ODing on CMO

My plan was to arrive fairly early this morning, water until I got hungry and hot, then eat and nap. The rest I was going to play by ear, as long as the watering got finished mid-morning tomorrow so I could arrive in town before my son leaves for Austin. But life is what happens when you're making plans.

What happened, you ask? Well, the oasis was awesome and everywhere I turned something exciting was happening. I couldn't tear myself away. Finally, at 2:30 PM and 104° I forced myself to take a break.  By then the damage was done. After a nap I was still drained and head-achy. Pretty much done for the day. The temperature eventually stopped climbing when it reached 107.°

At one point during all the chaos I heard an unfamiliar bird calling incessantly. I followed the sound into the arroyo behind the oasis and immediately saw a coachwhip snake slithering away. I soon realized it was less than two feet away from the source of the calling. A nestling (Varied Bunting, I believe) was on the ground and a broken nest nearby. I theorize that the snake had destroyed the nest, probably already eaten a nestling or two and was coming for the last one before I accidentally startled it away. Nothing I could do though, so I left the nestling to its fate.

In between moving hoses, I occasionally paused to sit and watch the water drip. Soon migrants would come to drink and bathe. The best ones were a Townsend's Warbler, Yellow Warbler, and Warbling Vireo. 

 

Nearby I discovered a fresh Black-chinned Hummingbird nest. So many feathers filled it that I couldn't see how many eggs it contained. I didn't want to disturb it. And I couldn't focus the camera and put my hand up there for a size comparison at the same time. My camera is a two-hand operation. So not a sharp photo. I didn't touch the nest. My hand is just behind it. Otherwise you couldn't tell the size. I stood on a short ladder.

And I saw a leucistic Black-chinned hummer at the feeders but wasn't fast enough to get a good photo. This is all I got. It looked really white.

I don't get many Broad-tailed Hummingbirds at the oasis, but today there were at least a couple.

And this little selasphorus had such a short tail that I wanted a photo of the tail spread to be sure it wasn't an Allen's. It obliged. Definitely a Rufous.