Spring at CMO

In my eagerness to get to CMO, I left Alpine way before dawn.

Arrived at the oasis just at daylight, as planned. First thing I did was check the feeders. Not because I thought any would be empty, I knew none would be, but because I knew a visitor had taken upon herself to supplement one or more. She didn't say how many. Her email began, "Of course I saw the sign but the feeders were low..."

The only prohibiting sign on my property

My first urge upon reading the message was to jump into my pickup and head down to fix it. But I talked myself into waiting until my regular scheduled trip. After all, how bad could it be this time of year when I have a maximum of two hummers?

It was worse than I expected. She had put sugar water into the hummers' favorite feeder, not screwed the reservoir on correctly, and all the solution leaked out onto the table. It was too cold for bees when I arrived, but as it warmed up they started swarming where the feeder had been. Of course I had already taken it down.

Screwed on at an angle

I scrubbed the mess off the table as best I could. And even if she had screwed the base on correctly, I'm confident the feeder wouldn't have been hung the proper way and the result would have been the same. My kind of feeders (DrJB) are bee-proof, but only if hung correctly.

Before cleaning but too cold for bees

Hours after cleaning and 75°

When bees can access one feeder, they think all feeders are accessible and swarm them all. In the process of taking down the bee-covered feeders I got stung in the face. I didn't even know bees would sting in the winter.

I keep the feeders low this time of year. No need wasting sugar. The bases hold enough for about two weeks supply in the winter. Since I come down every 3 or 4 days, there's no need filling them. For the record, I am a responsible feeder provider. (I'm the only person in the world who adjusts the feeding ports to accommodate the Lucifer's curved bills.) But I'm sure the person meant well and was trying to be helpful. I'm not upset, just venting. Birders are always welcome to visit anytime, whether I'm here or not.

Since our week of winter seems to be over, I thought I'd conduct myself as if it was spring. I walked up my trail a ways taking photos of every flower I saw. After my self-taught crash course in plant identification, I thought I'd test myself before it gets overwhelming in a month or two. So here are some of what I saw. What I hope are the correct IDs in captions.

Fendler's Bladderpod (physaria fendleri)

Fleabane (Erigeron modestus tracyi)

Bicolor Fanmustard (Nerisyrenia camporum)

Desert Zinnia (Zinnia acerosa)

Blackfoot Daisy (Melampodium  leucanthum)

PS: I heard one hummer at the house courtyard where no bees were, but didn't see or hear any hummers at the oasis today. Still Phainopeplas around because of all the mistletoe berries.

To be continued tomorrow......