2023 Big Sit!

Yesterday was our 5th CMO Big Sit. We tallied more species than we had for any other of our Big Sits. I can't announce our total yet.* Here we are.

I had awakened at 4:30 AM, so decided to go to the oasis (from my nearby quarters) and see if I could get some nocturnal species. I put on an old pair of work jeans over my pants, because it was in the 40°s, planning to take them off when it warmed up. Totally forgot, but I did get all the night species that were here (Elf Owl, Great Horned Owl, Common Poorwill, and Lesser Nighthawk) The birding went great and we had fun. 

Midday, I took a nap, leaving the others to 'hold down the fort.' I missed a few species by doing that, but they count if any participant sees them from inside the "count circle." The Cape May Warbler was no longer at the oasis, unfortunately.

Today I was none the worse for the wear, and got the watering done. For the next week there'll be daily groups, so I'm going to hang around until Thursday. Here's a Lazuli Bunting I photographed yesterday.

Also this foraging Virginia's Warbler.

This Rose-breasted Grosbeak is from today. He seems very pleased with himself that he found a couple of unripe mulberries on a little volunteer bush near the water drip.

While watering today, I raised the lower drip basin up a bit, which will be better for photography. However, I'm positive the javelina will dislodge it if I don't concrete it in. We'll see.

People often ask me how many bird species the oasis has hosted. Per ebird, it's officially 272, but I know there are others that didn't have enough documentation to be accepted, not to mention the ones that surely stopped by when no one was there to see.

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* 2017 = 48 species

  2018 = 51 species

  2019 = 50 species

  2022 = 43 species

Let the games begin!

Like the desert waits for rain, it seems like the oasis lies in wait all year for spring migration. Then, as if a cloud has burst, birds and birders emerge like blooms after a monsoonal rain.

Today was a very busy day with birders, but not too hectic for the most part. Morning VENT group.

Then, two afternoon groups. Here are some of those participants. Others were at the back water drip watching for the Cape May Warbler, now in its fourth day at the oasis. All visitors today got to see it.

I hardly ever get to observe Lark Buntings in their breeding plumage, so it was a treat to get a quick glimpse and photo of one today.

Otherwise, not much exciting. I tallied 45 species today. We need to do way better than that tomorrow at our Big Sit competition, and I'm sure we will.

Another fun migration day

The Cape May Warbler was still at the oasis this morning. One birder drove down from Alpine just to see it. Since he had only twenty minutes to spend in pursuit, I worried the bird wouldn't cooperate. But just as he was ready to leave after 45 minutes, it showed. Here are birders waiting patiently for it to come to the water drip. At least the birder got the bird to compensate for being late to class.

In two more days the oasis will host the first large group of the year, then the next day (Friday) will be our Big Sit! Good times!

Migration is happening!

Started out good. I already got a lifer at the oasis. Cape May Warbler.

It was kind of a fluke, too. I'd been rushing around watering all day, watching birds in between moving the hoses. I sat for a bit at the birdbath/drip with a visiting birder. The birder was quite knowledgeable, but a 20 yr old who had only been birding a couple of years. I saw a Myrtle's Warbler bopping around, but couldn't get a photo because my camera was set wrong. When this birder got a good photo of it, I was determined to get one too.

While waiting and sorting through the Yellow-rumpeds, I saw a bird that I thought might be the Myrtle's and snapped a few photos of it. I asked the birder something to the effect of "what was that?" Neither of us even considered anything other than a Myrtle's or Audubon's. It happened so fast. I'm sure we were both thinking it was maybe a hybrid Yellow-rumped, or something. Luckily, I snapped photos first, and worried about the ID later, like when I downloaded my photos onto my computer. That's when I realized. Keep in mind, my eyesight isn't so good; my camera monitor is broken, and the birdbath is back in shade. And the birds are flitting a mile a minute.

Good birds at our ponds in town too. Wish I could be in two places at once. Here's what I saw looking out the window at my birdbath in town late yesterday afternoon.

Night-time blogging

I woke up in the middle of the night and couldn't sleep, so decided to catch up a bit on blogging. Migration is just starting to get underway, so it's going to be exciting. Yesterday I had a White-faced Ibis at our ponds in Alpine.

 At CMO, a couple days ago, I saw this animal scat, and wondering what it is. I think it's mountain lion.

What I found most interesting about it is that an impenetrable thicket nearby reeked of rotten meat. I'm thinking there are the remains of a kill in it. So dense is the thicket that I believe vultures couldn't get to it. 

My son went to the oasis with me that day (20th) to help with chores. We gave the ground feeder a bit of a new look.

The rocks we placed there give the birds perches, but also, hopefully wedge against the feeder making it harder for a bear to jiggle seed out of it. And will help prevent the erosion that was going on.

Hybrids, or intergrades, between Myrtle's and Audubon Yellow-rumped Warblers seem to be more prevalent than people realize, perhaps as much as 25%. I've really noticed that lately. Basically, the Myrtle's has a white throat and white eyeline, whereas the Audubon's has a yellow throat and no eyeline. This next photo, taken at my birdbath in Alpine, shows a bird with a yellowish throat and no eyeline, making it an intergrade, I believe.

Some individuals are even more obvious intergrades. Here's a video clip from the bird bath at CMO showing a male with a white throat and no hint of an eyeline. (Background calls are dove and quail).

Lastly, here's a photo of a male I found online showing the yellow throat of an Audubon's, but the white eyeline of a Myrtle's.

Got a decent photo of a Summer Tanager at the oasis that day also. They don't nest there, but probably found a few ripe mulberries, or just looking for some. Getting that time of year.

 

Oasis never boring

While watering today, I discovered a dead Lucifer Hummingbird hanging upside down from a tree. The only cause of death I can come up with is old age. Not too hot, not too cold, plenty of ocotillo to feast on, etc.  My niece propped him up and photographed him.

Then I noticed that the ground around the new "bearproof" feeder has been eroded away by birds so bad that the Scaled Quail could no longer reach into the ports from the ground. 

The doves will use the perch, but the quail won't, or can't. Instead they were jumping up and trying to snatch a morsel while in the air.

Naturally, I was horrified, and rushed around finding rocks for perches for them. In no time at all they were happy campers.

Too exhausted to blog more tonight....

A few surprises today

First surprise was when the Graham family showed up at Johnson's Ponds here in Alpine. They didn't know it was my place, so they were surprised to see me too. Small birding world!

Next surprise was, as we were sitting on the patio visiting and watching the hummingbird feeders, a pair of Red Crossbills showed up at my new birdbath. Here's Robert's photo of one of them. 

He also shared with me a few other lifers he got at the oasis in the last couple of days. He worked hard to get a suitable Lucifer Hummingbird shot, and far exceeded my expectations.

And we all worked hard to get his lifer Elf Owl shot, and here it is. I'm impressed!

I'll never be able to take as good of photos as the amazing photographers who visit, but I think I get as much pleasure from being a part of theirs as they do. It takes the habitat I furnish, and the expertise they have, to make it happen.

Hosting a bit of history

Two birder brothers (Philip & Robert Graham) visited the oasis today, bringing their 89 year old father, Norman, with them. Norman was the grandson of one of the owners of  the Graham-Daniels Ranch. Joe M Graham and Ed Daniels sold their two sections of land in the region of Boquillas Canyon to the park because their cattle ranching and alfalfa growing venture was unsuccessful and they were unable to make the payments on their bank notes of $4500. In 1938, they offered the land to the park, via their friend Everett Townsend, for the amount of their note.

Joe M Graham (photo from BBNP website)

Robert and Philip standing with me and Norman seated

Although the sale happened when Norman was only four years old, his family remained in the Big Bend area for a time. He remembers going to school in a one room school house in Marathon. When Norman was eight, his father (William) died and he lived with family and relatives near and far, including California. One of his birder sons currently lives in Africa, where he works with orphans. I'm pleased that they got many lifers at the oasis.

                                   

Today all birders to the area know the place as Rio Grande Village and Daniel's Ranch. It's a birding hotspot. Kinda like the oasis. LOL 

I love all aspects of the Big Bend, including its history. Years ago an article I wrote was published by the Center of Big Bend Studies on the history of Terlingua Ranch. And I maintain an extensive family tree on Ancestry.com.

Here are a few of the photos I snapped today while watering trees; Bell's Vireo, Brewer's Sparrows, and Townsend's Solitaire. The latter enjoyed some mulberries it found on a little volunteer mulberry tree. Seems in no hurry to get to its breeding grounds in Canada and Alaska.

Bear speculation

I'm still trying to figure out how a bear could have emptied at least 20 lbs. of birdseed from these tiny ports. (The feeder holds 60 lbs. but I only put 40 lbs in it when I'm there because that much should last well past my next visit.) No amount of turning or jiggling the feeder causes one seed to come out. There are no claw marks anywhere on the feeder. Hope to eventually get video evidence to figure it out. Because the feeder was empty, and because there was seed-laden poop around the oasis, I know somehow a bear did it.

I was greatly relieved to see no bear activity today when I arrived, and the feeder was nearly as full as I had left it, as it should always be. I'm thinking about putting only 20 lbs. in it, in the future, until I get the problem resolved.

Also, trying to figure out the size of the bear. If these paw prints are front paws, which I think they are, then the bear must weigh between 300-400 lbs., because the length of the paw from claw to opposite edge is over 8 inches. Hopefully, someone with more expertise than I have will weigh in.

After looking at the above photos, I regret not spending a little more time trying for better ones. I was focused on watering and getting back to town before dark.

I'm happy to report that since getting the hep C meds out of my system, my energy has returned. For two months I had been fighting fatigue. I actually watered today for nearly six hours, plus spent an hour patching in the stucco tank. No way could I have done all that in one day a week ago.

Gluing and taping the new hoses didn't work. I ordered one new hose and will use the one of the two the bear chewed that leaks the least, for now. Will eventually get another new one and put them in the back of my pickup when not in use.

The oasis is worth the trouble. So many people, including myself, get to enjoy it. Almost daily someone gets their lifer Lucifer this time of year, and sometimes multiple people get it in one day. Right now the ocotillo are in full bloom, so not many Lucifers at the feeders.

Ocotillo photo by my dear niece

More bearing of the bears!

Got to the oasis last night to discover a bear had chewed on my new hoses, puncturing them at least 50 times. 

I took them indoors and put gorilla glue on all the punctures, then taped the spots. Didn't want to use them until I'm sure the glue has hardened, but I think it'll stop most of the leaks. We'll see. I'm not terribly concerned about the hoses because I can start keeping them in a bearproof place when not in use. The above photo is just a sample of one section. Bears like new plastic and rubber. Remember how the liner to the new water feature got chewed up?

What bothers me more is all the poop I came across that was full of bird seed. And the new bearproof feeder was totally empty. I don't know how much the birds ate over the last 4 or 5 days, and how much the bear managed to get out, but something will need to be done to make the ports more bearproof. It shouldn't have been empty.

I had thought, and talked, about the possibility that a bear could painstakingly get out the seed, but didn't see a reason to address it, if not necessary. I put up the other trail cam so next time, I can see what's going on.

The hanging feeder had been tilted a bit, but not pulled down. That's progress!

Meanwhile, more birds, and birders, are showing up. Funny how the two coincide.

The best bird of the day was a female Cassin's Finch. 

My loving sister found a great birdbath rock on top of our mountain and lugged it all the way down. It was better than the one I had at the bird drip, so I installed it there. First photo is the real shallow one that I had been using, and next photo is the new one (basins below where the water drips down over the lip of the top basin). Birds seem to favor it, but too soon to tell yet.

The overwintering Townsend's Solitaire and Hermit Thrush are still present too.

I swallowed my final Hep pills today. I'm sure I'm cured. Since I had no symptoms, I won't be able to tell any difference. But good to have that behind me. (They'll test me in July to be sure I'm cured.)