Bear videos

 When we arrived at the oasis at daylight this is what the feeder looked like.

We reviewed the one hundred plus video clips taken after we left yesterday. To save battery we leave a one minute time between short clips, so it doesn't flow well, but watching enough of them gives a complete picture of what's going on. For starters, the bear is getting better at getting seed from the feeder, based on his scat. The older scat has very little seed in it but the recent stuff is solid seeds.

After we left yesterday, he went to the feeder and spent hours spinning out seed, which he frequently paused to eat. Below are a few of the clips. To see more, go to this link:

 https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipMlgxADe3gD9EOlnQ4eL93lnuB6D90bIrbqcDAwa7nv-d4fVR6qrMUFhmRdCTyNYA?key=YzhDckRWelV3NDJIVjR2X1RmUTNOYUZoYTdUUUNn

We had put down a mat full of nails (unwelcome mat) that he carefully avoided stepping on. However, he was still able to access the seed by leaning across the mat. The dates and temperatures on the videos are not correct for some reason. Should be April 29, and I'm sure the temperature was not nearly that hot.

Texas Parks & Wildlife came out and helped us install a solar electric unit. It's not as powerful as an electric jolt from the grid, but still supposedly does the trick. We shall see. The rubber mat the TP&W helper is standing on is to keep birds from getting shocked. The current will only work if you stand on the wire and touch the feeder at the same time. Humans would have to do it barefoot to get a mild shock.

As I write this the bear is back behind the feeder, where he spent last night. He's waiting for  photographer Troy Williams to leave. (Photos by Troy)

Bear update!

We arrived at the oasis by daylight. The bear had been there during my absence and left another even bigger pile of poop (cell phone for size comparison), which had even more seed in it. And of course, moved the rocks again and dug it out again.

Promptly, we put down an old wooden unwelcome mat that we already had from before TX Parks & Wildlife had furnished us with a better one that's successfully in use under the hanging bucket feeder.

It still appeared that the bear could access the feeding ports across the mat. If you look closely at the next photo, you'll see smudges above the feeder ports. That's where the bear presses his nose as he tongues the seed out. (Photo taken before we put down the mat.)

He's a big bear, and since the spikes in the wooden mat aren't as thick as those in the other mat, it's possible to flatten them or reach across. The longer the bear is successful or entrenched at one location, the harder it is to deter, I'm told by TXP&W. They recommended we electrify the feeder. There's a way to do it that won't shock people or birds and is 100% effective. 

Only rarely does it enrage a bear to the point that it does bad damage, especially if it hasn't been hanging out for more than a few days, they said. 👿 So, I bought a $150 solar charger which TXP&W is going to help my son install tomorrow.

Meanwhile, a group of birders today got the "bear bonus!" The bear doesn't seem too perturbed by people. He does lumber off when he sees them. Not scared, nor aggressive, is how I'd describe it. And the people? Well, they're nature and outdoor lovers who appear not to mind. But that's perhaps before the bear becomes more territorial of the oasis, or hormones kick in, or a different bear comes along..... too many unknowns to chance it.

The "bonus bear!"

Matt Walter sent me a message after he left the oasis today, saying the rocks had been removed from beside the feeder when he got to the oasis around 9:30 this morning, and there was a pile of bear poop containing seed nearby. 

Photo by Matt Walter

So obviously the bear had figured out how to jiggle seed from the feeder, or access seed with its tongue or claws. I immediately made arrangements to go down tomorrow afternoon with my son and do something more to deter the bear. We thought we'd try putting an unwelcome mat down since the one at the hanging feeder seems to be working. 

Then awhile ago I got an email from another visitor today that had stayed after Matt left. She said, "What an awesome place you have!  We arrived at 8 am and stayed until about 4 pm. Lots of birds.  

Bonus bear, as well.  Around 2 pm we came back to the feeder area after a walk out beyond the wooded area. A large black bear was at the feeders.  It left, no problems.  At about 3:30 we were going to check the water feature in the woods.  The bear had decided to spend its afternoon laying on its back in the water.  We were all startled to see each other. But again, all was fine.  I have pics of the bear from the first meeting. "

Photo by Betty Stys

Well, clearly, a "bonus bear" isn't acceptable at all. Someone could get hurt. So we changed our plans and will arrive at the oasis at daylight in the morning, putting all our other morning plans on hold. I want to get any further damage that might occur tonight taken care of, besides doing what more we can to deter the bear before a large 10 AM group arrives.  I may never again say my feeders are bearproof! 

Here's a photo that Matt took today of a female Lucifer. I love that it shows how rufous-colored some of the females are. And some are so pale they're almost white. 

He also took this nice photo of a Black-throated Gray Warbler at CMO. It's a species I've only documented there a couple of times before.

A big early morning surprise!

I heard a birder arrive at 6 AM and went to join him when it started to get daylight. As we were birding, I looked over at the bear-proof ground feeder (the hanging one is bear-proof, too) to discover something had seriously tried to unearth it from the ground. It moved the large rocks we had wedged against the feeder so it couldn't be spun by a bear. One of those boulders weighed at least 100 lbs.

Had to have been a bear. I saw no evidence of hogs or javelina, though I think feral hogs could have physically done it. But they would've really torn up the place, especially the water feature, and left poop, and they wouldn't have spun the feeder around on its base. There was no bear poop either, but likely only because it couldn't get to any of the seed since my son has welded the cups onto the feeder.

Here's how the feeder had previously looked.

So I think that was one angry bear. The upshot is, we're going to have to concrete a big base around the feeder. But it is bear-proof! It passed the acid test! Hopefully that bear won't bother trying to dig it up again in the meantime, since it's a waste of precious energy.

A couple of my photos from today. Still no significant influx of migrants.

Migrating Black-headed Grosbeak

Year-round Canyon Towhee

Year-round Cactus Wren

Another tour group!

Today the VENT (Victor Emmanuel Nature Tours) vans inched their way toward the oasis. They reserve their day a year in advance. Usually Barry Zimmer leads the group. This is the first year I remember that he didn't, but his replacements were equally great guys! I did miss Barry though.

I think the oasis is almost a rite of passage for birders, like the Colima death march is. Today's group did that yesterday, so riding on a rough road probably didn't seem as bad as climbing up (or down) the Pinnacle's Trail in Big Bend National Park. No one complained anyway.

As usual, VENT provided us all with a lovely picnic lunch.

Birding was so-so. Not dead, but not peak migration quality either. Maybe the best is yet to come.

Lark Sparrow

Marbled Whiptail

Varied Bunting day

Lots of birders coming and going. Not many migrants yet at all. A visitor this afternoon expressed that she really wanted to see a Varied Bunting. She even sported Varied Bunting earrings.

 

I told her that none had been reported from the oasis this year yet, but one could show up... "I thought I heard one singing earlier," I added optimistically. 

She finally decided to give up and leave, remarking that I should say "hi" to the Varied for her when it showed up. I said I would, and I'd chastise it for not showing up for her. Not five minutes later one showed up and took a long bath in front of us. I'm sure her one hundred plus photos are better than the couple I snapped, and she left a happy camper.

Everyone enjoyed seeing a Lark Bunting in its summer plumage.

Big Sit after notes

Somehow I missed being in the group photo during the Big Sit 😥, but here are those that are in it.

And here's me during the Sit. I was up on the viewing roof trying to see over into the big tank where an American Pipit was. I didn't see it so we couldn't count it in the sit tally. Birds have to be seen from within our 50 foot circle.

We agonized as to whether this second kingbird was a Tropical Kingbird, which would have given us an additional species for our tally, but the ebird reviewer said they're both Westerns.

Western Kingbird by Mike Gray

2nd Kingbird by Matt Walter

Next are a few photos taken by Mike Gray of birds we were able to count in our tally. (Black & White Warbler, Elf Owl, and Peregrine Falcon)

Migration is just now getting into full swing. The next two weeks are going to be exciting!

Day of Big Sit!

The day went well. We got about the same number of species we get for every Big Sit. Somehow, maybe because we had more participants than usual, we didn't manage to get everyone together at the same time for a group photo. 

The parking area was full all day and I got a photo of that.

I was too tired to blog last night. No rare or exciting birds yesterday, it's still a bit early in migration. Had a Central Texas Whipsnake, which got mobbed by the birds.

And someone found a dead baby javelina on one of the paths. Didn't look to be newborn. Only cause of death I could think of was in a scramble to avoid birders an adult javelina accidentally stepped on it, but I could find no visible injury on it.

Of the numerous lovely birds we saw, a male Western Tanager stands out. It spent hours cleaning the mulberries off a little volunteer mulberry tree.

We saw Green-tailed Towhees constantly but only counted three because that's the most we saw at one time. (I only got a photo showing two.)

Everyone had a good time, including numerous visiting birders that weren't part of the Big Sit!

Killer day!

I arrived at the oasis around 8:00 AM. Birders were already there, but I needed to get the watering done before it got too hot and I got too tired. I persevered until around 12:30 PM when I was too exhausted to continue. Went to my quarters and fixed a brunch and took a nap. When I went back out to finish watering shortly after 3 PM, the temperature was 102° and stayed that way until 6 PM. I was really dragging, but needed to get it done since tomorrow is our Big Sit! 

I thought the best bird of the day was a Tropical Kingbird even though ebird didn't flag it as rare. At least that's what I think it is based on the white edges of the primary feathers.

The one remaining Tree Tobacco looks quite nice. Surprising since none of the others survived this long.

Too tired to write more. I'll post after our Big Sit tomorrow.

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UPDATE: I think the bird I called a Tropical Kingbird is actually a Western Kingbird that's molting it's white outer tail feathers.

Mini staycation

A few days ago the bird migration radar showed that over 1,800,000 birds migrated over Brewster County that night (https://dashboard.birdcast.info/region/US-TX-043), so I decided to just spend a few days hanging out at home and birding here. The next few days were half as many or fewer migrants, and I didn't see many here, but it was a nice home vacation anyway. The weather was lovely and the ponds area was redolent with the aroma of Black Locust trees in blooms. Flowers everywhere! It felt luxurious!

The best species I saw was a pair of Red Crossbills. For once, I didn't get stuck taking photos out the window. In the lovely weather, I was wandering around outdoors when I came upon the pair relatively close up.

Also enjoyed watching a House Wren, or two, bathe over... and over. It's the first time I've see a House Wren bathe. Looks like two different individuals to me. Even with my naked eye one looked darker than the other. But I only saw one come to the water at a time.

Hard to believe within a week the busiest time of year will be upon me. I feel ready though! I'm not under any illusions that I'll have a minute to mini-vacation at the oasis when I get there in a few days, but I'll be a happy camper I'm sure! Big Sit Friday, large group Monday, and in between constant birders coming and going. Hope the birds cooperate! The frenzy will last for 2-3 weeks at least!