Surprise lifer

After I finished watering and was walking out the door to leave for Alpine, the phone rang. It was Heidi Trudell from Marathon. Her husband Matt (York) had found a Swainson's Warbler at the Gage Gardens in Marathon. So I rushed to Alpine and called Heidi. It was still there, in fact, she was looking at it. (Aren't cell phones great!) I told her I'd be there in 30 minutes. Bless her heart, she didn't let the bird out of her sight until I got there. They pointed me right to it. Doesn't get easier, or better, than that.

Here it is eating something, worms, I guess.

Whatever it's finding, it can't seem to get enough. Until today I didn't know they forage on the ground in leaf litter. Curiously, it's body seemed to vibrate while it was foraging. Unfortunately, it stayed in the shade all the while I was there, so my photos are a little drab.

Back at the oasis, my new trailer works like a charm. Hopefully, the days of breakdowns are over.

And my new cholla patch is putting on new growth. I'm pretty excited about it because it doesn't need much water and in a few years it might attract a Lucifer Hummingbird to nest there. If that happens my oasis will have "arrived," in my estimation.