Bosque used to be awesome .... not sure how good it is now. I know they went through some years with few birds because of no water in the roosting areas and poor crops in the surrounding fields.

It is an easy place to do a self guided thing ..... it's a big gravel road loop that is bisected in the middle by a gravel road. It is quite wide and you can pull over anywhere you like but you can't stray from the roadside on foot. They have a couple of observation decks overlooking a lake as well.

The 2 roosting areas called the Crane Pools are right next the road on the way into the preserve. They have parking areas and usually attract a pre-dawn crowd of photographers with tripods and long lenses. After the birds blast off they scatter to the feeding areas and so do the photographers.

There is a small town close by with decent hotels .... I think it's called Socorro.