Weird weather

I went to the oasis at daylight to get started watering before it got too hot. It was already 80° there. So good snake weather. I was carefully watching for snakes, rushing to get a sprinkler set up under the big oak tree when, in fact, I was rushing toward a bear. That scared the bear and it disappeared. Looking for damage, I found more chewed bark on an Arizona Cypress tree.

While he departed before I could get a photo, he did leave behind a huge pile of poop. It looks suspiciously like birdseed. But he didn't get into my seed feeder, so I'm guessing a neighbor's feeders got raided.

I think this young Bell's Vireo caught its first moth. It took forever to consume it.

 At around 3 PM today the thermometer read 116° and the skies were so hazy I couldn't see Nine Point Mesa. Strange stuff.

Here's what one soapberry thicket looks like. My other one doesn't even have leaves. Bleak!