"The Crown Jewel of our National Wildlife Refuge System, the Bosque del Apache,
has been my annual pilgrimage site for a decade. The largest single population
of sandhill cranes migrates to the Bosque late in the fall to overwinter along
the Rio Grande. I have seen these cranes with crimson crowns in Southern
California and at the Reifel Migratory Bird Sanctuary in British Columbia but
they descend on the Bosque in staggering numbers. In the evenings, you stare at
cranes with serpentine necks flying in over skies streaked rosy pink and
clementine. New Mexicos skies can be striations of color approximating infinity
but these numberless flocks of cranes and geese outdo the theatrics of the sky.
When the cranes begin their fairylike descent onto milky-blue sheets of water,
you find yourself in a place where humans are far outnumbered by birds. You let
the primal orchestra of cranes and geese remind you of the place your ancestors
came from."
Priyanka Kumar shares more in this excerpt from her new book, "Conversations
with Birds."
