TOS Alpine meeting

The Texas Ornithological Society held its winter meeting in Alpine this past weekend, and a cold one it was! I went to the oasis Thursday afternoon to prepare for the Friday and Saturday field trips to the oasis, as best I could. I knew we were in for a cold and bird-less ordeal, but the birders couldn't have been happier or more cheerful! Such a great bunch of people! 

Most of them hadn't been to the oasis before and were able to check it off their bucket list.  A few even saw a lifer or two. And the photographers enjoyed being able to photograph some species up close. There are very few places one can do that.

In all, betwen both groups, only about 24 species were seen. No hummers, or anything of special interest. I guess it says something, if the oasis can be enjoyed when it's at its worst. And we didn't have a "blue norther,'" like could've happened. Very little wind, actually. Just temps in the 30s and 40s, which is brutal on me. Here's me sweeping off the bear unwelcome mat. I don't want the nails to get covered with dirt. That wouldn't deter a bear. I doubt one could reach the feeder anyway, but not taking chances. A bit awkward sweeping since my left shoulder doesn't work, and I dare not step onto the mat. I did that once and ended up with a nasty sore on my foot. (It would be ok, if I wasn't always wearing plastic crocs.)

My brother's finger was doing well until it got a staph infection. Don't know how it's all going to end. I'll let you know soon. He's having surgery on it Wednesday.

On the bright side, spring is gonna be here soon, and I'm ready for it! I miss the hummingbirds more than I miss the warm weather, which is saying a lot for me! Forty more days, but who's counting!

Mulch time

Loading in Alpine (Dec 30)

 

Unloading at CMO (Dec 30)

January's nearly half over and it hasn't been totally uneventful. My 83 year old brother accidentally cut off two fingers in his table saw. That hit me hard. One finger has been reattached, and hopefully will become functional.

He makes and sells beautiful wooden bowls and vases. Here are a few examples. He hasn't quit doing them. It's his passion. And you know how passions are....

I'm finally over my bronchitis, but don't have much energy or appetite. Hopefully, I'll perk up later this week when the TOS annual meeting is held in Alpine, with tours coming to the oasis. Just hope some birds show up. It's been bleak birding this winter. I got a short respite on the 7th when Kym Morse and I had fun birding Candelaria in Presidio County.

Common Gallinules

I keep reminding myself that next month Lucifers might return. And if they don't come in February, they for sure will come in early March. Six more weeks doesn't sound terribly long to wait.

Talk about serendipity!

The weather had been great all Christmas week, but a cold front was due to hit today. So yesterday, I was itching to go birding before it moved in, since I was pretty well recovered from my long bout with bronchitis. There just weren't any interesting birds to be had within reasonable driving distance of Alpine. A thirty minute drive was all I was willing to do, especially since it was already late in the morning. Checking Presidio County reports, I noticed a Couch's Kingbird had been reported in northeast Marfa a week earlier. It'd be like looking for a needle in a haystack, even if it was still around. At least that would give me a target, as opposed to none. I was absolutely positive I'd not find it, but it would be a fun treasure hunt looking. Not a lifer, although I didn't have a photo of one, and it would be a new Presidio County bird for me. Plus, I might find something else interesting while looking.

When I got to Marfa, it was packed with tourists and traffic. Very discouraging, driving the streets, avoiding cars and people, and trying to see birds. Plenty of doves and sparrows, but nothing interesting. Even worse than I had anticipated. 

Suddenly, the Couch's appeared, unmistakably, in a yard as I was driving past. As quick as I could, I grabbed my camera and jumped out of my car. In the process, my phone (with the Merlin app) slipped between the car seats. I knew it would be a pain to retrieve, but my full attention at that moment was on getting photo documentation. As luck would have it, the bird was between me and the sun, always a bad shot. There was no other option, so I took it. After getting a few photos, I wanted to record its calling for further documentation. By the time I got the car parked and my phone retrieved, I couldn't see or hear the bird. The yard was fenced with a tall wooden fence, and it was amazing to me that I had even seen the bird way back in the yard in the first place.

Apparently, the house behind that tall fence was some kind of Air B&B. People were leaving through a tall wooden gate in the fence with suitcases and loading them into a car next to where I was standing. I explained that I was watching a bird in the yard. A woman replied that she had probably flushed it, which I'm sure she had, but I politely demurred.

My quest had lasted less than an hour, and I was ready to go home, a happy camper! 

On my way home I got a text from a person that I get pine needles from every year, so as soon as the cold front passes, I'm going to take a load to the oasis. The home owner will load it, and at the oasis my son will unload it. Just gotta keep on keepin' on!

2025 in review

I started blogging in 2009.  Between 2011-2022  I averaged over 200 posts per year. In recent years, that number has dwindled. In 2024, I made 67 posts, and this year only 46. 

January and February were cold and uneventful. 

March brought a very surprising monster monsoon that caused the big tank to fail. It had been the one tank that never leaked.  All mulch washed away and the road became almost impassible, besides much other damage.

During April the oasis hosted lots of birds and birders. Isn't it funny how the two seem to go together! A Prothonotary Warbler and Hermit Warbler were perhaps the most exciting finds of April.

These were the May highlights.

Cape May Warbler (photo by Troy Williams)

Hooded Warbler

At the TOS Spring meeting I was given this award.

Also in May, we did the Big Sit, but didn't win. A new group at a better location won. I'm happy for them. We had the fun of winning for many years!

In June, I broke a toe, which slowed me down a lot. Well, some, anyway!

July was overwhelming, to say the least! Three days after a big rain filled everything, a huge deluge came, with no place to contain the water. Nearly destroyed everything. Washed away all the laboriously replaced mulch and made the road impassible without a good clearance vehicle.

 

Early in August, I spent nearly $1000 to get the road more passable. There's not much can be done without hauling in padding for it though, which would ultimately wash away. Like my joints, pretty much bone on bone. By later in the month, I had brought in more mulch and gotten things more tolerable when another big monsoon arrived and washed the mulch away once again, besides undoing most of the new road work. It seems the oasis is me, and I am it, both declining toward the end. But I'll hang on to whatever I can of both, for as long as I can.

The best part of September was this Magnolia Warbler at the oasis, plus, in Alpine, a Broad-billed Hummingbird and Yellow-bellied Flycatcher.

Broad-billed Hummingbird by Tim Handren

Yellow-bellied Flycatcher by Kym Morse

Incredibly, October brought another monsoon along with about 3" of hail. More damage, and more lost mulch, just when I had thought there could be no more!

Still a couple of Lucifers around in November. There was a brief visit by a Williamson's Sapsucker that I captured on my trail cam, but didn't see. The next day some visiting birders saw it and got this photo of it. 

Photo by Corey Rich

After Thanksgiving I came down with a mild cold that turned into bronchitis, which laid me low for nearly the whole month of December. My lungs handle the cold dry air of winter worse every year, but I'm working on getting better control of that problem. We shall see. (At least I tested negative for flu and covid.)

Another problem I have is that it's getting so painful to hold binoculars up to my eyes that unless they hurry and invent some that fasten to the head and autofocus, I may not be able to bird watch much longer. I use a monopod to hold my camera to my eye, but still have to use my right arm to zoom and use other functions on it. My left arm is pretty useless.

The oasis rain total for the year was only a little over 13," but it sure seemed like a lot more. The worst one was on July 3rd with over 2," arriving at the same time as the Guadalupe River went on its deadly rampage.

With the help of antibiotics and steroids, I finally overcame the bronchitis. Days are getting longer. In a few months it'll be spring once again, with all that entails. And once again, I eagerly await its arrival!

Visit to East Texas

I just returned from going to my granddaughter's graduation from Texas State University in San Marcos. Her degree is in computer science. As is the tradition there, after the ceremony, the graduates take a plunge into the spring-fed San Marcos River. The icy water and cool weather didn't slow them down either. Here's Erynya with her proud father before the swim. 

The plunge!

And afterwards...

While at my daughter's, we feasted on her gormet cooking. Here are a couple of the five star meals she made.

Beef enchiladas, beans, and guacamole

Chicken-fried chicken breast with mashed potatoes and salad

All in all, a great trip! My son, Lee, did all the driving. I added a few species to my Hays County list while there, too. I think I could've done better if not for my lingering respiratory infection. The weather was really cold. I coughed so often that by the time I got home I was totally hoarse. 

Riding the tram to the stadium

Wintery-ness

Quite typical for me to get a respiratory infection this time of year. I'm pretty much well by now though. Fingers crossed that I don't relapse. Any birding I've been doing has been from the window near the fire looking toward my little water feature in Alpine. But birding is bleak. Even ebird reports for the area are scant, so it's not just me.

The best bird I've had lately has been a Northern Flicker of the rarer Yellow-shafted subspecies. My best photos of that subspecies ever. That was fun!

For now, I'm grateful to be as well as I am, and enjoying technology! Young people raised with it surely take it for granted and don't appreciate it as much. And I realize a lot of people my age aren't as open to it as I am. They don't seem to feel any need for it. Stem cell technology will undoubtedly extend lifespans, but that won't happen in my lifetime.

I'm looking forward to going with my son to his daughter's college graduation this weekend. And looking forward to spring. And any minute a rare bird could show up. That keeps life exciting!

A little family time

I don't get enough family time so it's always a treat to get to spend time with them. Saturday morning early, chauffered by my son Lee, I departed to San Marcos to visit my daughter. She and her husband had recently had a new house built, and have just moved into it. It's a very impressive home on 33 wooded acres. I can't wait to see it once the yard gets landscaped. It's quite a mess yet, but she has bird feeders and bath out, which is a good start. Here's video of her trying to keep cattle away from her temporary water feature. They keep it drained. A contractor will be installing a fence in a couple of weeks. Then she'll be able to do some permanent stuff.

Cattle quickly drain the temporary water feature

Meanwhile, here we are looking at her birds in the late afternoon. It took several weeks before birds starting showing up to her feeders and water. Once landscaped, it'll keep getting better.

While there, I got to visit briefly with Lee's oldest daughter. She's graduating from Texas State Univerity next month with a degree in computer science. Already she's working for Motorola, and making an obscene salary.

Photo by Lee

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

Snow geese!

The oasis got a flyover of [41] Snow Geese, which happened unexpectedly and quickly. Had me scrambling to document. It counts as a new oasis species, even though they only flew over.

I heard one of them call and looked up to see them. Had my camera on me, but couldn't get it to focus. It never focuses on dots in the sky.  Finally, after they were way far away one of my blind shots captured the above heavily-cropped photo. Better than nothing. I've learned that not zooming the camera in situations like that is better. That's probably what I did to end up with this one.

Other than that, birding has been rather boring, both in town, and at the oasis. The day I saw the geese (Nov 7), I also saw my last Lucifer of the year, I presume. It was a juvenile male that I hadn't seen before, so I think it was just migrating through. My breeding Lucifers have all gone.

I'm told that Monarchs migrated way farther east of here this year, so maybe we won't get any exciting winter birds this year. Perhaps they only winter here if they're desperate, and with lots of rain everywhere, there are better places to go. Don't know.

In town I got a couple of unusual butterfly species. Besides the Long-tailed Skipper that I saw on Oct 27 at the Plumbago (see previous post), I had a Dorantes Longtail also on the Plumbago (and Turk's Caps) on Nov 6.

I have lots of Turk's Cap, but only one Plumbago, so, naturally, that has inspired me to protect the Plumbago from a possible freeze tonight. Also going to plant a bunch more of it in the spring. Can't ever get too much of a good thing!

After the monsoon

That horrible hail-ridden monsoon happened a week ago today. I had gone to the oasis afterwards, looked for clips of it on my trail cam, and didn't find it. Today when I was checking the SD card to see what birds have been present since the storm, I found the hail clips. Sure wish I had been there to witness it in person. The first clip is near the beginning of the hail, and the last one is during the worst of it, as best I can tell.

The tanks are still all nearly full. The road is still horrible. I worked on it what little I could on my way back to town. Then when I got to the blacktop, I couldn't find my phone, so took the torturous road back to the oasis. Turned out it was in my pickup all along. I'm a mess. Just can't keep up with my phone and can't live without it.

I was surprised to see one remaining Lucifer (juvenile male). Surely my last sight of one until March. 

So far, no exciting over-wintering species has shown up. There has been a Robin, Hermit Thrush, and Gray Catbird at the oasis for a week or more. Since there are so many berries this year, they may stay the winter.