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.

Oak remorse

Started watering at daylight this morning, hoping I'd have enough energy to finish. When I saw new bear damage, I figured cleaning up the damage would push me beyond my limit.

Luckily, some big strong men (with big heavy cameras) showed up and made quick work of the damage. What would have been an hour of torture for me was five minutes for them. I've decided to have my son cut down what remains of that Chinkapin Oak tree. It consistently makes lots of acorns that bears consistently tear up the tree to get to. Here's how it looks now.  Just a waste of precious water. Not smart to keep doing the same thing, expecting different results. LOL

When Mike Gray designed the viewing blind, he installed a ground level opening for photographers. However, I'd never seen anyone, other than Mike, actually use it. So when I approached the blind, thinking no one was in it, I was surprised to see someone stretched out on the ground photographing quail through the opening. Of course, I flushed the quail when I went charging in. I'm sure they returned promptly though.

Birding is somewhat slow both at the oasis and in town. The hybrid Anna's x Rufous Hummingbird is still at the town feeders. 

Also a juvenile Anna's male hanging around that's very difficult to see or photograph.

A cold front is predicted in a few days. Maybe it'll bring some interesting birds with it.

Missed out on the fun!

A group of naturalists visited the oasis yesterday. I wished I could have been there. I was stuck in town recovering from a stomach virus that my husband was still sick with. It's all over town. My case was short, but violent.

In town, the hybrid Anna's x Rufous Hummingbird is still present. It really loves the Turk's Cap flowers. Since birding is really slow, I spend a lot of time photographing it.

That, and watching hurricanes (Helene & Milton) on TV, is about my main activity lately.