Alpine miscellany

The mostly Mexican hybrid duck has apparently started incubating today. She's been on the nest all day. So today is Day 1 of approximately 28 days.

I realize we're living in an historic year that will be the subject of documentaries forever more. Here's a little of my family's documentation. Me entering the war zone (grocery store during senior hour) in Alpine where no cases have occurred yet.

My grandson, who lives in Lubbock with his girlfriend who works in a grocery store. She tested positive. They both got mildly sick, but are recovered. They have four days of quarantine left, then have to get retested before they can go out. They've learned to cook actually. My daughter has given them hours of lessons via phone. 

Austin is becoming a hot zone. Here's my son (Leonardo) and his wife (Morgan), who live there.

And my other son, Eric, who lives in Alpine. He has the right gear but I doubt he'll wear it. We'll see.

I don't want to leave out my daughter, who lives in Dripping Springs.That's her husband hamming it up for the camera behind her.

The other day at the oasis I saw a bright object in the sky. I assumed it was a star, but took a photo of it just to see how it would turn out. Anyone have an idea why it turned out like this? Maybe something to do with my camera?

Bleak

The hummers are all off feeding on Ocotillo, except for one Lucifer.

Migration hasn't really revved up yet, and today is terribly windy. But in a week things should start getting exciting. The Tree Tobacco will be blooming long after the ocotillo is finished. They're loaded with yellow tubular flowers, but hard to see on this distant shot, unless you click on the photo to enlarge it.

My happy and safe place

Seems so long between stays at the oasis. Hope to remain here for a few days, at least. Finally had a visitor, a local bird photographer.

Already hot. I was really dragging trying to get some watering done. I know one thing, if I couldn't ever share the place with birders it wouldn't be tolerable to maintain just for myself. But I know soon life will get back to normal.

Lark Sparrow

Finally saw a couple of odes today, besides the Familiar Bluet damselflies.

Female Common Whitetail

I'm concerned about the pondweed. Even though I'm not removing water from the tank, evaporation is lowering the level, leaving some of the pondweed stranded out of water and it doesn't seem to be growing farther into where the water is. We'll see. I see lots of patches of roots in other areas of the tank, but no leaves showing. Once the ground dries out, the leaves will die.

Desert Kingsnake

My husband was cleaning up some junk left behind one of our recently vacated rent houses while I was inside working. I didn't even have my cell phone with me, so when he called me outdoors to look at this snake, all I could think to do was put the snake into my empty mop bucket until I could get my camera. I couldn't figure out what it was. My snake guide books were at CMO. So I posted it on iNat and soon had the ID. It's a Desert Kingsnake. It was about 12-18 inches long but they can get much bigger. It obviously had eaten recently so I'm sure it'll be fine until it finds its next meal.

CMO tomorrow. YAY!

Alpine update

I didn't see the duck in the nest today when I checked so that means she's still laying eggs and not ready to incubate. Can't get a photo of the hummer on its nest. Every time I get halfway close enough, she flushes, so I'm going to wait until she's feeding young. The nest is in the same area as the one last April that my husband discovered while pruning.  Accidentally removing its cover may have been why the nest failed.  Hoping this one will succeed. (Nest in AZ Cypress behind big Black Locust tree.)

To see the nest I have to be on the same side of the pond as the tree, which is too close for the bird's comfort. When it is feeding young, if I bring a seat over to the edge of the pond and sit quietly, it'll come to feed.

Here's a flower I found growing near the pond. It's a Stork's-bill (Geranium Carolinianus). They're common throughout the US, but Dr. Powell doesn't show them in the Trans-Pecos, except for Jeff Davis Co. So it's special to me for it to be here.

Another Stork's-bill came up in a pot on the patio.

Alpine nesting

Today I discovered a Black-chinned Hummingbird nest in an Arizona Cypress tree. Hoping it'll succeed so I can photograph the feeding of the young. It has two eggs in it. I'm not going to look in it again because I don't want to disturb the female or attract any attention to the nest.

Also seems there are two pair of Vermillion Flycatchers nesting this year. Maybe I can locate a nest and get photos of them feeding too, when the time comes.

I finally spotted one of our feral hybrid Mexican Ducks in one of the nest tubes I made earlier this year. I took a bad photo of it, as it's really well-hidden. Maybe tomorrow I can do better, but you get the idea. She's either laying another egg or beginning incubation. 

Alpine blooms

Back in town trying to catch up on work here. I admit I can't relate to people who are bored in self-isolation. Never enough hours in a day for me.

About 12 years ago a neighbor gave us a couple of tiny Black Locust trees that were coming up all over his yard. Now they're spreading in ours. But we love them.... so far. Their blooms are spectacular in the spring.

Lovely patches of Bluebonnets too.

Last photo taken just before dark of Black-chinned Hummingbirds through a screened window.

Oasis keeps chugging along

The highlight of the day for me was discovering a bunch of the Tree Tobacco blooming already.

A lot of stuff is blooming but not like it does after monsoonal rains. Still looking good. The biggest Texas Madrone is full of blooms already too. And so is the Canyon Cherry (Prunus serotina).

Not much change in the pond-weed since I last posted a photo of it, but I'm happy that it's doing so well. It's a bit of a sacrifice to do it the way I am, but should be worth it.*

My 20 year old grandson and his 20 year old girlfriend have Corona virus. So far mild cases. Hoping it'll stay that way. I heard Dr Fauci say on TV that they estimate 50% of everyone in our country have it but are asymptomatic. 

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*The downside to using the above ground tank before the big in-ground tank is:

1) The water that's subject to evaporation should be used first before half of it is lost to evaporation.

2) The in-ground tank will catch monsoonal rainfall and save it; the above ground tank won't, so I could end up harvesting less water when the big rain comes, if the above ground tank has room for a lot, and the in-ground one doesn't have as much room.

3) Rain replaces what I pump out of the in-ground tank with no pumping needed. To fill the above ground tank, I have to set up a pump, gas it up, and all that hassle.

The upside to using it is:

1) Looks good to have lots of water in the big tank.

2) Will help the pond-weed get established, which is great for dragonflies, especially the Mexican Amberwing.

3) Way easier to take water from the above ground tank. No pumping or setting up a pump, now that I have the hose hooked up to it. It gravity drains.

The luxury of water

I spent the day watering and catching up at CMO. By late afternoon I was de-stressed, but exhausted. Almost forgot about the pandemic for a while. Will finish up tomorrow before heading back to town.

I'm going to really hate when migrant birds start flocking to the oasis in a couple of weeks and no birders here. Will be glad when this plague is over. Someone suggested it might be good for the oasis to get a rest from birders, but I've never seen any negative effect from birders. The only thing I notice different is the parking area is starting to grow over.

I made a decision today that felt like a real luxury. This time of  year the stucco tank is out of water so I start using from the big tank. But for the last two years, when I pump the big tank down, the pond-weed that is just starting to take hold, gets out of water and dies.  I even tried moving it down into the water as the level drops, but that hadn't helped either. So today I decided to use water from my new above ground tank and let the pond-weed establish better. 

It's the first time I've ever taken water out of the new tank. A pain getting it all hooked up. I couldn't get one fitting tight enough so it leaks, but only when the valve is turned on. It's so awesome that I have the equivalent of what would be five feet of water in the stucco tank with no leaks or evaporation to worry about like if it actually was in the stucco tank. I could lavish water on the oasis if I knew for sure we were going to get monsoons this summer. So I still have to be frugal, but it's such a luxury to just turn a valve and have all that wonderful water that I've never had before this time of year when it's most needed. (Of course, if I hadn't stupidly lost a foot of water in the stucco tank this past winter I would still have water in it.) It's one thing to know I have the new tank full of water, but I discovered it's another thing to actually enjoy using the water. Almost felt like a paradigm shift.

I don't feel like we're in a drought pattern. Hope I'm not wrong. Tomorrow I hope to have time to take photos. Today was cool, breezy, and overcast so didn't inspire me.

No rest today

We have a rent house vacant so I worked on it all day. Have to scour the floors with oven cleaner and anxious to get it over with so my lungs can recover just in case I get the virus. Six more hours until I finish the floors, but I can only do about two hours a day of the oven cleaner. So looking at three more days. Won't be as hard as today since I have the refrigerator and range done. It took me four hours on the range. I swear it was the nastiest one I've ever done.

Our tomatoes are doing good. They have little tomatoes on them.

My husband went shopping around town today and found toilet paper so we're all stocked up. Of course, since I'm self-isolating with him, I'm only as safe from the virus as he is. Causes me plenty of anxiety. I nag him about it but he pays no attention.  He claims he keeps his distance and uses the mask I gave him but I've watched him in our yard talking to neighbors, mailman, etc. and he doesn't.

So far there are no confirmed cases in Alpine, which only means no one has died of it, since they don't test anyone, and only positive tests are considered confirmed.