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!