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Monday, July 27, 2020

Good oasis day

I'm still in awe that a month ago today the oasis got that miraculous rain. I can't complain about the difficulty of watering when I have all that wonderful water to water with. Today went better than it had been lately. By using two pumps that are both now working, I didn't have to drag as much hose and could water two trees at once.I can live with that. Can't live without a drip though. While the pump in the stucco tank is running the drip works, but I can only run it while I'm watering. So today birds came into the drip to bathe like crazy. I would never have seen this Yellow Warbler if not for the drip. First warbler I've ever had in July.


I'm going to put a 500 gallon tank on a stand and hook the drip up to it. That way I don't have to worry about freezing etc. Remember last winter I lost over 10,000 gallons of water when a faucet froze. The faucet was only on so the drip would work.

My sister has a weird (to me) aquatic species in her water hole (tinaja). Don't have an ID on it yet. There are two of them in the first photo.


I have a weird bat lately. It keeps going into the potty shed and can't seem to get out. So I open the door and it flies out. Soon it's back in there. And it flies all day. I'm afraid it's rabid or something. No idea what species.


The oasis is looking lush and lovely, but still needs a good rainy season after months of triple-digit heat. I'd hate to go into winter and next spring with no more rain. 
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UPDATE: Thanks to all who sent me an ID on the aquatic critter. It's a Long-tailed Tadpole Shrimp. A most fascinating, common, yet little known, crustacean that can be male and female, and hasn't evolved for 70 million years.

7 comments:

  1. That weird thing in the tinaja is probably a summer tadpole shrimp.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triops_longicaudatus

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  2. Geez. I am glad someone could ID it. Looked like a prehistoric tadpole to me. Emphasis on prehistoric. Lovely warbler photo!

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  3. It is prehistoric. They haven't evolved since the Triassic period.

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  4. Thanks! A male would have been better but have to take what I can get.

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