Exciting projects in progress

Ever since the new viewing blind was completed I was aware that people sitting in the back row of the blind couldn't see the birds at the water feature and feeding on the ground under the seed feeder. It bothered me a lot. So I designed a raised bench to install back there. Left over funds from the grant money paid for the material. My son spent all day (over 12 hours) cutting, welding, and such. It's going to be so awesome! We couldn't have afforded to hire the work done. All oasis-loving volunteer labor! (It'll be fastened to the blind supports, so no way will it be able to tip over.)

Right now our biggest challenge is to get it down to the oasis. It's so heavy, one man can't lift one end of it.  After we get it in place, then we'll put a wood seat and wood step on it. I'm super excited to get this added to the viewing space.

Soon now we're going to whittle down the worst boulders in the road. And then we're going to clean out the rest of the silt from the stucco tank and I'll finish sealing it. Hoping for a wonderful spring migration. Lucifer Hummingbirds are two weeks away!

Alpine time

My son's workshop is coming along. I think it looks lovely and has lots of character. (He and I are both artists, of course.) 

Putting up the last panel

Saw a different duck on the pond today. I think it's an immature male Mallard.

Cold to the core

Went to the oasis yesterday afternoon and got so bone chilled that by 6:30 PM I turned my electric blanket on high and went to bed. Even then it took me two hours to feel comfortably warm. I have an electric space heater in my cabin but once these rock walls get cooled down, it takes forever to warm them up.

This morning it was 19,° so I bundled up. Before I could get chilled the sun warmed me up and I was soon out of my down jacket with no problem. I just can't subject myself to the amount of cold I did when I was younger. After watering the trees I came to town. Tired but I'm sure I'll be fine in the morning. 

Had a Green-winged Teal in the big tank this morning but it departed when I got down into the tank to hook up my pump. For me, spring is less than three weeks away and I cannot wait.

While watering, I noticed that the Mexican Pinyons are putting on new candles, but the Papershell Pinyons aren't. I don't know if that's because the former are more suitable for my habitat or it's just a matter of different species do it at different times or under different circumstances. They both seem healthy though.

Mexican Pinyon

Papershell Pinyon 

Alpine duck frustration

From inside the house this morning I checked to see if the Northern Pintail was still present. Didn't get a good look, but I saw a duck with a lot of white on the breast that I knew wasn't one of our resident ducks, so I contacted a birder who wanted to come see the pintail, if it was still here today. By the time I went outside to confirm, the birder was already on his way and the duck I had seen turned out to be a Northern Shoveler, not the Pintail. Oh well.

There were actually two shovelers present. Ducks may be on the move. I wonder what tomorrow will bring.

Surprise duck today

Always keeping an eye on the ponds and yard out the window from beside a warm fire. I get excited to see an ordinary bird on days like today... one more species for my day list. So was amazed to see what looked like a Northern Pintail. To be sure, I braved the cold and crept closer to the ponds, hoping I wouldn't flush it. Finally got close enough for a diagnostic photo, and sure enough, that's what it was. I think that's the first one I've had in Alpine, although I have that species on my Brewster County list.

I snapped three photos of it before dashing back indoors, but now wish I would have taken more. One is sharper, one is at a better angle, and one shows the eye best, but I should have gotten one that was good in all three areas. Hopefully lesson learned. Above is the sharpest one, but I don't like the angle. The angle is better on the next one but I cropped it so a branch wouldn't be in the photo.

Such is life!

Wintry weather

I'm mostly staying indoors by the fire. Nothing going on here, bird-wise or otherwise. Before an Arctic blast hit, my son "dried in" his new building. That's about it.

 

Yes, that's snow on the ground.

Son's project

My son, Leonardo, is building a workshop for his sign business next to our house in town. It's a lot of work. My husband sold him the land it's on. It'll be great having him nearby as we continue aging.

Time gets away

Since my son had filled the seed feeder at the oasis a couple of days ago, I didn't feel a big need to go down there today. However, with cold weather due tomorrow, I decided to go enjoy the afternoon there, and take bird photos even if it was just the regular common birds I always have. Couldn't stand another day of napping and TV, waiting, almost in a state of torpor, for spring.

When I got there I spent a couple of hours doing odds and ends at my cabin before heading to the oasis. Hadn't really planned on watering. But upon checking my journal,  I realized I hadn't been there in nearly two weeks, so needed to water. By then it was mid-afternoon, so I rushed around watering what I could before dark. Now that I'm not pumping from the stucco tank (trying to dry it up for cleaning and patching), I have to water with only one hose at a time with a smaller pump. Takes forever.  I gave most things a small drink. Hopefully, that'll last until I get back there in a week or so.

As for the birds, same old ones. I know there are at least 20 species there, but I only actually saw or heard 14 species. Back in town now, bracing for the nasty weather tomorrow.

Scaled Quail

Black-throated Sparrow

Pyrrhuloxia

Bleak blogging

 Haven't been inspired to blog lately, but only five weeks until my spring begins. For me it begins when the Lucifer Hummingbirds return. I'm sort of hibernating in the meantime. Just want to say we're all well and it won't be long now.  In two days I'm going to the oasis. I'll take pictures and blog more then.

Time to blog

Can't believe I haven't blogged yet this year. 

Here's a new sign my son made and installed at the oasis. Just extra insurance against any liability. Can't hurt, and makes me feel better.

For countless years, when stuck in town, I'm chomping at the bit to get back to the oasis. But these past months I've dreaded it. No birds and more work than I can do. Today I dragged myself down here to water, knowing it would be especially onerous with the stucco tank almost empty. 

My intention was to put a smaller pump into the tank to get all the water out so it would dry up to where I can clean and patch it. In and out of the tank with hoses, pump, extension cord, etc., only to discover two hours later, there wasn't enough water in the tank to cover the pump. So I had to haul everything back out, by then exhausted, and set up the pump in the other tank. I managed to water for a couple of hours before I couldn't go anymore. Tomorrow I'll finish. 

While watering, I do other tasks in between moving the hose. The drip to the water feature was plugged up.  Had to take the line apart and clean it, and of course, service feeders.

I noticed myself getting really discouraged, so I tried focusing on gratitude. Enumerating all that I'm grateful for, starting with even being alive and able to come here. I generally don't take anything for pain, but today I took an Ibuprofen before I started work. It really helps, maybe because I take something so seldom.

But so grateful that all my loved ones are past covid; my camera, phone, and internet worked. Winter is nearly half over. Lucifers will return in six weeks. So I'm back at my happy place.

A Great Blue Heron has been hanging around gorging on the gambusias in the stucco tank. With very little water left in the tank, pickin's are easy. He waits patiently for me to leave the tank.

I saw what I thought was a Black-tailed Gnatcatcher (they nest at the oasis). Looking into the late afternoon sun, and at quite a distance away, I snapped a few photos. Now I'm pretty certain it's a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher. At least one (maybe two) has been overwintering here.