Soapberry thickets

Just an ordinary lovely day. Not much going on. The Varied Thrush ate his normal amount of grapes--- 9 today.

I love Soapberry thickets. Before I built the dams I had tiny Soapberry trees growing here and there in the arroyo but none ever got more than 4 feet or so tall. Now I have multiple thickets growing and would love it if some of them make it to maturity. Here are a few of them. I planted 2 soapberry trees above a dirt tank and the rest came up on their own. I've never watered them but when the tank is full water backs up to where they are.

This next thicket started itself, but I panicked and watered it twice last year during the horrendous drought. It's in the arroyo paralleling the oasis.

And this last thicket photo is of one near the upper diversion dam. I planted and water the large one, but the others came up themselves. This one that gets regular water is the only one that bore berries this year.

Thrush pile

I was gone the last 3 days (dentist, etc), so had my sister put out the grapes early every morning and report back to me. I couldn't understand why, when I had been present, he was eating as many as 15 grapes a day, yet during my absence he only ate half that amount. When I arrived I noticed the trees were getting really threadbare of leaves. So maybe it was getting harder to hide from the mockingbird?? I didn't think it would be good to relocate the grape feeder near a brush pile where visitors couldn't get good views of the thrush, so I built a temporary (??) thrush pile nearer the feeder.

It so happened I had come down from Alpine with my pickup loaded with freshly shredded mulch so I dumped some atop the new thrush pile. My thought was to provide a patch of cover between the dense thicket and the grapes. (Grapes are center right on above photo.)

Shortly thereafter my sister called about something and just happened to mention how she loved my pet owls that were hanging out all day every day above the grape feeder. She just assumed I knew all about them. Unfortunately, I never got a glimpse of any owls. And the thrush seems to be feeding back to normal now and ignoring the thrush pile, but, oh well, it's there. Gotta pamper him and all.

As for the owls, my sister is not a birder. From her description Kelly Bryan thinks they were Long-eared Owls. That would have been a new yard bird for me, but I don't feel comfortable counting it. One of these days I'll see some myself at the oasis.

The Eared Grebe is not here either. It probably left on its own and not in the clutches of an owl.

I'm always amazed how well creatures are camouflaged by nature. Here is the  Varied Thrush foraging in mulch, if you can spot him in the center of the photo.

And here is a Common Buckeye butterfly, also well hidden.

Red Admiral butterflies were everywhere, even on the grapes and hummingbird feeders.

Birds and birders

Weekends there are more people here seeking the Varied Thrush than there are on weekdays.

All were successful (except one person who didn't make it here until 5 PM after the thrush had finished stuffing itself with a near record 15 grapes).

Lark Buntings are everywhere.

And the raptors took notice.

Northern Harrier

Cool, but fun

It was a cool 32° early this morning but things were quite birdy, so I hung in there.... out there, whatever. Watched the Varied Thrush forage and pick grapes and for once it paused with the grape so I got a halfway decent photo, considering the cold camera and bad light.

Also got a photo of a White-throated Sparrow. I seldom get that species here, so this is my first photo of one.

And here is the big bad Northern Mockingbird that bedevils the thrush. 

Found a  Checkered-Skipper butterfly that my friend, Brian Banker, confirmed is a Desert Checkered-Skipper. In looking through records to see if I've recorded it here before, I can't find it listed, but I think it has been here before. At any rate, it's documented here now.

Below is a Christmasy looking bush, Fragrant Mimosa loaded with red seedpods.

The look of autumn

Another sunrise

I've photographed a lot of sunsets, but sunrises can be awesome too. Here's how the mountain to the west of the tank looked for a short while this morning. The Eared Grebe is in the shadow beneath the dark bushes on the right. You can barely make it out.

I

I love birders

Since the Varied Thrush showed up I've been having lots of birders come to see it, many of them laden with grapes. Birders are the best!

I keep trying to get a decent photo of the thrush with a grape. This is the best I've done so far. My camera was focused on the grapes, so the bird isn't in focus. Not enough time as he grabbed the grape and spun out of sight, but I'm not giving up.

Bonnie Wunderlich is the person south of here who first discovered the Eared Grebe hiding in her outdoor shower. No body of water nearby, so we brought it to my tank. Today she visited the grebe and got a distant shot of it with a fish on her little point-and-shoot camera. So far, I haven't been fast enough with my big Canon to catch the action, but now I have renewed determination to make it happen. Here is Bonnie's shot. (Posted with her permission)

And I love this shot Bonnie captured. It looks like the grebe is thanking her for saving it.

                           

I don't have much prior grebe watching experience, but I was perplexed when shortly after putting the grebe in the tank I observed it swimming with its head underwater. Something I don't remember ever seeing a grebe do before. Thinking about it later, and having it doing it only that one time, I realize it was looking to see if the tank had food, and/or if there were any diving obtacles. (It's nearly 9' deep.) Very interesting behavior. Wish I had photographed it. Something I'll probably never witness again. 

Annual family day

The usual. Ate too much. Had birders here enjoying the thrush. Nothing out of the ordinary.

Son photographing grebe

I was very concerned as to whether the grebe's nutritional needs are being met, so I did a little online research. I was surprised to read the following at http://members.shaw.ca/clowater/thesisapproved.pdf, (written by James Clowater in 1993)

"Although most grebes are nocturnal foragers, in a large population it is possible to encounter a few birds foraging in daylight. In 1994/1995 I observed over 2,000 dives by grebes foraging during the day in Saanich Inlet, but fish were returned to the surface in only 5 of these dives. In all occasions the prey were slender silvery fish. It is likely that grebes are able to swallow most fish underwater."

The article also indicates that 80% of their dives are search dives where no prey is located. That conforms to what my son observed where the grebe brought prey to the surface in only one of every five dives. Additionally, if the grebe is foraging at night or swallowing the gambusias underwater it would indicate an even higher rate of success. I concluded that at a minimum it was having no trouble staying healthy. So I'll find something else to worry about.

The grapes of VATH

I just had to say that, ever since Lori Markoff came up with it. I sweat blood when birders are here and the VATH (Varied Thrush's alpha code) isn't showing itself, and then when the birders have finally seen it come in for grapes, and the birders have departed, I wish someone was here to share it with.

It's been 2 years, due to last year's drought, since I've seen deer come to the spillway and drink (see post of Oct 30, 2010).

CMO to the rescue

Got a call about a grounded Eared Grebe at a friend's (Bonnie Wunderlich's) place about 40 minutes from here so I dropped everything and rushed to pick up the bird. Promptly released it in my biggest tank. I had an Eared Grebe here for a week in 1998. It was here from Nov 19 - 27. This one will probably stay a week also. 

When I put up this snag I never envisioned it this loaded with doves.

Just before dark I checked on the grebe and it was feeding on gambusias like crazy!