Great oasis day!

I arrived at daylight and immediately saw that all but one of my dozen or more hummingbird feeders were empty. Hummers were buzzing frenetically. As quick as I could I filled clean feeders. For awhile the feeders were loaded with swarming hummers, but soon slowed down. Hummer migration is underway!

Lots of Lucifers, Black-chinneds, a Rufous or two, and several Calliopes.

Next I started watering, hurrying to get done before my eagerly anticipated guests arrived. Tripp Davenport and Tony Gallucci are big into dragonflies and better at IDing them than I am. I was hoping they'd find stuff I didn't know was there. Did they ever! 

There were some harrowing  times though, when the species they came to see had perched close to me for two hours before they arrived, then when they were almost ready to give up and leave, after several hours of not finding it, they finally located it. The Mexican Amberwing, of course.

We found about a dozen California Spreadwings. By the looks of it, there'll be even more before long.

Tony found a Metallic Pennant, which was a lifer for me! I didn't get a good photo because it was way high in bad light.

And Tripp found a Tawny Pennant, only my second one ever. It was high in a tree also.

Really wore myself out, but worth every bit of it! After they left, I washed the dirty feeders and dragged myself back to town.

Getting ready for fall migration

I worked hard preparing for spring migration, which turned out to be well worth the effort. It was awesome! Now preparing for fall migration. I think it'll be awesome too! Getting stuff pruned and mulched, eliminating goatheads, and of course keeping things watered. Stuff I would do anyway, but more fun anticipating the reward while doing it. Nature is helping prepare fruit for the migrants. And there are more than enough insects to feed an army!

A few persimmons are ripe already

Ripe condalia berries

The Chinese Pistachio berries are still green but they'll be great for when the other berries are gone.

So far the only migrants are hummingbirds. Here's a migrating Rufous male.

When I arrived at the oasis at daylight today, all but one of the feeders were empty and hummers were in a frenzy. I hurriedly hung fresh full feeders, adding a couple of large capacity feeders to the dozen normally there this time of year, and soon the birds settled down. 

Cute Alpine surprise!

Yesterday I went out to our ponds to look for odes and was shocked to see a baby duck. I hadn't even known there was a nest on the place. I hope it survives!

So much wonder at CMO!

Finished watering today before it got too hot. No more bear sign anywhere, but my sister said she saw one last week on her critter cam. Still fighting goatheads. It'll be ongoing, but worth the trouble eventually.

Highlight of my day was photographing this female California Spreadwing having Familiar Bluet for breakfast shortly after 8 AM.

Leaving the oasis this afternoon, I noticed this white patch of rock to the west of my road. Funny I had never noticed that before. If I was way way younger, I'd climb up to it.

Additionally, my sisters found a dart point on our mountain. My archaeologist sister, Andrea, said it's a Middle Archaic "Almagre," dating to 4,000 yrs. BP. So much wonder!

AND... another new flower species for our land. Warnock's Justicia (Justicia warnockii). I had never even seen a photo of that species before since there are none online. Totally awesome!

Bear sign

I would not have known a bear visited the oasis recently if I hadn't seen fresh claw marks in my prized Chinese Pistachio tree.

I know it's recent because the flaked-off bark is lying on top of the fresh mulch I put under the tree last Sunday. So far I haven't seen any other indication of bear presence. Maybe I will see more sign as I finish watering tomorrow.

I'm really exhausted tonight. After working a couple of hours in town, I arrived at the oasis late morning, followed by a visitor that really wanted to see the Mexican Amberwings. Luckily, it was still here. We couldn't find any California Spreadwings though. I didn't get much watering done in the 105° heat. I'll finish in the morning.

Watering day at the oasis

I went down early this morning and watered, inventoried the odes, and serviced feeders. Russ had created a "wobbler" for me to water with, which I enjoyed using today. It's supposed to put out more water with less evaporation in the process than my regular sprinkler. It doesn't show up very good on this photo. It is running even if you can't tell.

On the odes, I was particularly wanting a better photo of the Mexican Amberwings. I think these are better than I got the other day. I actually saw two. Don't know if I got pics of both or all of the same one.

Also saw a nice Red-tailed Pennant, a species I don't get very often.

The oasis is still looking lovely.

I love the pondweed that's growing in the dragonfly pond. I wish it would spread to the big tank. Maybe one of these days.

Heat exhaustion!

I may not have fit the clinical definition of heat exhaustion, but something like it was going on with me yesterday afternoon. During the morning I functioned as normal. The mosquitoes were voracious, so I put on a long-sleeved shirt, which happened to be a dark color. Towards midday I was sweating profusely, something I normally never do. During the afternoon the temperature topped well over 100° with high humidity (something foreign to my body). I felt mild confusion, breathless and lethargic. Russ Rogers had come down from Midland to help with the watering, weed-eating, etc. which was my salvation. I had planned to take photos of us working, and of the oasis, but didn't happen. The dragonfly photos I did take weren't good because I wasn't setting my camera correctly.

If the mosquitoes don't abate in a week I'm going to put gambusias (mosquito fish) into the tanks. I had quit doing that this year thinking the mosquito larva would attract more dragonflies. The numbers of odes seemed about the same as would have been with the gambusias though.

Maybe Russ took some photos yesterday that I can share here later. I took pictures of a dragonfly that I thought was a Mexican Amberwing, a species that I'm expecting and many people want for their Texas list. (The last time I had them at the oasis was in 2019.) However, upon examining the wing venation on my photos, I'm not sure it's not an Eastern Amberwing.

We pumped the remaining water from the lower dirt tank and topped off both the stucco tank and big concrete tank. Sorry, no photos. It's sure nice to have all tanks brimful. That means the oasis will make it through until next rainy season just fine. Always a relief.

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UPDATE! I received copies of Russ's super photos and lo and behold, that is a Mexican Amberwing after all! YAY!

Here's one of his excellent California Spreadwing shots.

Successful oasis day!

Along with good rains always comes bad mosquitoes and ugly goatheads. My goal today was to service feeders and to do a better job of documenting the odes. I also hoped to get a photo of a blooming Sea-Urchin Cactus. It seems they bloom for only a couple of hours a year, at best. My reliable sisters monitored a couple and caught them blooming this morning. I rushed over and got a photo. Exciting for us! My first photo of the species.

As for the goatheads, they're winning the battle so far, but the war isn't over.

The odes were the highlight, even while getting eaten up by mosquitoes. Those annoying pests probably kept me from doing a more thorough job. But odes love them. I didn't see any new species, but I did confirm at least four California Spreadwings, which are rare in Texas.

I didn't even attempt to deal with the Cowpen Daisies. My nose ran nonstop and my eyes itched, but it would be worse if I got close enough to them to pull them, and with the mosquitoes and all....

A Four-spotted Pennant was a nice find too.

I only got photos of 3 of the 4 California Spreadwings. The first pair was interacting in the big tank.

In the stucco tank, I found a pair interacting too, but only got photos of this one, sporting slightly tattered wings.

Magical oasis day!

Even though I killed myself pumping water from the upper dirt tank to the lower, it was awesome to see all the tanks brimful. After spending the morning pumping and pulling goatheads, I sat by the dragonfly pond and watched odes in between gassing up the pump. And with little rainfall the last few years, it was great to have odes to watch. 

A couple of spreadwings intrigued me. Not sure what they are. I think they may both be California Spreadwings. Wish I could have gotten closer shots. If I had had more time to sit patiently, but so much catching up to do. Today was the first day I felt comfortable leaving Hugh home alone. (He did fine.)

Big monsoon! YAY!

Last night my sister called that they got an inch of rain and the arroyo that comes from the oasis was running big. So this morning they went to check the oasis for me, since I can't be there. Everything is full at the oasis, I'm planning on going down either Thursday afternoon or Friday morning, depending on how my husband is doing. Meanwhile, she sent me these photos.

Stucco tank brimful

Dragonfly pond (holds water for about a month)

Large lower dam below oasis (holds for a week or so)

Finally to the oasis

At long last I was able to leave my husband home alone long enough to go to the oasis. I hadn't been there since June 9, the longest I've ever been away, 24 days. While it was wondrous, it was overwhelming with so much needing done. I wasn't able to water everything, and wasn't able to eliminate the weeds that desperately needed removing, namely, goatheads and Cowpen Daisies. I used a weedeater to cut down a bunch of the latter. It's, at best, a temporary aid. Couldn't get them all, and they'll regrow. Need to get help, I guess.

As for the goatheads, I worked on them until I was exhausted, and needed to get back to town to fix Hugh supper.

Other than rushing around like crazy with no time to assess the butterfly and dragonfly situation, I enjoyed just being there in the peace and quiet, surrounded by odes, birds, and butterflies. Lovely to see some things in bloom that I rarely see blooming, like this senna. It's one I planted, but I don't remember now which species. Maybe Lindheimer's.

Hopefully, we'll get rain and hopefully I can go back in a few days to get some more done.

This is my daughter one month after her brain surgery. She still can't do much of anything.