Impending winter

I always hate winters, and with our first cool front, I'm already feeling "under the weather." So I'm trying to focus on the positive. 

I've enjoyed this Great Horned Owl for most of the summer in Alpine. 

There's a local artist whose work I love. I can't resist sharing his Lucifer Hummingbird painting.

"Mule Ears Sunrise" by James Mangum

There's so much beauty in the world. We just get too bogged down in life's challenges to appreciate it enough.

Fall migration produced some fun birds. Best was a Yellow-bellied Flycatcher at both the oasis and my ponds in Alpine. Shows if you build it, they will come.

 Johnson Ponds in Alpine

CMO

Other fun birds were lots of Ruby-throated Hummingbirds, Belted Kingfishers, and Scissortail Flycatchers. This Great Crested Flycatcher in my Alpine habitat was special too.

There was a quick visit at my Alpine feeders of a Broad-billed Hummingdbird. I just lucked out, because I was literally sitting near the feeders, documenting the Rubythroats, when it photo-bombed my shot of a Rubythroat. Never had that happen before.

I pretty much birded until I could go no longer. Had no energy to water the trees at the oasis, but luckily, we got a little bit of rain here and there that it should be ok. Hopefully, I'll be able to water when it needs it next.

The bottom line is, I'm so grateful to be able to do all that I do at my age!

Latest bear antic!

I wouldn't have known the bear was even around if I hadn't discovered a heavy gas pump had been turned over. Only a human or bear could have done it, and I'm positive no person did it. Here is how it normally looks.

 

And here's how I found it today. It was hard for me to drag the pump back to where it belonged.

Got to the oasis this afternoon to get ready to water tomorrow. Always a killer. I had a helper planned, but he had a family emergency, so I'm on my own. I should be fine. I'll do what I can in the morning, then take a nap, and finish up in the afternoon like I always do. Maybe I'll see some good birds while I'm at it. Here are a couple of photos I snapped this afternoon.

Juvenile male Ruby-throated Hummingbird

Juvenile male Rufous Hummingbird

Google informed me that in the process of maintenance my videos will be removed from my blog in 30 days, but I can add them in again. That means going through 2779 posts and figuring out which videos go where. Don't have it in me to do that. Nothing is forever!

Caught in the act!

In my previous post, I explained that I had spent the night at the oasis on the 10th, and found fresh bear scat early the morning of the 11th. Well, today (the 16th) I eagerly went to check my trail cam to see what birds I had missed in the 5 days since I'd been there, only to find the cam had been torn down. Didn't take much detective work to find out who the cuprit was. Since it happened on the 12th, after I had gone back to town, there were very few video clips of birds on the camera. No new scat, so I'm hoping the bear moved on and it won't happen again.

I could never understand why bears don't pull down the hummingbird feeders. All I can think of is they know it'll spill sugar water all over them, which will attract bees and ants to them. Bears are smart. Years ago, when I first started putting up feeders, they pulled them down.

A recent visitor to the oasis, Jeremy Kuhn, took this nice photo yesterday. In spite of how it looks, the trees need watering. I just didn't have it in me to do it today. First time ever that I was down there when things needed watering and I left without watering. I guess I always knew that day would come. Hoping for rain!

Birds, snakes, and a bear!

Photo by Russ Rogers

The oasis has had its fair share of rain lately, and seems to me like a snake-infested jungle. Only slight exaggeration. I wore my gaiters while watering this morning. Can't be too careful.

Case in point, a birder, Sephen Falick, took this photo a couple of days ago at the oasis. (Diamondback and Curve-billed Thrasher.)

Migration is in full swing, so I've been enjoying taking pictures, especially now that I've finally learned how to use my Nikon Coolpix. My one-inch sensor Sony broke, and my half-inch sensor Nikon has been a pain to me, but I can mostly take decent photos with it, at last. Here are a few of my most recent ones.

Swainson's Thrush, Alpine

Rufous Hummingbird, Alpine

Ruby-throated Hummingbird, CMO

Calliope Hummingbird, CMO

Northern Waterthrush, CMO

I spent the night at the oasis last night. At daylight, when I went to start my day's work, I saw fresh bear scat that wasn't there yesterday. The good news is that there's no bird seed in it. My feeders truly are bearproof.

The bad news is that the bear wrecked a lovely big Alligator Juniper tree. When I get a helper, I'm going to prune it heavily and maybe a bear won't find it so appealing. A third of the tree has been broken off at the top, besides many broken or bent limbs.

No relief yet!

As if the treacherous road and plague of mosquitoes weren't bad enough, rattlesnakes have become a recent problem. Today a visitor came in the back way, because of the road, then had a [Black-tailed] rattlesnake encounter, but it was the mosquitoes that caused him to cut his visit short. 

Photo courtesy Lawrence Duhon

Remember when a few weeks ago I got some disturbing lewd emails from a man? I did a little research and decided he wasn't a threat. Well, recently, I got a long apologetic email from that person, along with documentation, including X-rays, of a brain injury he had sustained. While that may be a valid explanation, I'm aware that people can be dangerous when not in their right minds. Anyway, case closed.

Here's a juvenile Calliope Hummingbird still hanging around my feeders in Alpine. Lots of hummers, but haven't seen the Ruby-throated or Allen's lately. Allergies are keeping me mostly indoors.

One miserable day!

I arrived at the oasis at daylight yesterday to service hummingbird feeders and water trees. But foremost on my mind was checking my trail cam for a rare bird I had seen last time I was there, but not gotten a photo of. I was devastated to discover that in my haste to set up the camera, I hadn't put in an SD card. It would've been a new oasis species, Bay-breasted Warbler. 

The mosquitoes were unrelenting all day, no matter how much DEET I slathered on. On top of that, my allergies were terrible. Sneezed and nose ran all day long. On that subject, I discovered a new plant growing there, but even it was a weed.

Hophornbeam Copperleaf (Acalypha ostryifolia)

Normally, I would have taken allergy medication, but I had it in my head that it tends to make my eyes drier, They're very dry due to too much Lasik surgery in the past. I have symptoms of what AI says is corneal erosion. Trying to treat myself, but I broke down and took Claritin this morning. My eyes are doing better with preservative-free eye drops. Can't believe no eye doctor ever told me to use them. All these years of suffering......

On the bright side, there were lots of birds, although I was hurrying to finish and get back to town, so didn't get to inventory them very much. And the heat didn't bother me at all.

Road work (continued)

Today was a killer day. The bobcat rental doesn't open until 8 AM, and by the time my son (Eric) got it loaded on his trailer, and we got to the oasis, it was after 10:30. Already extremely hot. By 2 PM, I had walked up the big hill to rake where he had dumped dirt, and the 105° + heat was too much for me. I had to stay in the truck with the AC on until Eric could go no longer at 4 PM. There was just no shade anywhere, even though I wore a hat, and drank lots of water. When I'm at the oasis in that kind of heat, I'm fine. There's always shade. I would have been fine if I hadn't started raking after the tough climb up the hill in the heat of the day. 

This is the area of road I had to straddle the deep rut in yesterday (See previous post)

Hopefully the road will be better for awhile. I still recommend good clearance to do it though. 

Road work!

Driving in to the oasis Sunday evening was scary. Before going to his accomodations at Terlingua Ranch Lodge, Mike Dory followed me in. Otherwise, I may have opted to go the long way around to my back entrance. It's 10 miles farther, but any birders who wants to come, and are not equiped for my road, are welcome to come in the back way. That road is good. No treacherous steep hill. My whole mile of road is really rough, but this deep ditch was the scariest part. I straddled it very carefully.

Me heading back to town this afternoon after Mike went out the back way to the lodge.

Yesterday, Mike came and did weed eating and shoveled sand in preparation for today's concrete work on the big hill. 

He had a close encounter with a Diamondback, lest he needed reminding of the value in having mowed areas to walk in. I was about 20 feet behind him, and when I heard the rattle at his feet, in that second I couldn't remember how good his hearing was, so I let out a scream he was sure to hear. He said later, he had heard me and the snake at the same time. He jumped back quickly as the snake continued to rattle.

My poor little 2011 Ford Ranger was so weighted down with water, sand, and concrete, that I was afraid to go at more than a snail's pace toward our work area this morning. But we made it. Mike worked and sweated in the heat impressively, let me tell you! I helped what I was able to.

We just put concrete patches here and there in an attempt to either make the rock ledges smoother to ascend, or to keep water from washing under the slab. Tomorrow, my son is going down with a rental bobcat to do what he can on the rest of the road. It'll always be rough and require clearance as good as my pickup, but one can walk the last mile, or go in the back way. To be continued....

Fun Alpine day!

My largest group ever, 44 Texas Master Naturalists, visited my ponds in Alpine today. I thought it would be a bit boring for them, but it wasn't. They loved the hummingbird feeders. In East Texas they only see Ruby-throateds. We had about 6 species here: Calliope, Rufous, Broad-tailed, Black-chinned, Allen's (Merlin heard but we couldn't confirm), and Lucifer, which someone said they saw, but I didn't, so I figured they were mistaken, until I looked at my photos later and saw one on them. My eyes are bad and when I'm looking through my camera lens, I can't always tell what I'm photographing. Merlin also ID'd Ruby-throated, but if there were any here they were females... very hard to ID from photos.

Lucifer juvenile male

For me, the highlight of the day was when they found a plant by one of my ponds that was new to me....  Horsetail (Asclepias subverticillata)! And if that wasn't exciting enough, they informed me it had the world's smallest bees on it! I'm not sure of the species, but it's some kind of Fairy Bee.

  

In other news, the oasis got a big monsoon last night, and I couldn't go down and check it out because I was expecting the group of naturalists this morning. I'll go down early tomorrow evening. Life comes at me fast sometimes. Hard to juggle it all. I'm sure all the tanks will be full, just don't know what damage there will be. Monday Mike Dory is coming to help, so we should be able to handle things.

Last time I was down there I found some rather fresh bear scat. It was wonderful that it didn't contain any feeder seed, just persimmon seeds. The feeders really are bearproof, finally.

Unexpected opportunity

Some of the happiest years in my life were spent helping Kelly Bryan band hummingbirds. At the time, it was quite hard work, so I didn't appreciate it as much as I wish I had. Kind of like raising my children. How I wish I had appreciated those treasured times more. And the older I get, the more time I spend in remembering.

Me with Kelly (Photo by Maryann Eastman)

Recently, Kelly and his lovely wife Donna, were passing through our area to a bander's convention in Arizona from their current residence in Rockport. I hadn't seen him in seven years or more. Wonderful friends were able to arranger a potluck get-to-gether last night. It was so great! As usual, I learn so much from Kelly! He's in the process of publishing his scientific work on  Lucifer Hummingbirds. 

We briefly discussed the interesting fact that a few Lucifers migrate, and start nesting in March (at least at the oasis), but the majority come and nest in May. It's my belief that we're glimpsing a snapshot of evolution in progress. There are three possible outcomes, as I see it. (1) Either the early, or the late nesters, will eventually fail and die out; (2) Both, waves of nesters will die out; (3) Both will flourish and may become separate species eventually. Currently, the late nesters appear to be the most successful. Maybe the early nesters will prevail during global warming.*

Early next week, Michael Dory is coming back to help with some chores. We hope to put a couple more patches on the big hill. I'm so grateful to him, and all my wonderful supportive friends. 

Hummingbirds are surging through the area now, so I need to get back to the oasis tomorrow to service feeders. When I was down there a few days ago all feeders were empty. No migrants! Unacceptable! 

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* According to AI info, the earth is currently in an ice age's warm gap called interglacial. For 80-90% of earth's history the entire planet has been ice-free! Astonishingly, at least a couple of times the whole earth has been covered with ice.

Roadwork update

It's hard to tell, because these photos were taken in different lights, and the "after" photo was taken with my cell phone, but the area we worked on looks better to me. The hill is still rough going up; it always has been. The whole road is rough for that matter.

Before (July 27)

After (July 29)

Next time I'm there I'll take a photo with my regular camera. Here's the burner torch at work. My son heated the rock with the torch, then used a sledgehammer and pickaxe to whittle the rock down so it isn't so much like steps.

Next project is to pour some concrete in two spots. Mike Dory said he'd come back soon and help with that. 

Thanks so much to Deirdre Hisler who loaned me her burner torch. I would long ago have given up if it wasn't for wonderful people along the way. Mike and Deirdre are just the latest in a long list of hundreds who have donated their money or work to keep the oasis going. Words can't express my gratitude for what that journey has meant to me, as well as to the visitors who enjoy it.

I found out who the creep was who sent me the lewd emails. I feel certain he's not a danger to me. He hasn't tried to contact me again, so hopefully, that case is closed.

Unwelcome attention

I received several rather lewd emails from a stranger, mentioning among other things, my being alone at the oasis. The world isn't the safe place I've known all my life. I considered making my blog private, but, even with the help of AI, I couldn't make it to where my mailing list could see it, other than the limit of 100 recipients, so I've done nothing for now. 

Here is the patch of cement Mike Dory and I did last week, on the side of the slab at the steepest part. . We patched where water was undermining the slab.

You can see that bad rough area on the lower part of the hill. I'm thinking perhaps a sledgehammer would pulverize that jagged mudrock, maybe with the aid of a burner torch. I can no longer swing a sledgehammer.  Gotta protect what little joints I have left.

There's enough traction to make it up without a problem, but it's terribly rough.

The oasis is very lush these days. 

Got some much needed help

It seems whenever I'm ready to quit, the universe provides a boost. Mike and Kitta Dory heard my pain, and Mike drove from San Angelo yesterday, arriving at noon, and went right to work. First task was to weed-eat so we (and future visitors) could maneuver around.

Then, he spread the dozen or so bags of mulch I had piled up, waiting and hoping for help. And did pruning. We loaded sand from the arroyo for using in our concrete project this morning. It was killer work to pour a long concrete patch on the steepest part of the big hill. Monsoonal rains have been undermining the slab I had poured there several years ago and I didn't want to chance losing it. The road is still terribly rough, but hopefully not as scary going up the slab since you don't have to straddle a big trench now. So disgusted with myself that I didn't take before and during photos. I just get too overwhelmed with the task at hand. It's so steep; I'm so puny; I must not take a fall. That takes all my focus. Falls are the biggest danger for us oldsters. 

After we finished that, around noon today, intrepid Mike pruned along the road where vegetation was determined to take over. Everything is looking awesome! Hope it stays that way at least through fall migration so people can enjoy it. And I hope migration brings lots of wonderful birds to marvel at. We can't change the past, nor control the future, but for today, it's good!