer Miles
Sandhill cranes move among
several areas throughout the day to feed, rest, and socialize. Social behavior
includes at least ten different types of calls, various threatening postures,
and elaborate dances for everything from joy to courtship.
Learn more
Page Photo Credits — Cranes in flight over vibrant sky, Blackbirds / © Bernadette Madison, USFWS, Refuge water manager, Brian Greeves in a refuge corn field / USFWS, Refuge canyon view / USFWS, Sandhill crane submerged during brilliant sunset hues, Great horned owl / © Bernadette Madison, USFWS, Sandhill crane / © Angela Dedrickson, USFWS, Close-up of crane's face, All photos courtesy of USFWS unless otherwise noted.
Last Updated: Aug 16, 2016