Features
Free Guided Refuge Tours
Join us on every weekend from October 1st, 2016 to December 31st, 2016 for a free guided tour!
Free Guided Tours:
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 Units
Bosque del Apache Refuge
includes three designated wilderness units: Chupadera Peak, Indian Well &
Little San Pasqual Wilderness Units.
Designated by
Congress
What's the commotion?
You may have heard what sounds like an airplane in the early morning hours or midafternoon on the marsh. This is a propeller powered boat called an airboat. During migration periods it is used frequently to pick up birds that have died overnight or during the day. Click the link below to learn about avian cholera and airboats.
Avian Cholera and AirboatsVISIT TODAY!
Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge's visitor center and nature store hours during September 1st, 2016 through May 31st, 2017 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 EventsAbout 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: ebird.org
A 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, 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: Nov 26, 2016