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New Bird-Watching Perch In ABQ

Rita Daniels

People are about to have a whole new opportunity to watch the flocks of sandhill cranes that are overwintering in Albuquerque. 

 

“It’s truly incredible to live along this major migratory flyway,” said Beth Dillingham, the superintendent at the Rio Grande Nature Center Sate Park.

 

“That’s maybe 100 sandhill cranes feeding in the fields, and there’s a big hawk nest over there in one of the those cottonwood trees, and it’s just full of life,” Dillingham said, looking out over the Candelaria Farm Preserve.

 

The state park just finished pouring cement for a new wheelchair-accessible viewing platform that overlooks almost 100 acres of protected farmland adjacent to the Bosque, where cranes spend winter days nibbling on grains, bugs and rodents.

 

Up until now, visitors at the center couldn’t see the fields of cranes easily because they are up and over an embankment just north of one of the parking lots. 

 

Dillingham said with the new path and viewing platform, more people can enjoy and celebrate the wild heart of Albuquerque.

 

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