Today at the oasis

Since today seemed like the weather might be the least bad day for a while (past and future), I went early to water and service feeders. I've been experimenting with a feeder heater.  The terrible recent winds seem to have left what should have been a nearly full feeder empty, so today I put up a bigger, heavier feeder. If it's empty when I get there next time, I'll just abandon the project. Another problem I'm having with it is I can't hang it without tilting it, which causes the solution to gurgle. That makes it accessible to bees. Not being there to monitor it, I can't say for sure whether wind or bees or both were the problem, but I tried again. We'll see.

While I was watering I checked the water level in the reservoir of the water feature. Looking into the access hole, I saw at least two dead mice floating in the reservoir. When fishing them out with a stick didn't work, I crammed my hand through the opening, reached way down into the water and pulled the stinky slimy things out. YUCK! I have no idea how they got in there, but knowing mice, I shouldn't be surprised.

Almost had a camera catastrophe today, too. I carry my binos and camera around while I water, but took them off from around my neck to get down on hands and knees while fishing for mice. Afterwards, when I went to put them back on (I have to do the binos first so I can use either rapidly if need be), I grabbed the binos from the viewing counter, but the dangling strap yanked the camera off the counter as I did it. Somehow, I managed to catch the camera mid-air without it hitting the ground. That would have been devastating. More so because I'm still stressing over my phone deciding to factory reset itself all out of the blue. Must be a glitch in some system, somewhere. Had to download all my apps, and still haven't gotten my email accounts to where I can check them online. Or ebird, and who knows what all else. It's a nightmare for me. If it happens again I'm going to get a new phone.

Here are a few photos from today. First is the small oak thicket beneath the biggest Live Oak tree. It's a little thicket that has attracted several rare warblers in the past (Worm-eating, Cerulean, Grace's, etc.). Well, no warblers at the oasis yet this year, but the thicket made a bunch of acorns this winter. I wonder what will find them this time of year.

Next is a weird thing I saw happen. As a Hermit Thrush seemed to be posing for me, I rapidly shot photos of it, always hoping for a good sharp one. All within a moment in time, it regurgitated a berry (probably mistletoe) and swallowed it again. Here's the action I caught. Didn't get the split-second regurgitation. Never saw anything like that before! (Photos are in chronological order, seconds apart.)

Several Ruby-crowned Kinglets must have been having territorial disputes. At least one had its red crown showing every time I looked.

The potential hybrid Anna's x Costa's Hummingbird is still present, but I imagine it won't be for long.

I got back to town before dark, exhausted.