New oasis reality

This will be an analytical accounting of the big oasis tank; its creation, loss, and what went wrong. I'm writing this as a record, the only one there is, hoping when I'm gone, it'll be documentation.

Back when my dear late husband, Sherwood, and I built it in 1997, we didn't think about how long it would last. If we had, we'd probably have figured something like 30 years. (It made it 28 years.)

Sherwood and me

We felt the tank would be too big to concrete, so we invested in a very expensive Permalon liner. As we put it down, with family's help, we left it plenty loose, plus the material was very stretchy. Once that was done, I went to work at beautifying the edges. For a month I hauled tons of rocks to anchor and beautify it.

It was exhilerating to watch it fill for the first time, and finally not lose all the precious flash flood runoff. I estimate it holds between 200,000-250,000 gallons.

I wasn't prepared for the problems ahead. First, the weight of the water caused the ground below, and probably the walls even more so, to compact and recede, which wasn't a problem at the time, since the Permalon was stretchy. In this next photo, you can see how taut the sides are stretched with the weight of water. If the Permalon hadn't been stretchy, it would have pulled my rock work into the tank. Of course, in hindsight, I should have left at least a foot of slack in the tank on all sides. There was plenty of material to do so.

Next, deer and javelina got into the tank. Their hoofs poked holes in it. That by itself, couldn't be tolerated. But also, javelina couldn't get out the slippery sides, and drowned. So I patched the holes and fenced the tank. 

That didn't work. The fence didn't keep them out, and where it went across the spillway, so much debris accumulated that water couldn't enter the tank. The first surge of a flash flood carries tons of debris in it. Not to mention, a fence ruined the ambience.

The only other option was concrete. We knew we couldn't do it alone, so we hired a crew. They were all set up inside the tank when we discovered that, while the concrete they were pouring was sufficient  weight on the liner floor, it wasn't heavy enough to make the liner lay againt the sloped sides. I'm sure the more it stretched, the harder it would be to stretch it further.

Two options, either remove all the rock anchoring/beautification, loosening the liner that way, or cut the liner.  It was May, with rain showers happening almost daily. The floor was already mostly done. We didn't know how long it would take to finish the project, but more importantly, when a monsoon would come. We couldn't chance leaving it vulnerable to a monsoon.  It took a month to finish the project and almost every night we removed the equipment, just in case. I felt I had no choice but to cut the liner.

Through the years wave action eroded the upper several feet of concrete wall. During construction, I had packed the cement onto a wire framework to hold it as best I could, but it was nearly 10 feet tall and too sloped for a ladder to stay in place, so not the best workmanship. Subsequently, I patched endlessly. One time, the late Bill Lindeman and Jane Crone came and helped with the patching. And it never held. Wave action would soon have it crumbling into the tank.

Bill and me in June 2011

Eventually the upper sides eroded beyond repair. Herds of deer and javelina were constantly clamoring up and down the sides, which hurt too. Here is the spillway area mid-December last year.

So now, the unthinkable has happened. I theorize that water coming into the spillway surged under the liner somehow, causing the tank to float and collapse. It's basically a dirt tank now. I expect it to be dry within a month... unless we get another monsoon.

The only thing that could have made the wire-concreted mesh buckle upward like that is the whole tank being pushed up during the deluge. Huge slabs of concrete came loose and tumbled into the tank.

The next photo shows the spillway where the water surged in and shoved the tank wall, such as it was, into the tank in a twisted heap.

Maybe when the tank is empty, someone can figure out a solution, but I'm preparing myself with the expectation of not being able to maintain as many trees as in the past. Also I plan to be more vigilant at patching the smaller "stucco" tank. With that not leaking, plus the new above-ground tank, the oasis might be able to survive almost as well, I think.  But a hard lesson re-learned..... nothing is forever!

Exciting March monsoon

I don't think we've ever gotten a monsoon in March before. And that's a great time to get one, when everything is parched and trying to leaf out, doing its spring thing, before it gets hit with brutal heat! The mountains might get covered with spring flowers they've never had before in my nearly 50 years here.

All is brimful at the oasis with one and a quarter inches of rain. As usual, monsoons come with a price. It left the road in worse shape. I'm not sure spring birders can make it in without good clearance. 

Here's my March monsoon madness story:

Around 11 PM last night I was sleeping in the cabin near the oasis when I was awakened by what I assume was small hail on the roof. Then there was a roaring sound that I wasn't sure was rain or/and wind. Lots of loud lightning. It was really violent outside but I couldn't see anything except for the lightning flashes. Things calmed down in about half an hour, as water leaked down the inside of my walls.

I was so eager to go check the tanks, that I chanced the constant lightning strikes. With that and a flashlight, I saw the tanks all full and water still rushing into and out of them. Back at the cabin where I was anxious to get dry and out of the rain and lightning, and back under my warm electric blanket, the electricity went out. I added another blanket to my bed and waited for daylight, sleeping fitfully. Not chilled to the bone, but not comfortably warm either.

At daylight, I changed out the hummingbird feeders with fresh ones. Rain water from a big monsoon ruins the solution in them. Then I emptied the seed feeder where the bottom seed had gotten soggy and blocked seed from coming out the ports. Did my best to get that functional again. After washing feeders, checking other things, and doing numerous other necessary little repairs, I headed to town. 

Our road was bad and had lots of rocks needing to be picked up. These two were too heavy for me, but my son is going down tomorrow and will move them. Meanwhile, a vehicle can get around them.

When I came to the big arroyo on Snake Road, I thought I could make it through. Always had before. But in the past, I had carried a shovel or hoe and worked on the road before attempting it. Must be old and senile, but I barreled into it until I got bogged down. I spent a painful hour trying to dig out with my hands. After several times of doing that, I almost made it out, but then bogged down worse.

I decided to walk to a land-line phone and call my husband to come tow me out. (No cell service there.) My sister's house was a mile away, and I knew she had gone to Alpine, but I could at least go in and use her phone. It was a torturous walk after not having eaten anything today, not sleeping much last night, and wearing myself out working at the oasis and road. Not to mention my old arthritic body doesn't do much under optimum conditions anymore.

Once I knew he was on the way, I called my niece and found out my sister was on her way home from town. I wasn't sure she could get around my pickup (I hadn't taken a photo yet at that point), so decided I'd try to make it the mile back to the arroyo. Barely managed to force my body there. When she arrived, she had no trouble getting past in her 4X4 vehicle. Before long, my husband and son showed up and towed me out. Water never comes cheap! LOL

And just yesterday, I had worn myself out watering trees. While doing that, I saw a thirsty bobcat come drink at the water feature.

I'm getting too old for all the excitement and drama. Fighting it though!

It's finally spring!

Lucifers were a bit late returning this year. Don't know why, but just glad to have them back.

And I was finally well enough to water the trees. My son had been having to do it most of the time lately. So I'm more my normal self now. Hopefully, we'll get rain this year, and winter birding will be better next winter. Otherwise, I might have to take a long vacation to somewhere warm. LOL

I keep forgetting to ask my followers to please go to my daughter's Facebook page and click "like." Or "follow," and then "like" when a new post comes up. She and her husband have a rental in Rockport, and I guess it helps give them more exposure the more people that "like" it. I stayed there last Thanksgiving and had a great time and saw great birds! (The Facebook page is called "Stars on the Bay.") Thanks! And if you ever want to stay there, she offers a birder's discount. Just ask for it. The page has a link on it to do that, I think.

 https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61555084301912

A couple weeks ago we had a horrible wind/dust storm and a big trunk blew off a cypress tree at the oasis. Lee removed the broken limb.

And today while I was watering, I noticed the male Chinese Pistachio tree (top photo below) is starting to leaf out, but the female (bottome photo) that makes the berries looks dead. I watered it extra good and hoping for the best.

Winter misery got worse

Just as the weather took a turn for the worse, I came down with a bad case of flu. That was a week ago and I'm still sick. Now that it's warming up, I should start getting better. This was the first year I neglected to get a flu shot since I had flu 20 yrs ago. Hard lesson learned!

A few migrants are starting to show up. And I ordered a new camera with more zoom than my current Sony RX10m3. It's a Nikon Coolpix P950. Should have done it years ago. So tired of getting non-IDable shots of distant birds. Still have to learn how to use it, but shouldn't be too difficult.

A new species of flower was discovered in Big Bend National Park last year, Wooly Devil (Ovicula biradiata).

Here's a link to an interesting article about it.

https://www.chron.com/life/wildlife/article/new-flower-texas-20180155.php?fbclid=IwY2xjawInBjpleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHbHiF6ujzEitpHOSOT0pCvQP9-61pvXNRuw3U6HCKZmsQ87M90MiyEW7iA_aem_aT8Dtr98zaUcFJNztJcaTw

Expert Dr Michael Powell said it could possibly occur on our property. Unfortunately, neither my sister nor I are physically able to look. (My other sister and her daughter, who were so great at finding plants for us, have moved away)

I hope to share photos with my new camera soon. Lucifers could arrive within the week. And I'm still alive!

Time to blog

Weather is warm one day and cold the next, back and forth. I'm going to be coming out of hibernation soon now. The last couple of months have been hard for me.

In April, I'm supposed to be the recipient of some kind of award called the first annual Dennis Shepler Texas Birding Ambassador Award. I feel very honored and priviledged to be the first person to receive it. More on that when the time comes. (Dennis was a good friend who designed the CMO t-shirts, as you may recall.)

Nothing to really blog about, but soon I hope that will change.

Dead dove

Pretty much confined to bird watching out my windows these days, when I noticed a Eurasian Collared-Dove jumping up and down in a strange manner, not like a courtship display. Got my binoculars on it and realized it was trying to revive a dead dove. Maybe common behavior, but I'd never witnessed it before. Bird flu? Don't know.

This behavior continued for at least 15 minutes, alternately poking the dead bird. 

Other than that, nothing much happening. The cold weather has given me a mild case of bronchitis so I haven't gone birding. If a good sighting was reported somewhere near, I'd probably chase it. Meanwhile, I'm staying indoors. Just a few more weeks of winter to go. Weeks until rains is another story.

January cold front

It got down to 18° here in Alpine this morning. Having the water feature here is saving me from worse cabin fever than I already have, while reliving the recent fun of Balmorhea... in my mind. LOL

I don't care for pansies, but they're better than no flowers. It's all we could find that withstands the cold.

Meanwhile, my son, Lee (living part time at the house near the oasis), is working on conserving as much water as possible. He put a metal tank into the empty stucco tank that he plans to fill from the above ground 60,000 gallon reserve tank, and then pump out of it to water the trees. It's still a work in progress. The pump in it is the one plumbed into the stucco tank. This way we won't have to put water directly into the stucco tank where much of it evaporates. The main problem I see so far is monitoring the level in the metal tank, and what will happen if a deluge fills the stucco tank. I think that keeping the metal tank full will keep it from floating, etc. during a flooding rain. It's not if, but when, that happens.

As for monitoring the level in the metal tank, the plan is to have it full before watering (and then refill after watering), and not use more than 1000 gallons for each watering. It's a 1500 gallon tank. We'll see. It's just not acceptable to dump precious water into the stucco tank. Hopefully, we can get it cleaned out and patched soon. It'll be hard for me to confine watering to 1000 gallons. Getting down into the tank to check isn't an option for me. Of course, when the pump stops putting out water, I'll know, but that could ruin the pump. Not to worry, we'll win!

There's a good chance of some snow later in the week. I'll take moisture however I can get it!

Caracaras at last

I've lost track of how many times I went to Balmorhea hoping to add Crested Caracara to my Reeves County list. The species was seen and photographed at the lake there in December of 2023 and into January 2024. Then again this past December. I kept trying, but never did see them. I've seen many caracaras, so I don't know why it mattered to have one more species added to my county list, but, for whatever esoteric reason, I cared. A fun challenge of a species rare for the county, I guess.

Only photo I know of showing the pair together

By this morning, I'd almost forgotten my quest for them, as I enjoyed lovely weather birding at Balmorhea State Park. Last time I was birding Balmorhea I did the park last, so decided to start there today. Early mornings are the best time for birding.

After a couple of hours of fun, I decided to go to the lake and look for the caracaras once again. Plus something else exciting might show up. As I was driving out of the park, headed toward the town of Balmorhea, my daughter called. I slowed to a crawl and drove along the shoulder while we talked. Just as we were about through, I couldn't believe my eyes. There, perched about 100-150 or so feet from the highway, in a field, was a pair of caracaras. I don't know if I would have seen them had I been driving faster and paying more attention to traffic. They were the last thing on my mind, at the time.

I turned around and went back to the park. Didn't feel like going to the lake after that. I was so excited, I figured I'd just check out the park one more time, then head back to Alpine. 

Back at the park, I saw a few different species for the day, including this Hooded Merganser. Always a nice find! A great morning!

2024 in review

I don't know how I made it in Alpine for nearly twenty years without my little water feature there. In mid January an Arctic cold snap sent temperatures plunging to 8° as I sat snugly by a fire watching birds out my viewing window at the water feature. It seemed like it had never been more popular. 

Late in the month, Lee made and welded cups to the bear-proof feeder to save on wasted seed and make it even more bear-proof. 

February came in with a bang, to my body anyway. On the first, I fell and got a goose-egg on my elbow on an already stressful day of doctor and dentist visits. 

We discovered birds couldn't get seed out of the feeder with the new cup/trays, so cut down the interior hoods over the ports, hoping the feeder would then be perfect.

Delays in finally getting my anticipated implant teeth, caused added stress. Had to start taking blood pressure medicine, hoping that would be temporary, but still on it.

March was so uneventful I only did three blog posts all month. It wasn't worth writing about then, nor is it now. More birders than birds, I would say. Lucifers arrived two weeks later than usual. 

April finally came, though it got off to a slow start.  In mid-April a Long-eared Owl showed up causing quite a stir for the two days it was there. This photo of it is by Renea Shepler. I did get a couple of poor photos of it, but nothing as awesome as hers.

Not until April's last week did things start getting crazy, when large groups arrived nearly daily! In the middle of that chaos, a big bear decided the oasis was a good place to take up residence.

Photo by Betty Stys

One visitor was recounting the birds she saw at the oasis, adding that she got a bonus bear too. I thought that was as good a moniker for the bear as any, so I dubbed it "Bonus Bear." Here is Bonus Bear's official portrait taken by Troy Williams.

Trail cam video showed the bear energetically rotating the feeder on its pole, and jiggling it, getting the seed out that way. We wanted to concrete it in so it couldn't be moved or jiggled, but the concrete would need days to set, and wouldn't set with a bear at it nightly. So we contacted Texas Parks & Wildlife, who promptly came down and helped us hook up a solar electric devise they had me go purchase. I greatly appreciate their expertise. It did the trick! 

After a few zaps, the bear moved on. I'd still like to concrete the feeder in, mostly for looks and also so we can put rock perches there for the birds like we had previously, but I'm afraid to. Not positive it would still be bear-proof if we do.

Before electrification

May arrived, hot and dry. Spring migration didn't produce any very interesting species, but lots of birders and sufficient birds to keep visitors happy. Keeping the oasis watered and maintained, while doing my best to stay fit, was about all I accomplished in May.

In June I was nearly out of water, so made the difficult decision to cut back on watering from about 5 hours a week to around 2½ hours. I carefully selected which trees to water and which weren't worth the cost in time and water. That way the oasis could hopefully be sustainable, and hopefully, I'd be physically able to continue doing it, without torturing myself. Mid-June, about the day after my decision, we got a big monsoon and everything filled up. I still felt determined to go with the new schedule. At some point it'll be necessary, so why suffer in the meantime. And as long as I have feeders, I'll have the species most sought after by birders. The oasis just may not look as lush, but everything has a price. 

The best June bird was a short visit by a Broad-billed Hummingbird.

July was cooler, with occasional small showers, but no bird activity to speak of, other than the regular nesting species.

Even though August is the middle of monsoon season, the oasis got no rain. A boring month.

September was cool, but otherwise much the same. It seemed most migrants were avoiding the drought-stricken area, although toward the middle of the month, some fall migrants trickled in. I always enjoy seeing migrating vireos, and the occasional Black-Capped Vireo, when one drops by.

In October I got a couple of fun migrants, including this handsome Hooded Warbler.

Meanwhile, my habitat in Alpine was producing some nice migrants, including this Blue-headed Vireo,

...and this Wood Thrush, among other species.

By November, I had pretty much given up on getting any rain. The oasis had barely gotten any more precipitation than our driest year of 2011. (Map as of Oct 29)

This year was only marginally better off due to that late spring rain, plus now having the above ground 60,000 gal. reserve tank that I didn't have back then. This time there isn't the option of hauling in water. Not only is it no longer being sold at Terlingua Ranch Lodge, but I'm physically no longer able to deal with the hauling. No other option except to eke by with the help of the reserve tank.

The first oasis Blue Jay dropped by briefly on Nov.1.

One interesting fall bird was a hybrid Anna's x Rufous Hummingbird that showed up at my Alpine feeders in late September and stayed until early December.

Other than the hybrid, December was a really boring month. Just grateful to be alive and well! The oasis survived another La Nina year! I look forward to a better year in 2025!