2024 in review

I don't know how I made it in Alpine for nearly twenty years without my little water feature there. In mid January an Arctic cold snap sent temperatures plunging to 8° as I sat snugly by a fire watching birds out my viewing window at the water feature. It seemed like it had never been more popular. 

Late in the month, Lee made and welded cups to the bear-proof feeder to save on wasted seed and make it even more bear-proof. 

February came in with a bang, to my body anyway. On the first, I fell and got a goose-egg on my elbow on an already stressful day of doctor and dentist visits. 

We discovered birds couldn't get seed out of the feeder with the new cup/trays, so cut down the interior hoods over the ports, hoping the feeder would then be perfect.

Delays in finally getting my anticipated implant teeth, caused added stress. Had to start taking blood pressure medicine, hoping that would be temporary, but still on it.

March was so uneventful I only did three blog posts all month. It wasn't worth writing about then, nor is it now. More birders than birds, I would say. Lucifers arrived two weeks later than usual. 

April finally came, though it got off to a slow start.  In mid-April a Long-eared Owl showed up causing quite a stir for the two days it was there. This photo of it is by Renea Shepler. I did get a couple of poor photos of it, but nothing as awesome as hers.

Not until April's last week did things start getting crazy, when large groups arrived nearly daily! In the middle of that chaos, a big bear decided the oasis was a good place to take up residence.

Photo by Betty Stys

One visitor was recounting the birds she saw at the oasis, adding that she got a bonus bear too. I thought that was as good a moniker for the bear as any, so I dubbed it "Bonus Bear." Here is Bonus Bear's official portrait taken by Troy Williams.

Trail cam video showed the bear energetically rotating the feeder on its pole, and jiggling it, getting the seed out that way. We wanted to concrete it in so it couldn't be moved or jiggled, but the concrete would need days to set, and wouldn't set with a bear at it nightly. So we contacted Texas Parks & Wildlife, who promptly came down and helped us hook up a solar electric devise they had me go purchase. I greatly appreciate their expertise. It did the trick! 

After a few zaps, the bear moved on. I'd still like to concrete the feeder in, mostly for looks and also so we can put rock perches there for the birds like we had previously, but I'm afraid to. Not positive it would still be bear-proof if we do.

Before electrification

May arrived, hot and dry. Spring migration didn't produce any very interesting species, but lots of birders and sufficient birds to keep visitors happy. Keeping the oasis watered and maintained, while doing my best to stay fit, was about all I accomplished in May.

In June I was nearly out of water, so made the difficult decision to cut back on watering from about 5 hours a week to around 2½ hours. I carefully selected which trees to water and which weren't worth the cost in time and water. That way the oasis could hopefully be sustainable, and hopefully, I'd be physically able to continue doing it, without torturing myself. Mid-June, about the day after my decision, we got a big monsoon and everything filled up. I still felt determined to go with the new schedule. At some point it'll be necessary, so why suffer in the meantime. And as long as I have feeders, I'll have the species most sought after by birders. The oasis just may not look as lush, but everything has a price. 

The best June bird was a short visit by a Broad-billed Hummingbird.

July was cooler, with occasional small showers, but no bird activity to speak of, other than the regular nesting species.

Even though August is the middle of monsoon season, the oasis got no rain. A boring month.

September was cool, but otherwise much the same. It seemed most migrants were avoiding the drought-stricken area, although toward the middle of the month, some fall migrants trickled in. I always enjoy seeing migrating vireos, and the occasional Black-Capped Vireo, when one drops by.

In October I got a couple of fun migrants, including this handsome Hooded Warbler.

Meanwhile, my habitat in Alpine was producing some nice migrants, including this Blue-headed Vireo,

...and this Wood Thrush, among other species.

By November, I had pretty much given up on getting any rain. The oasis had barely gotten any more precipitation than our driest year of 2011. (Map as of Oct 29)

This year was only marginally better off due to that late spring rain, plus now having the above ground 60,000 gal. reserve tank that I didn't have back then. This time there isn't the option of hauling in water. Not only is it no longer being sold at Terlingua Ranch Lodge, but I'm physically no longer able to deal with the hauling. No other option except to eke by with the help of the reserve tank.

The first oasis Blue Jay dropped by briefly on Nov.1.

One interesting fall bird was a hybrid Anna's x Rufous Hummingbird that showed up at my Alpine feeders in late September and stayed until early December.

Other than the hybrid, December was a really boring month. Just grateful to be alive and well! The oasis survived another La Nina year! I look forward to a better year in 2025!

Balmorhea State Park

I learned something today about coots. That's one reason birding never gets old. So much to learn. I'd been seeing occasional reports on ebird of Red-Shielded American Coots. To me they looked like all the coots I've ever seen in my life, so I consulted our reviewer, Steven Cardiff. He said all American Coots in our country are the Red-shielded variety, so it's the same no matter how you report them. 

Today I went back to Balmorhea but this time, instead of just birding the lake, I quit before I was too exhausted to bird the state park there also. It had been under reconstruction for the last two years so today was my first time there since it reopened. These photos shows the long row of spiffy new canpsites. All they seem to lack is AC.  😀

My assessment is that the campgrounds are significantly improved and updated, but the rest is much the same.  I was pretty tired by the time I got there, but enjoyed it nevertheless. I'm not usually able to get close enough to ducks for good photos, so that was fun, even if they were just common species (2 Lesser Scaups and a Ring-necked Duck).

Once again, I didn't see the caracaras, but not surprised. The best bird of the day was a Gray Catbird at the state park that, regrettably, I wasn't fast enough to get a photo of. Here's where I saw it, which is still my favorite spot at the park. You can't really tell from this photo, but there's a small waterfall there. It carries water from the spring-fed swimming pool to the cienega in a spot I've never seen anyone else, even though the park was quite busy today, as it usually is.

Back to Balmorhea

Couldn't resist another visit to Lake Balmorhea. Ebird had showed quite a few birders going there on the 16th, so I went on the 17th, hoping birders would be there, but none were.

Then I went again on the 19th, sure that some would be there. How can I not see birders there twice in a row? But none. I like birders to be there because more eyes see more, plus they usually have scopes and big camera lenses that help identify distant species. On my own, I'm able to identify fewer species. However, most were easy to ID, including these Western Grebes and Ring-billed Gull.

Yesterday I didn't go and there were several birders there. Just my luck! But none saw the caracaras either, so I didn't miss that. They didn't see any that would have been lifers for me that I missed either. But they did see a couple of species that would have been new for my Reeves County list. No big deal. I had fun anyway. Going more often helps familiarize me with what's there, thus improves my ebird list, and reduces my frustration. Maybe I'll go again soon. Nothing is going on anywhere else. I don't even have the hybrid hummer in Alpine to entertain me, anymore. Bleak! Here's one of the two Rufous hummers I have in town.

The days will start getting longer tomorrow. That always  cheers me up, which doesn't make sense since January is usually our coldest weather. But Lucifers are only two months away! 

Still going.....

I went to the oasis a couple of days ago to water trees. Had to get into the tank to move the pump deeper into water. It was icy cold so I hurried. Will have to start using the reserve tank after this. 

It'll rain eventually. Watering keeps things alive, but not thriving. I think it's partly because harvested rain water has salts in it. We need good soaking rains, with the microbes they contain, to leach the salts out of the soil. 

I went to Balmorhea Lake today to keep my birding skills, such as they are, alive, but it wasn't a very successful trip. It was about my fourth time to try for the pair of Crested Caracaras there, again without seeing them. I'll keep trying. I need the practice on shorebirds and such, anyway.

Greater Yellowlegs

Thanksgiving

I took the opportunity to ride along with my son to my daughter's place in Rockport for the holiday. Had hoped to see 100 species in the county (Aransas). The weather was so cold and windy that I birded mostly from the car, only making it to 78 species. My daughter accompanied me on a couple of my forays. All in all, I had a great time. She and her husband have an awesome vacation rental there that she generously offered a discount to birders, so if you or anyone you know are interested, here's the link. Be sure to say you're birders.

https://www.vrbo.com/3540451

Here are a few of my favorite photos from Aransas County.

Meanwhile, the oasis is... well, still there. Not much happening these days

As always, so much to be thankful for!

Kudos

Kudos to frequent oasis visitor, Matt Walter, whose oasis photo of a Gray Fox graced the front page of the local newspaper, The Big Bend Sentinel, today.

Hard copy

Online copy

My back seems a bit improved, so I'm optimistic, although I'm sure I'll need to be real careful henceforth, and not lift anything over ten pounds. Birding is pretty boring lately, in spite of the continuing hybrid Anna's x Rufous Hummingbird here in town.

Bathing

Earth oven construction

Now that my creative son is living almost full time at the oasis, he decided to make a pizza oven (horno or earh oven).  It's a lot of hard work. Here's a link to a short video of him making the clay coating from the clay on our big hill. (I think you can click side arrows to see more of them.)

https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipMgboVZ6Iy-eF-Rgp4TXXa-X6llm_FTbW3JT-sKCVcANbjVAx5JezMoiJoCUIU5aw/photo/AF1QipOjVtkDqsICJ3K-CWwDlhluzjWUb95wM-suM4pY?key=SnFKMlBkTHBzUVlvR2RDOEFRckVQSkNuRERBa3NR

I know nothing about earth ovens. I hope it works good for him. It's not done yet, but here's how it looked when I last saw it. I'll post photos of it when it's done and in use.

The hybrid Anna's x Rufous Hummingbird is still visiting my feeders in Alpine, going on two months now. Otherwise, nothing going on. Might be a long winter ahead if wintering birds avoid this drought-ridden region.

Drought

In 2011 we had our dryest year ever, with only 2.25" of rain for the year. This year is shaping up to be the second dryest year. So far we're at 2.89" and likely won't get any more rain this year, although I'm always hopeful.

Yesterday, I went down and frugally watered trees. Not much bird activity to entertain me.The best photo I took for the day was of this Black-throated Sparrow. No matter how often I see or photograph them, there's something irresistible about them. Maybe it's that tuxedo look.

The biggest surprise of the day was a California Spreadwing. I hadn't see one since early July. Not only that, but it was the only ode I saw all day. Hopefully, when it rains, there'll be a population of them here like there was a couple of years ago.

Of course, the Lucifers are gone, and of course, I miss them! Life is good, so not complaining!

Link to recent podcast

Had my first Johnson Ponds Wilson's Snipe when I got back to town from watering trees yesterday.

Here's a link to a second podcast I did a month ago, or whenever.

https://www.buzzsprout.com/2077275/episodes/15904097-s3-e16-the-finer-things-the-christmas-mountains-oasis-with-carolyn-ohl

Looking back

I've been blogging for fifteen years now and decided to peruse as many of my over 2700 blog posts as I could stand to. While I can't read them all, word for word, it seems to me I brought up a lot of subjects that I never followed up on.

Like I talked about cleaning rent houses a lot. My husband sold them several years ago so don't have to deal with that anymore.

I talked about hoping I'd live to see my town habitat a good mature one. It now is, and I'm still alive. Today I got a better photo of the Blue-headed Vireo that's been hanging around. That was fun! 

And I talked about being sick a lot. I don't remember being sick all that much. I think I'm in good shape for my age. I have aches and pains that slow me down, but I keep on going. I barely notice my vertigo anymore, and I eat quite normally with my implants. The secret of living long is to not think of yourself as old, having a passion that you focus on, and getting plenty of exercise.  I should live a long time yet. The only meds I take is a low dose blood pressure medicine, but I don't know anyone my age that doesn't. I didn't mention all the many days I felt great, only when I didn't, so that gave a wrong overall impression.

I mentioned several times about working crossword puzzles. These days, I work the New York Times crosswords online as much as time and my painful shoulder joints permit. I started with the first ones online and working my way to present. I'm currently in 1997 (from 1993), so doubt I'll catch up in my lifetime. I also play online scrabble with my daughter.

I talked about trips all over the place for odes, butterflies and birds. I have no desire, or intention, to travel anymore. I'm perfectly happy between my two habitats that have really come into their own in the last 15 yrs. 

I talked about hating winter. I don't hate it as much now that I have my water feature right outside the window in town, and I  don't have to water the oasis as often, so I'm less stressed by winters compared to what I used to be. I'm happy to play computer games. While I still maintain my Ancestry tree, I don't work on it much, and definitely don't want to grow it. I'm only mildly into odes and butterflies, not enough to travel to see new species. So cabin fever isn't really an issue anymore.

I talked about the tank patching, etc. a lot, but now it's not possible for me to keep them maintained. I've cut down on watering. It is what it is. I know when I'm gone it'll gradually disappear, so no need stressing over it while I'm alive. Water seems to have been my focus, probably obsession, all these years. I'm trying to wean away from that.

I love AI and technology. I must average asking AI questions at least ten times a day. Ebird and AI have enhanced my life immeasurably, not to mention cell phones, computers, etc. So I'm good!

Please ask if there are some long forgotten subjects that you'd like follow-up on.

Wood Thrush success!

 A Wood Thrush showed up at my Alpine ponds habitat four or five days ago. When I first saw a very brief shaded glimpse of basically its head only, I thought, "Wood Thrush," but as that would be rare for here, I tried to convince myself it was probably a robin. I didn't report it as either species. Another quick glimpse that same day, or maybe the next, same dilemma. Then I went to the oasis to water and saw some nice birds there (especially a Hooded Warbler), and forgot all about the thrush.

When I got back to town and back to monitoring the ponds habitat, I finally got enough of a look to be sure it was a Wood Thrush and reported it. But all I could manage was this bad photo into the sun two days ago..

It was driving me nuts wanting a better photo of it. Just couldn't make it happen. It didn't help that the place was quite birdy, not to mention the distraction of two Hermit Thrushes also visiting the berry-laden Chinese Pistachio tree. And the air was alive with hordes of Monarchs further challenging my not-so-good eyesight. (Mostly my eyes are slow to focus darting between sun and shade, as birding requires.)

While I was attempting to get a better photo of the thrush, serendipitously, the Blue-headed Vireo (see previous post) popped into the berry tree where I got a better photo of it, my best one for Brewster County. All fun! It took twenty years of nurturing that tree, but so worth it because it makes tons of berries for fall migrants. (The mulberry trees are for spring migrants.)

I persevered, and yesterday morning I did get this halfway decent photo. But I still wasn't satisfied. 

. 

Visiting birders yesterday afternoon spent an hour and couldn't even get a glimpse of the thrush. It seemed to stay hidden in a lush pine tree near the berry tree, making brief forays into the tree for berries.

After my all-morning vigil today, the bird spent some time foraging on the ground (for protein?), and I got my desired photo! It was very satisfying, even though it wasn't any kind of record for me. The species had been here in 2021 and I had good photos of it, besides having good photos of one in Marathon from 2020. It's just always a fun challenge to get nice photos of birds rare to this area whenever possible.

 

Another nice bird I had here recently is this Black-throated Gray Warbler.

Fun oasis day

Yesterday morning in Alpine I got my first* ebird Blue-headed Vireo for Brewster County, which was exciting! (Alas, no time to focus the camera, but it's still IDable.)

After lunch yesterday I decided to go to the oasis and see what was showing up on the trail cam there, since this morning I would be busy watering trees. I wasn't disappointed. The cam had captured a beautiful male Hooded Warbler! So even though it was late in the day by the time I sorted through nearly a thousand video clips, I rushed down to the drip, hoping to photograph it. The cam showed it had been hanging out there frequently. Here's my setup...

There were so many cam clips of it that I couldn't decide which one to include here.

I didn't have to wait long to get my photo.

Per my plan, I watered trees this morning. Normally, when I finish, I head back to Alpine, but I wanted photos of the warbler for my today's ebird list, plus a couple of other species I had seen on the trail cam video clips. The warbler was really skittish, and I was only able to get one bad photo today. Didn't get the other species at all, even though they were captured on the cam while I was watering.

It's probably no wonder I didn't get them in the hour or so I dedicated to the task. I sat so still, watching the water drip that a fox and roadrunner came right up to me, not even knowing I was there. Also, mornings are the most active time for birds. Mid-afternoons can be really good if it's hot, but today was a perfect temperature. When the warbler did appear at the drip, the process of me focusing and zooming the camera flushed it. I would likely have been successful had I waited a couple more hours, but I was tired and hungry and already had that decent photo from yesterday.

I think I fixed the problem why I haven't been able to comment on your comments. Yay!

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* A female had shown up on my trail cam last year, but I hadn't been there that day (Sep 11), so couldn't count it.