Almost rainy season

I'm holding on without buying water like I was doing a year ago. Just sparse watering weekly, not the normal watering twice weekly that I like to do in weather this hot. We'll see how things do. Rain is forecast later in the week.

I got recruited to go to the Fort Davis mountains to service Kelly's feeders while he's in East Texas, so I decided to try for photos of some species there that I don't have at CMO. Didn't really get the shots I dreamed about. This is what I got though. First, is a Painted Redstart. I heard the male singing from where I was sitting but never could get a clear shot at it.

Next, is a Grace's Warbler I spotted high in a dead Ponderosa Pine tree (compliments of the 2011 drought).

And finally, the bird I most wanted to photograph, a male Rivoli's Hummingbird. I had hoped to get it in sunlight, but all I could capture was a distant shot of one in the shade. Not quite its magnificent self.

And I did get photos of ordinary birds gathering nesting material. Here is a Lesser Goldfinch.

And a Black-chinned Hummingbird. 'Tis the season....