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.