Feeder frenzy

After being in town four days, I arrived at the oasis to almost all hummingbird feeders empty. Of the 13 feeders I had up, plus a large 48 oz one for good measure, only 3 had a little bit of sugar water left in them. So I frantically filled clean feeders and washed the dirty ones. Before I go back to town I'll add a second 48 oz feeder (gifts from Kelly Bryan)

Drying feeder bases

Next I began watering the oasis. Got half done and came to the house for brunch. Took a long nap. When I got back down to the oasis it was 4 PM and 105°. That definitely slowed me down.

Saw this nice fresh Gulf Fritillary...

And always love seeing lots of juvenile Lucifer Hummingbirds. On the second photo you can tell this male is already developing the signature attitude.

Good chance of rain this weekend although I'm not optimistic that my tanks will fill since there's not a Pacific hurricane in the mix. But there's still a 50-50 chance the oasis will get some rain.

Most of you won't be interested in this next subject, but since I'm the only person seeing Mexican Amberwings in Texas I feel a responsibility to survey their numbers and range here. So far I've documented them in Candelaria, Lajitas and CMO. It seems they like pond scum and are most plentiful in the fall. I never see them in the mornings, just afternoons. To positively ID one, you need to see the wing venation. The Mexican have cross-veins in a certain area of the wing, thus:

My pictures are never very satisfactory, and at one time they had me collect a specimen for them. One and only ode I've ever netted, or hope to net. (see details in post of Oct 10, 2014). I feel compelled to learn the wing venation so I can identify my photos myself, without having to constantly ask for help. Here is an example of how I go about it. From the photo I crop the diagnostic wing section, then flip and/or rotate it to match the above example. On the last photo I've outlined the diagnostic cells.

Lajitas, Oct 12, 2016