Trick, no treat, for bears

I thought sure it would freeze last night but no ice anywhere. Had fun installing my bear unwelcome mat. Also the bucket feeder. The temporary feeder wasn't putting any seed on the ground for quail. I bought a new pad for the base of the bucket, but reluctant to put it on until bear season ends, even though it just cost a few dollars. A pain to put on though. The bottom of the bucket is now 7'4" above the ground. I could raise it another 6" by shortening the wire, but I feel confident no bear will mess with it. Greased pole too.

 

A Gray Fox helped himself to a drink of water. When he heard my shutter click, he disappeared pronto.

I've taken hundreds of photos lately with my Lumix trying to capture the tail spread on the selasphorus that's been staying in the courtyard for the past month. Today I set my camera for a faster shutter speed. It gave me an inferior photo, but at least I think the tail can be seen well enough to prove it's an Allen's Hummingbird.

Capturing the color didn't matter. I have dozens of photos showing that. Just needed the shape of the tail feathers. Awaiting confirmation from Kelly Bryan.

I counted at least 16 ducks on my tanks this morning. Had a hard time identifying them all. As best I can ascertain, they were mostly Green-winged Teal, with a few N. Shovelers, and a Wood Duck.

Loaded for bear

I came to the oasis late this afternoon after spending most of the day making my bear unwelcome mat. I'm a little worried that it'll harm birds. I made it according to specs, but it's vicious.

The weather is horrible. If possible tomorrow, I'll hang the bucket feeder and put out the unwelcome mat. Will post photos of the results tomorrow. Keep in mind the mat will just be used during Oct-Nov. Since I can't get it over the top of the pole I had to cut a channel. I've bolted it in place on the back side with metal straps.

Had planned on patching a hole in the big hill tomorrow, but my help had to cancel. Probably just as well, because of the wintry weather.

Game cam

I would put up my game cam if I could find it, but meanwhile, here's a photo of what may be the same bear, taken by a friend of a friend near Terlingua Ranch Road two days ago.

Had to come to town for a few days.

Temporary fix

I put up this temporary feeder until either the bear tears it down or I get the pipe on the bucket feeder re-threaded. Also greased the pole. I think the bottom of this feeder (8'4") is a bit higher than the bottom of the bucket was, but I'm going to raise the bucket another 6". Considering a bear unwelcome mat under the feeder, and may even have to stop feeding the birds during Oct-Nov.

I'm surprised and relieved that the bear hasn't bothered the madrone berries or hummingbird feeders...yet.

Saw a Rock Wren today. They're fairly common here, especially in the winter, but I realized I've never posted a photo of one, so here it is.

Made my third, and final, fruitless trip out the lake road looking for Mary's Giant-Skipper. I'm over that! This next photo is notable only in that this Black Swallowtail is nectaring on verbena. Not much of it left, but this late in the year it's amazing I have any.

Having so much sotol on the slopes makes the land look hairy, or in botany terms, pubescent.

Still bearing the bear

At least he couldn't bend the pole. I presume he just climbed up it. (I saw an online video of a bear climbing a pole.) After climbing the pole he apparently put his weight on the horizontal one-inch pipe and it came out of the coupling. Messed up the threads. We can re-thread it and screw it on farther. But that won't keep him from destroying the feeder. He bent it horribly. I hammered it into shape as best I could. If the pipe hadn't come apart at the coupling, he would probably have bent it. That would have been harder to fix.

My latest plan is to raise the bucket another foot and grease the pole. Maybe put an unwelcome mat underneath. Those have nails sticking up that bears don't like. With my luck, he'll probably remove the mat. If that doesn't work, then I'll stop feeding in Oct-Nov.

I feel confident that this next bird is an Allen's Hummingbird, but need a tail spread shot to be positive. I'm trying. Took over 100 pics of it today. Will try again tomorrow.

Pine Siskins and Pink-side form of Dark-eyed Junco at bird bath.

At CMO in spirit

When I can't be at the oasis, I love seeing photos taken by others who are there. Ad Konings took these great photos yesterday. Will have to tide me over until I get there tomorrow. Shared here with his permission. (Lucifer Hummingbird, Blue-winged Teal, and Black Phoebe)

Alpine surprise

We went to Odessa today and got home about 2 PM. By then it was very windy and felt cold. I didn't plan on going outdoors. But a hummer went to a feeder outside the window and left before I could get a photo. It was either a Ruby-throated, Black-chinned, or Anna's. When it didn't return I decided to walk around and see if it was perched somewhere. While looking for it I saw a Common Grackle fly into a willow tree on the edge of one of our ponds. It didn't want to come out and I couldn't get a decent shot at it. Of the whole bunch I took, this was the best one.

So I decided to go back out and try again. Still no better, but before I totally gave up, a second one perched on a utility wire near me. What luck!

Bronzed interior form

I've seen the species several times before, but it is considered rare for the Big Bend.

There were also a bunch of ducks on our ponds. Only seven of them can be our domestic ones, so at least four are wild Mexican Ducks. I can't tell them apart. Two flew off before I took this shot.

Sad to see summer go

I didn't even water while I was at the oasis today. No need giving trees false hope. In 48 hours it may be down to 20.°  Meanwhile, visiting birders and I enjoyed a lovely 87° day with ample birds to keep us occupied. Together we had around 40 species. Here's a selasphorus that I hope they got a sharper photo of the back on. I think it's an Allen's. Will need to consult Kelly Bryan to be sure once I get better photos.

I hiked among boulders and lechuguila, as much as my body would allow, looking for a Mary's Giant-Skipper. The lechuguila patches are up above where I parked here. (Oasis in background)

Lots of stuff blooming, even a couple of Indian Paintbrushes.

This Hermit Thrush felt the need for a drink, but not a bath.

Didn't want to leave

I hate to leave the oasis when the weather is as perfect as it has been lately, so I took a few picture to hold me over until I can get back. Sure hope it doesn't freeze before Thanksgiving. I love green vegetation. Sigh!!!

Path to back bird bath

View of  bird bath

Dry dragonfly pond

Day of rest, relatively speaking

I made up my mind that I was going to relax and enjoy the oasis today. Not only did I want to de-stress before going to town, but today is a Global October Big Day, so I wanted to see how many birds I could tally. Got 39 species, not bad for this time of year. Here's a female Townsend's Warbler enjoying the new bird bath.

The Golden-fronted Woodpecker is still around. I'm hoping he'll devour the acorns before the bear gets to them. I saw some ripe ones today on the Chinkapin Oak that was ravaged last year, but I left them there for the woodpecker. Gotta keep him happy.😀

Quite a good number of butterflies lately, including lots of Common Mestras.

Southern Dogface

American Snout

Of course, I spent most of the day watering, but I don't consider that work. It's my therapy. Rainfall this year has been 2/3 of normal, with record heat this summer, but I've managed to keep the oasis looking lovely.

A bummer of a day

Really got stressed and bummed out today. Came to the oasis at daylight. My sister and her daughter were headed up the mountain because they heard dogs barking up there and wanted to see what was going on. They located the action. An Aoudad had been trapped by two dogs. They took this short video clip. I've spent three hours trying to figure out how to get it downloaded to here, and finally got it. She had it on her cell phone at her place and it needed to be on my Flickr to get it on the blog. Technology, can't live with it and can't live without it.

If you can't get the video to play by clicking on it, here's a link to her Facebook page with it on.
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=2461550040548189&id=100000796524689

Then I was gung-ho to look for a Mary's Giant Skipper, so I braved the horrible 3 mile lake road again, walked for over an hour over treacherous terrain, all in vain. I'm not going to try again. I'll end up hurting myself or ruining a tire or something.

Got back to the oasis and felt lucky to get some good photos after much painful effort and contortion. Downloaded to my laptop, deleted from camera. You guessed it. They were somehow corrupted and wouldn't open. So maddening!

Here are a couple photos I took on the lake road earlier today. They downloaded fine when I got home.

Woolly Paintbrush

Living Rock Cactus

Broomweed

Lots of blooms

The Mexican Redbud is blooming again.

Ton's of yellow flowers everywhere.

Yellow Bells - Tecoma stans

This is getting the time of year that Mary's Giant-Skippers fly. Their host plant is Lechuguila. I spent an hour today searching through Lechuguila looking for them. Not giving up. Would be a lifer for me.

I talked to my butterfly guru, Brian, and he gave me a better idea what to look for. They're smaller and grayer than I had thought they'd be.

Determination won the day

I came to the oasis midday with a pre-made new arm for the top of the seed feeder. Everything went wrong that could. At one point the feeder full of seed crashed to the ground and landed on my hip.

 But too much to explain. Suffice it to say, I finally got the feeder to suit me.

I didn't have time to watch birds, but did see a rare (for the Big Bend) White-throated Sparrow. Also a couple of Lucifer Hummingbirds. Hoping the sparrow is still around tomorrow so I can get a photo. But I have to water tomorrow, and have to go to town in the afternoon, so it's not going to be easy.

Things are looking good considering the oasis got less than 9" of rain so far this year.