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.