This past Friday at Fort Marcy Park in Santa Fe, Will Shuster’s Zozobra burned for the 91st time in front of 40,000 people.
The annual event hosted by the Kiwanis Club of Santa Fe consists of the burning of a giant puppet nicknamed “Old Man Gloom.” The burning of Zozobra, the 50-foot mobile statue made of muslin and then stuffed with shredded paper, is said on the event’s website to be based on the belief that “as fire consumes the beast, so go the feelings of gloom and doom from the past year.”
Being that the centennial of the Zozobra event is now only nine years away, the decade leading up to 2024 is going to reflect on the designs of previous decades, last year’s being the 20s and this year’s being the 30s.
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PHOTO STORY: Albuquerque provides habitat for hundreds of bird species
December 2Albuquerque offers a wide range of bird habitat over a relatively small space. The Bosque ecosystem is home to riparian species, while the city provides habitat for more adaptive urban birds, and the Sandia Mountains provide a home to higher elevation species. Hundreds of resident and migratory birds settle in Albuquerque, according to the City of Albuquerque website. Albuquerque is one of 31 Urban Bird Treaty cities across the United States. UBT cities partner with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to conserve birds and bird habitat, as well as provide educational and recreational opportunities in urban areas, according to the FWS website. The FWS highlights the Valle de Oro National Wildlife Refuge as one of Albuquerque’s successes in bird conservation. The refuge is considered to be one of the “most ambitious urban conservation projects in the nation,” according to the FWS. In addition to Valle de Oro, birds can choose from many open spaces in Albuquerque that provide habitat, including the Bachechi Open Space, Rio Grande Nature Center State Park and even the University of New Mexico’s campus. The Bachechi Open Space is one of 17 Bernalillo County Open Space properties, according to the Bernalillo County website. The space offers wetland habitat, which attracts geese, ducks and herons. The Rio Grande Nature Center State Park provides habitat for over 300 species of birds, according to its website. During this time of year, sandhill cranes find food in the fields, and spotted towhee and duck species gather by feeders at the pond. UNM’s main campus hosts a total of 212 species of birds at different times throughout the year, according to Birding Hotspots. Even with the current Duck Pond renovation, trees and green space provide habitat for robins and roadrunners. Leila Chapa is the social media editor for the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at socialmedia@dailylobo.com or on X @lchapa06 Paloma Chapa is the multimedia editor for the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at multimedia@dailylobo.com or on X @paloma_chapa88
