One bucket at a time

The weather in Alpine was so lovely this morning, and I hadn't been to the oasis in five days, so I headed south. Not long after I got here it started getting cool and windy. But I persevered.

By now you must surely be thinking the bucket feeder can't be worth all the trouble it causes. But it is. And I think it's finally done and won't need any more tweaking. 

The other day I wasn't here and my son went to crafting some cups to put below the feeder ports. Too much seed was ending up on the ground.

In order to install the cups, he took the handle off the bucket. He didn't know that it has to be bent just right or it doesn't work right. The wire handle is extremely thick stiff wire. So he didn't see a reason to close the loops completely. Logic would tell you that would work just fine. Knowing what I know, I would have just moved a table underneath the bucket and worked on it there.

Anyway, when I got to the oasis midday today, the bucket was hanging by one handle. It seems funny to me now, but at the time I was stressed over all I had to do. Turned out it wasn't as hard to get it back functional as it had been the first time I had to do it years ago. I can't imagine how the handle got off the bucket. Must have been a pretty big animal yanking around on it.

My son is invaluable to the oasis. I feel like I could no longer maintain it without his help. It was getting too much for me. So good to know he'll be here when it rains and water needs to be pumped. Meanwhile, he's going to help me carry water to the courtyard. The house's rain barrels are empty and no well. I hate to lose the trees there when 100 gallons a week should be enough to keep them alive. Today I brought about 40 gallons from town but was frustrated that I couldn't get it out of the tank with a hose. My pickup is too low for it to gravity feed, so I ran it into a bucket and carried it to the trees the way our ancestors had to do it, a bucket at a time.

This is the first year at the oasis that I haven't fed hordes of White-crowned Sparrows at the feeder all winter. It's really weird. I didn't even see a House Finch today. And not because of the bucket. There was ample seed on the ground. 

Yet, I saw a Swamp Sparrow at the feeder... first time ever at the feeder. Usually they hang out around the edge of the tank, although I've probably only had a couple through the years.

What do the birds know that I don't know?