A respite of sorts

Slept in a bit, but felt fine eventually. Couldn't clean in the tank because it rained in the night and put puddles of water in it. But I had anticipated that might happen so yesterday I cleaned the areas that usually need patching. Now I have to wait for it to dry out again. And just when I had some help lined up too! But it's not a big deal in the scheme of things.

After I patched for a while I got the urge to go photograph an Anna's Hummingbird that's nesting in Big Bend National Park. I hated to go all that way, like 3 hrs of driving, just to snap a photo of a species I see a lot of at the oasis. But this is a first nesting record for Brewster County and I couldn't resist. Glad I went. Seeing other people's photos is not like seeing it in person.

I only hung around five minutes or so because it kept leaving the nest and then going back, over and over. I've never seen an Anna's on a nest before, but I know Black-chinneds and Lucifers don't act that way. It's hard to imagine my presence bothered it when it's nesting directly above a picnic table that I'm sure gets used every day. And I stayed well back from the table. Didn't want a photo of just the bottom of the nest anyway. The campground was full to capacity and people were camping at that spot. I'm more inclined to think it's a first time nester and unsure of itself. And unsure which state it's supposed to nest in too, I guess. They normally nest in California. There are nesting records in Arizona and north of California too. And two records for Texas; one in El Paso (2000) and one in Jeff Davis County (1976). 

This morning an award-winning filmmaker, directing a crew for a documentary on Big Bend, visited. This summer they're filming birds and wildlife in the Big Bend and plan to get Lucifer footage, hopefully displaying, to include in the PBS special. That will be fun! He showed me some of their work and it's beyond impressive.

Getting quality display footage will be a huge challenge. I doubt it will happen, but I hope it does.