Busy time of year

Driving down from Alpine early this morning it occurred to me that I don't think I've ever photographed Kokernot Mesa. It's about halfway on my trip, and I'm usually zooming through the flats by the time I get to that area. But today I stopped for a photo.

Right after going through our gate I saw a car parked by my sister's driveway. They were afraid to take their low clearance car any farther, so the birder of the two, not to be cheated of his oasis visit, walked in while his companion waited in the car. He made a quick visit to the oasis and was already back at the car before I arrived.

The last week of April and first week of May are the busiest weeks of the year. It's started already. Crazy! Had a carload of tourists show up. Once every couple of years that happens. They slip through my lackadaisical screening process. I nicely told them it was for birders only and they left after a little while. I just can't be open to tourism. It's sort of sad.

Then I had the opposite type here... a world travelled birder from England, Keith Betton, who had a life list of 8360! He ranks 33rd in the world subsequent to his visit to the oasis. Very impressive! He added 3 new species (Lucifer, Pyrrhuloxia, and Elf Owl) at the oasis. Now he's at 8363. it. http://www.surfbirds.com/cgi-bin/surfbirds/display.cgi?list=list1&lowVal=0&highVal=49 We were all disappointed the owl didn't cooperate good enough for him to get a good photo, but I guess that's how it goes.

Keith at new high of #8363

Blue-winged Teal (male)

Soon the new tank will be hidden in vegetation. Especially when the Tree Tobacco gets big. This is looking south.

Talk about a mouthful! This Ash-throated Flycatcher is nest-building in one of the agave stalks.

This will illustrate to you why I scrambled so to get sturdy poles at the edge of the parking area. This car put it to the test. I don't think the barrier budged. Had the pole not been there the car would likely have dropped down a foot over the edge and hung up there until we towed it out. And it might have messed up the front end, too. And this is basically only the beginning of busy season.

It's rather hard to tell from photos, but imagine that top pole gone. The car would have nothing to stop it from going over the bottom pole since gravel is filled in to the top of the bottom poles. The parking area still slopes, but not as bad as it did without me leveling it somewhat with fill. When it slopes too much there's the danger of a car rolling and causing damage. People see a bird and get excited and don't always put the car in park. I constantly have to be thinking of safety to people and vehicles. Comes with the territory.