Bonus Bear's bonuses

Note: The bear preferred to walk on nails before he'd walk on the ground panels again.

His scat is no longer seed-laden, in fact, I looked hard at it for seed and found none. Beargrass (Nolina erumpens) is my best guess. Disclaimer: I can find nowhere that says bears eat beargrass. Whatever he's eating, it seems to be all fiber.

A couple of days ago I took these photos of a Gray Fox at my water feature in Alpine.

And this Common Yellowthroat, also in Alpine. We seem to be at the peak of migration this weekend!

Cactus saga

On my sister's place adjacent to CMO, there's a Desert Night-Blooming Cereus.*  To our knowledge, it has bloomed only on May 6, 2010 and May 3, 2022. When it budded out to bloom again this year (May 1), my sisters hovered over it so we wouldn't miss the event. It blooms during the night only. They contacted me, but after making so many bear trips** to the oasis, I wasn't able to go down last night to witness the grand opening. Here it is last night just before dark.

 See "Cirri" on ground in front of Julie and Ann

At 9:30 PM I got a text from my sister with this photo and cryptic message, "last photo." Nothing else. A little strange I thought. Just one, and not the usual dozens from all angles. I didn't give it any more thought. Never remotely did I imagine the truth.

Here is what Julie said on her Facebook:

"May Day! May Day!

The wait is over. After watching for two hours in a cold wind last night, just as Cirri was opening, I was walking carefully around her, wrapped in a fleece blanket, to smell her lemony scent, when the wind grabbed my blanket and smashed it into Cirri, killing her instantly. Gaby said it sounded like a snap bean. Not my finest moment!

Ann took Cirri home with her and she opened right up and still smells lovely this morning. Maybe she'll bloom again next year."

Personally, I'll be surprised if it ever blooms again. I have to admit, when I got over the shock, I had a good laugh about it! I feel horrible for the loss. Blooms are to them as birds are to me, but, what can I say? I found humor in envisioning their mortification!

_________________________________________________________

*To our knowledge there's only one other on her property and none on mine. The second one is smaller and has never bloomed. This one bloomed only in 2010 and 2022. The year after 2010 was the horrible drought year that killed tons of stuff, including half of our Cholla Cacti. Ann speculates that it took the Cereus 12 years to recover from that drought before it bloomed again.

**No more bear sightings at CMO. Problem seems to be solved. Eventually, we'll concrete the feeder to where it can't be moved and dispense with the electric element, but for now, we're good.

Bear videos

 When we arrived at the oasis at daylight this is what the feeder looked like.

We reviewed the one hundred plus video clips taken after we left yesterday. To save battery we leave a one minute time between short clips, so it doesn't flow well, but watching enough of them gives a complete picture of what's going on. For starters, the bear is getting better at getting seed from the feeder, based on his scat. The older scat has very little seed in it but the recent stuff is solid seeds.

After we left yesterday, he went to the feeder and spent hours spinning out seed, which he frequently paused to eat. Below are a few of the clips. To see more, go to this link:

 https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipMlgxADe3gD9EOlnQ4eL93lnuB6D90bIrbqcDAwa7nv-d4fVR6qrMUFhmRdCTyNYA?key=YzhDckRWelV3NDJIVjR2X1RmUTNOYUZoYTdUUUNn

We had put down a mat full of nails (unwelcome mat) that he carefully avoided stepping on. However, he was still able to access the seed by leaning across the mat. The dates and temperatures on the videos are not correct for some reason. Should be April 29, and I'm sure the temperature was not nearly that hot.

Texas Parks & Wildlife came out and helped us install a solar electric unit. It's not as powerful as an electric jolt from the grid, but still supposedly does the trick. We shall see. The rubber mat the TP&W helper is standing on is to keep birds from getting shocked. The current will only work if you stand on the wire and touch the feeder at the same time. Humans would have to do it barefoot to get a mild shock.

As I write this the bear is back behind the feeder, where he spent last night. He's waiting for  photographer Troy Williams to leave. (Photos by Troy)

Bear update!

We arrived at the oasis by daylight. The bear had been there during my absence and left another even bigger pile of poop (cell phone for size comparison), which had even more seed in it. And of course, moved the rocks again and dug it out again.

Promptly, we put down an old wooden unwelcome mat that we already had from before TX Parks & Wildlife had furnished us with a better one that's successfully in use under the hanging bucket feeder.

It still appeared that the bear could access the feeding ports across the mat. If you look closely at the next photo, you'll see smudges above the feeder ports. That's where the bear presses his nose as he tongues the seed out. (Photo taken before we put down the mat.)

He's a big bear, and since the spikes in the wooden mat aren't as thick as those in the other mat, it's possible to flatten them or reach across. The longer the bear is successful or entrenched at one location, the harder it is to deter, I'm told by TXP&W. They recommended we electrify the feeder. There's a way to do it that won't shock people or birds and is 100% effective. 

Only rarely does it enrage a bear to the point that it does bad damage, especially if it hasn't been hanging out for more than a few days, they said. 👿 So, I bought a $150 solar charger which TXP&W is going to help my son install tomorrow.

Meanwhile, a group of birders today got the "bear bonus!" The bear doesn't seem too perturbed by people. He does lumber off when he sees them. Not scared, nor aggressive, is how I'd describe it. And the people? Well, they're nature and outdoor lovers who appear not to mind. But that's perhaps before the bear becomes more territorial of the oasis, or hormones kick in, or a different bear comes along..... too many unknowns to chance it.

The "bonus bear!"

Matt Walter sent me a message after he left the oasis today, saying the rocks had been removed from beside the feeder when he got to the oasis around 9:30 this morning, and there was a pile of bear poop containing seed nearby. 

Photo by Matt Walter

So obviously the bear had figured out how to jiggle seed from the feeder, or access seed with its tongue or claws. I immediately made arrangements to go down tomorrow afternoon with my son and do something more to deter the bear. We thought we'd try putting an unwelcome mat down since the one at the hanging feeder seems to be working. 

Then awhile ago I got an email from another visitor today that had stayed after Matt left. She said, "What an awesome place you have!  We arrived at 8 am and stayed until about 4 pm. Lots of birds.  

Bonus bear, as well.  Around 2 pm we came back to the feeder area after a walk out beyond the wooded area. A large black bear was at the feeders.  It left, no problems.  At about 3:30 we were going to check the water feature in the woods.  The bear had decided to spend its afternoon laying on its back in the water.  We were all startled to see each other. But again, all was fine.  I have pics of the bear from the first meeting. "

Photo by Betty Stys

Well, clearly, a "bonus bear" isn't acceptable at all. Someone could get hurt. So we changed our plans and will arrive at the oasis at daylight in the morning, putting all our other morning plans on hold. I want to get any further damage that might occur tonight taken care of, besides doing what more we can to deter the bear before a large 10 AM group arrives.  I may never again say my feeders are bearproof! 

Here's a photo that Matt took today of a female Lucifer. I love that it shows how rufous-colored some of the females are. And some are so pale they're almost white. 

He also took this nice photo of a Black-throated Gray Warbler at CMO. It's a species I've only documented there a couple of times before.

A big early morning surprise!

I heard a birder arrive at 6 AM and went to join him when it started to get daylight. As we were birding, I looked over at the bear-proof ground feeder (the hanging one is bear-proof, too) to discover something had seriously tried to unearth it from the ground. It moved the large rocks we had wedged against the feeder so it couldn't be spun by a bear. One of those boulders weighed at least 100 lbs.

Had to have been a bear. I saw no evidence of hogs or javelina, though I think feral hogs could have physically done it. But they would've really torn up the place, especially the water feature, and left poop, and they wouldn't have spun the feeder around on its base. There was no bear poop either, but likely only because it couldn't get to any of the seed since my son has welded the cups onto the feeder.

Here's how the feeder had previously looked.

So I think that was one angry bear. The upshot is, we're going to have to concrete a big base around the feeder. But it is bear-proof! It passed the acid test! Hopefully that bear won't bother trying to dig it up again in the meantime, since it's a waste of precious energy.

A couple of my photos from today. Still no significant influx of migrants.

Migrating Black-headed Grosbeak

Year-round Canyon Towhee

Year-round Cactus Wren

Another tour group!

Today the VENT (Victor Emmanuel Nature Tours) vans inched their way toward the oasis. They reserve their day a year in advance. Usually Barry Zimmer leads the group. This is the first year I remember that he didn't, but his replacements were equally great guys! I did miss Barry though.

I think the oasis is almost a rite of passage for birders, like the Colima death march is. Today's group did that yesterday, so riding on a rough road probably didn't seem as bad as climbing up (or down) the Pinnacle's Trail in Big Bend National Park. No one complained anyway.

As usual, VENT provided us all with a lovely picnic lunch.

Birding was so-so. Not dead, but not peak migration quality either. Maybe the best is yet to come.

Lark Sparrow

Marbled Whiptail

Varied Bunting day

Lots of birders coming and going. Not many migrants yet at all. A visitor this afternoon expressed that she really wanted to see a Varied Bunting. She even sported Varied Bunting earrings.

 

I told her that none had been reported from the oasis this year yet, but one could show up... "I thought I heard one singing earlier," I added optimistically. 

She finally decided to give up and leave, remarking that I should say "hi" to the Varied for her when it showed up. I said I would, and I'd chastise it for not showing up for her. Not five minutes later one showed up and took a long bath in front of us. I'm sure her one hundred plus photos are better than the couple I snapped, and she left a happy camper.

Everyone enjoyed seeing a Lark Bunting in its summer plumage.

Big Sit after notes

Somehow I missed being in the group photo during the Big Sit 😥, but here are those that are in it.

And here's me during the Sit. I was up on the viewing roof trying to see over into the big tank where an American Pipit was. I didn't see it so we couldn't count it in the sit tally. Birds have to be seen from within our 50 foot circle.

We agonized as to whether this second kingbird was a Tropical Kingbird, which would have given us an additional species for our tally, but the ebird reviewer said they're both Westerns.

Western Kingbird by Mike Gray

2nd Kingbird by Matt Walter

Next are a few photos taken by Mike Gray of birds we were able to count in our tally. (Black & White Warbler, Elf Owl, and Peregrine Falcon)

Migration is just now getting into full swing. The next two weeks are going to be exciting!

Day of Big Sit!

The day went well. We got about the same number of species we get for every Big Sit. Somehow, maybe because we had more participants than usual, we didn't manage to get everyone together at the same time for a group photo. 

The parking area was full all day and I got a photo of that.

I was too tired to blog last night. No rare or exciting birds yesterday, it's still a bit early in migration. Had a Central Texas Whipsnake, which got mobbed by the birds.

And someone found a dead baby javelina on one of the paths. Didn't look to be newborn. Only cause of death I could think of was in a scramble to avoid birders an adult javelina accidentally stepped on it, but I could find no visible injury on it.

Of the numerous lovely birds we saw, a male Western Tanager stands out. It spent hours cleaning the mulberries off a little volunteer mulberry tree.

We saw Green-tailed Towhees constantly but only counted three because that's the most we saw at one time. (I only got a photo showing two.)

Everyone had a good time, including numerous visiting birders that weren't part of the Big Sit!