Thanks for the responses! Great to know these magnificent creatures have lot of admirers all over the country! What's not to love? They are huge, mate for life, wildly dance to impress their partner, sound jurassic, take no shame nor embarassment when they look ridiculous with their landing gear down...would we all do so well.

The first photo is the line up to my left, and a similar one was on my right! The sun was only up a minute or two before all birds flew out. Hundreds of snow geese flew to this pool from a different one in the refuge and before landing they did their swirling/circling pattern - that swirling/circling was going both both directions simultaneously at what seemed like dozens of levels from the birds landing to up very high in the sky. It was spectacular!! I was so awe struck I forgot all about my camera and was just totally tranced!

Roadrunner - State bird of New Mexico. He's all puffed up there... Speedy little suckers.

The third photo is Mr. and Mrs. Wood Duck. I've not seen the females as colorful as these were. The males have this very cool little routine of stretching their necks up, then tilting head back with beak almost straight up. Haven't yet taken a good shot of that happening...

Wood ducks always look like a painting no matter how you photograph them...

Wow! And again I say, WOW! Any chance I could stop by this weekend? You should consider a Hog Expedition of Guided Bird Photography to India. Astonishing beauty beautifully captured!

Yes they are spectacular birds! You don't get close to them here at all. They feel safe in the water, but even then they are very wary. I watched a coyote "herd" a large flock - they moved slowly, but seemed to know the exact distance needed. If interested, today is the beginning of the "Festival of the Cranes" at Bosque del Apache. An annual event to "welcome" the birds back. It's quite an event with dozens of teaching and training events of all stripes, including many for photographers.

Thanks for your comment.
Ralph Lind

Thanks to all for the generous comments.

The large numbers have not yet arrived but promises to be a great year at Bosque del Apache.

You are correct about the crowds. This year was particularly bad. Many people didn't get to the launch field. One must have a strategy to make it sane. Go obscenely early is a must, then leaving very very early or very very late. Some depends on if you are driving or taking shuttle buses. The all around best solution is ride a bike. No lines except very short ones when you might have to wait on the valet who will park and secure your bike! This is the one and only event I know of where bikes rule!! Can't say that for the rest of the city though...

Thought I'd share a few more of the hot air event before retireing the project for another year...

Thanks to you all for checking out the balloons and your responses. It is a pretty spectacular event!

Beautiful balloon day Saturday/yesterday, at the ABQ Balloon Fiesta! Broken sky and wonderful light! Here are some shots. If you want another 280, go to my site at
http://ralphlind.smugmug.com/Events/Balloon-Fiesta-2015/i-vdmp5qM/A
Enjoy!

Thanks - yes I already love the gimbal!

This is entirely subjective as I've been wanting to notice the impact of beginning to use a tripod and Nest Gimbal on birds and BBF. These are taken using Nikon D7000 with Tamron 150-600 on a Manfrotto 3021 and Nest Gimbal - thanks MT Shooter.