Say's Phoebe saga

There's a couple that bought a 20 acre tract of land outside my east gate on Terlingua Ranch a couple of years ago. They live there in a camper and metal shed. They told my son this morning that they got "slammed" with rain last night, so I got excited and bought a can of gas for my gas pumps and came down this afternoon. My sister had already told me she didn't get rain a mile to my north. Well, you guessed it...  no rain at CMO either. I don't know what "slammed" meant, but perhaps the water that falls on his place runs east and what falls on my place runs to me to the west.

About four days ago I had thought the Say's Phoebe nestlings in the courtyard were less than a week away from fledging. Then the next morning I went outside and saw the nest on the ground and no babies anywhere. I couldn't imagine what could have gotten them. Haven't seen a roadrunner in ages. The nest was way up under the patio roof.

Well, when I got to CMO this afternoon I went to check my rain barrel to see if any rain had fallen into the courtyard and there was a fledgling sitting in about a half inch of water. I scooped it out and when I went back out later to water my Ruelia by pouring water into the basin, the baby was in the basin. (I have the pot in a huge basin so it won't dry out when I'm gone for a few days.) The basin is about 2 feet deep. I didn't notice the bird until I had poured the water into the basin.

I fished out the soggy baby.

Photo after second bath

I hadn't looked into the phoebe nest, but I did look in the Bell's Vireo nest the day the two nestlings hatched. And I removed the cowbird egg. But imagine my surprise when I peeked into the nest today and there were three vireo babies in it. There must have been a third vireo egg under the two hatchlings. I always take such a quick peek and photo that I have to look at my photo to see what's going on. Can you imagine how it would have been if the cowbird egg hadn't been removed? Those vireos wouldn't have stood a chance.

UPDATE: I just found two more phoebe fledglings, so that means the nest wasn't predated. I guess they left when the nest toppled off the ledge. Must have gotten a bit roudy.

Also, I found that the Elf Owl had relocated its nest to a lower hole. I think the Ash-throated Flycatcher won the battle over the first one. Here's a blurry shot. My little bridge camera doesn't take sharp photos in real low light conditions. Didn't have anyone to hold the spotlight. I tried putting my camera on a tripod, and holding the light but couldn't catch the male feeding the female. Maybe tomorrow night. I ran out of patience tonight. Was pretty tired.

I found a new flower at the oasis.... American Basketflower (Plectocephalus americanus).

I'm determined to climb to the summit of our mountain Thursday to photograph butterflies and flowers up there. Gonna go slow, slow, slow.