Always logistics

Yellow-rumped Warblers & Chipping Sparrows enjoying bird bath

I had to come to town, but that means if the bears come tonight and tear down the hummingbird feeders, I won't be there to fix it. Rather than hanging them up out of reach on my 2" diameter poles that I know the bears can pull down, I chose to leave 3 feeders low plus one off under the canopy where hummers never use, but bears can't tear down. My hope is that if the 3 are gone, the hummers will settle for the one under the canopy. I only have about 4 hummers left that I know of.

Meanwhile, progress on the new bear-proof pole. It's going to be 3" in diameter, with a 2½" pipe inside and a 2" solid steel bar inside that for the bottom half of the pole. I'm confident that will do the trick. The pipe they bent was 2."

It's nice that my husband is good for something. Wearing sandals, he invented a couple of new dance steps. LOL  I'm going to need help installing the new pole. Any volunteers?

Coming to town past the rest area near Elephant Mountain, I noticed a dead part of a huge Soapberry tree had fallen down. The two Soapberry trees there must be of record age. I like the dead parts because they're usually a reliable place to find W. Screech-Owls. But I see there are still other holes left for the owls. I won't live long enough for my soapberry trees to get that big.