Sapsucker saga

I arrived at the oasis shortly after daylight, rushed to the trail cam to see if anything interesting was around. To my surprise, yesterday, around 4 PM, the camera captured a gorgeous, very vocal, male Williamson's Sapsucker. It had shown up at the drip, drank for about 3 minutes, left, and returned 10 minutes later, and drank for another 3 minutes. I ended up with 15 repetitious-looking 15 second video clips. Above is one from the first visit, and below is one from the second visit.

So I rushed from my cabin/computer to the oasis to see if it was still around. As I watched, I also watered trees. Around 11:30 AM Tira Overstreet and Corey Rich showed up. I told them about the sapsucker, and how slow birding was. I bemoaned that the sapsucker was gone. Then I went back to my quarters to eat a quick brunch. I hadn't even eaten before Tira came rushing up to tell me they saw the bird and photographed it. I tore down there. Not even 5 minutes had elapsed, but I never did see a sign of it. I was just glad they saw it and got to document it. Here is Corey's photo of it. It's not a rare bird. I've had them at the oasis before, but it's a difficult species to get to see. They're so erratic and unpredictable!

Beebrush was in bloom, not only perfuming the air with a wonderful scent, but also attracting lots of butterflies. They let me get closer and hold still better than birds. 😀

Monarch

Common Buckeye