The sound of spring

A flock of about 40 Sandhill Cranes flew over headed north, though they seemed to be having second thoughts, maybe confronting a wall of cold air between here and Alpine.

They got out of formation and hung around reconnoitering.

 It was 80° here, but I had just talked to my husband in Alpine, and he said it was really cold there, so he was building a fire. The cranes rose higher until I lost track of them.

 It's supposed to get down below freezing tonight. I'm going to put a heat lamp under the apricot tree. Might make the difference, though it's only partially blooming.

And I saw my first Lucifer Hummingbird of the year just before dark. Unfortunately, I didn't expect anything to show up so late in the day and didn't have my camera on me. By the time I got to the camera, he was gone.

The injured Ringtail was bopping around at the oasis like a normal Ringtail, except he came up to me and sniffed my feet then went a ways away. He later climbed a tree. Hopefully, he'll recover. He's obviously blind in one eye and his ear on that side doesn't function right.

For those who can still stand to look at the tank, I made some progress today, pushing myself, since it's supposed to be colder tomorrow.

First shot is from south side, looking north, and the last one is from the north side, looking south. I used up the last of the gray Thoroseal today, so the rest of the floor will be white.