Santa's Anna's

Looks like that's all I'm getting for Christmas at CMO this year. I was really hoping for at least one Costa's. Here's the only Anna's that would sit for a photo today. That means it's probably the only one not banded.

The Chinese Pistachio tree has lost its leaves so the red berries really stand out. Unfortunately, I never see birds eating them.

I was watching a butterfly so I could see where it would land in order to get a photo of it. Well, it landed way up inside the top of a big AZ Cypress tree. Not the photo I had anticipated. I guess it's an American Lady. Only saw two butterflies all day. (The other was a Common Checkered-Skipper.)

It was pretty cold. The hummingbird feeders were still frozen solid at 9 AM. I'll be leaving for Austin in a few days. Sure hoping to get some new species to photograph there.

December Bullock's Oriole in Alpine

I managed to get better photos of the Bullock's Oriole that I saw at our place in Alpine a couple of days ago.

Even captured it with larva in it's beak. It's feasting on the larva inside the pecan hulls.

It seems to be enjoying a bountiful holiday season. Here it is at the hummingbird feeder although I can't see how it's getting any sugar water solution from the place it is, but it must be. It spends a lot of time in that spot and never once tries the ports. I should mention the solution looks milky, but it's clear. Just somehow the way the light was hitting it through the sitting room window where this photo was shot from.

I tried for better photos of a Common Grackle too but this is all I got. It won't let me get anywhere near it. Something in its beak. I think it's a grub from the garden where the tomatoes were.

December banding session

Kelly Bryan and I banded hummingbirds at Lajitas and at another of our banding sites in S Brewster Co. At the latter site Kelly banded and released this female Anna's Hummingbird. Sometimes he lays the newly banded hummer in the hand of an observer. When the bird realizes it's no longer confined it disappears quicker than the blink of an eye. Occasionally they don't know they're free and lie there for a few seconds. Note band on leg.

Here's the same bird just before it took off. Kelly says it's an older female because of the few iridescent feathers on the top of her head.

This next one is an adult male Anna's being carefully placed in a hand. As soon as Kelly let go, it vanished. Didn't even need a runway. Such little marvels! This banding project has given me a great close-up-and-personal relationship with hummers that I'll treasure for the rest of my life.

The area near Terlingua/Study Butte is decorated for the season with red ocotillo blooms. Stunning!

This rascally Rufous Hummingbird is likely one Kelly banded a couple of years ago. He returns to the same location for the winter, but shuns the traps.

Lajitas continuation

I knew something had to be done about making the walkways safer at Lajitas. Here is the old dangerous walkway surface. This happened because the rock that was originally used for flagstone was softer than the concrete.

I had envisioned how neat it would be if they cleaned out those cavities and poured them full of various earth-toned colors of concrete. But not gonna happen. Here is the project as it looked when I was there yesterday. Maybe they're just pouring a subfloor and will put lovely rockwork on top of it. I don't see how they would dare leave it smooth like this. If they were going to do that they surely would have roughened the surface. Yup, must just be a subfloor because the walkways get wet by the sprinklers at least once a day and they also slope considerably in places.

I saw a few pretty butterflies yesterday but not positive of the IDs. This first one is probably a Clouded Skipper, though could be a Violet-clouded Skipper. The latter would be a lifer for me.

And this next one is most likely a Little Yellow. The only other option would be a Mimosa Yellow. Neither is a lifer.

And I'll conclude the Lajitas venture with this Black Setwing shot. Having no odes at CMO it's just nice to see even these common ones.

Lajitas birdy today

A new Anna's showed up at CMO this morning. I was thinking yesterday that it was the first time ever there wasn't even one hummer at the oasis, so this one's arrival was very welcomed. He sang, so I knew it was a male. Juvenile, I think. His buzzing song livened up the place. (The female in the courtyard doesn't sing.) He wouldn't let me get close enough for a decent photo, and I wanted to go to Lajitas, so this is the best I could get. Maybe tomorrow I can do better.

Since I didn't get to Lajitas until the afternoon I was surprised at how many birds were there. Afternoons are usually not very birdy. I saw my first Double-crested Cormorant for Brewster County, lots of pipits and meadowlarks, and tons of ducks. I'm not good on duck IDs so I don't know if anything special was among them or not.

It was so great seeing a few odonates. Somehow I have to survive until spring. Lajitas will help I hope. Here's a Rambur's Forktail. 

And this is probably the best shot I've ever gotten of a Green Heron.

It departed when I tried to get closer.

I have more photos I want to share from today but I'm tired and don't have them all identified yet, so I'll continue tomorrow. Here is the only hummer I saw today at Lajitas but I was there during the worst part of day for hummers. This is a female Anna's Hummingbird.

A few good birds

I made a quick trip to CMO to service feeders and do a light watering. Rationing water at this time. When I stepped out of my pickup at the oasis it's always special, but today I heard a male Broad-tailed Hummingbird and a Phainopepla simultaneously. Not bad. The wait for spring is ameliorated by days like today.

The oasis doesn't get Broad-taileds very often. I think this is the first one in December. His wing buzzing sounded a little off, but I had never heard one this time of year, so it may have been due to wear. It was strange how he perched back in the trees, especially the large Live Oak, but only fed from the feeders out in the open, even though there's a feeder under the oak tree. Go figure! Hummer behavior always fascinates me.

The Phainopepla may have been drunk on sour berries. He had great difficulty staying perched and there wasn't a whiff of wind. I thought maybe, in that case, I could get a photo of him showing the white on his wings, but he moved so fast it got blurry on every shot. Maybe he was just wobbly from being overstuffed on berries. Almost got the white on this first shot.

A little blurry on other shots showing more white. Oh, well, fun trying.

Some critter gorged on my big Claret Cup cactus. Only ruined one of the fat stems though (so far).

It's cool to see Yellow-rumped Warblers foraging on the pondweed. Makes winter seem less daunting. I'm not kidding myself, winter will slam us one of these days. Meanwhile, today was a lovely day.

Bit of a respite

Got to have fun this morning going with Kelly to band a Broad-billed Hummingbird at a residence near Ft. Davis. I don't get to see that species often enough.

Real versus fake

Still hibernating in town. No need sitting around CMO just burning up firewood and reading. Can do that better in town where things are more convenient. I try to take heart in the thought that the only month I haven't seen a Lucifer Hummingbird is January, so how bad can it be?

The only dragonflies to be seen are fakes. Still pretty though.

 Here's our fake bird and a real bird on our pond here in town today.

Actually, I hate having a fake flamingo, faded or otherwise, in our pond, but my husband demands it. Don't like the tree cages either but whenever we take one off too soon, this is what happens.

                                       

I had to re-cage this one after the deer did their antler-rubbing on it. Eventually the trunks get big enough that the deer don't bother them.

Cabin fever building up

Kids made it safely back to Austin. Still no electricity for my granddaughter in Yukon, OK. In a few hours they'll be starting day 3.

My last Lucifer Hummingbird at CMO was on Nov. 16. At a site three miles south of me the last one was Nov. 24. At a site about 5 miles further south of there a Lucifer is still there today. We'll see how long it stays but so far it's the second from the latest record. (We had one in Terlingua/Study Butte in Dec a few years ago.) Here is the one from today. Photo courtesy Bonnie Wunderlich.

At first I thought it was "old man Lucifer" making his way south, but Kelly disabused me of that notion by reminding me that old man has a slightly deformed bill. (See post of Nov 16.)

Otherwise things are slow and boring. Doesn't take long for me to get cabin fever.

Annual family time

We were never all together at once until they were heading back to Austin today and we got together at Magoo's Restaurant in Alpine. So I got a customer to take a family photo.

Clockwise, left to right: Myla, Leonardo (son), Eric (son), Annie (Eric's wife) John, Jr, me, Isabel (daughter) John (Isabel's husband), Kaliya, and Erynya. The 3 girls are Leonardo's (he's divorced), and John Jr is Isabel's son. She has a daughter that lives in Oklahoma that can't be here. Wish she could. They're out of electricity today, as are 92,000 other people there, due to a huge ice storm. She sent me this photo of a limb on their roof. May be without for 2 more days.

Here in Alpine it's not so bad. Our biggest pecan tree is hurting. Already loaded with pecans before it got burdened with ice, but it's melting now.

This selasphorus hummingbird (Allen's or Rufous) is sure tough. Ice doesn't seem to faze it.

Photo taken through double-pane window from a nice warm room