Today we "attended the church that is choired by birds" as Wendell Berry the poet would say. We went back to the Rio Grande Nature Center and enjoyed hiking their trails, seeing the Rio Grande, and watching a seagull escape from a bullying crow. We also got to see our first Roadrunners in the wild. We heard them first and thought it was a woodpecker, but it was really the sound of their feathers when they fly a short distance. Then we saw three of them scuffling in the sagebrush. They were too fast for me to get a picture though. The highlight of the day- and maybe of my life-was seeing hundreds of Sandhill Cranes migrating today. They were flying north up the Rio Grande and would often stop near the nature center to drink from the pond or eat from the nearby field. We got lots of great pictures. Check them out. As soon as one group would fly over head and organize to go north, another would approach from the south. I think we could have stood there all day and enjoyed the show. Even diehard birders with their fancy cameras and binoculars were amazed by the show.
On a different note, the kids got haircuts this week. Check out Natalie's fancy hairdo in the pics. She also lost her 4th tooth AND we found a street in ABQ called Natalie Avenue!
