Alpine migration day

Today felt like the first day of migration in Alpine. First time I've ever photographed the crown on a Nashville Warbler. Rather accidental. I was just trying to photograph it in focus. Failed on that count.

The Inca Dove is still sitting on a nest in the mulberry tree. The mate is usually easy to spot nearby.

The mulberry trees are loaded with mulberries. They'll start ripening in a couple of weeks and bring exciting birds to the habitat. Meanwhile, the air is perfumed with Black Locust blossoms.

Without this habitat in Alpine there's no way I could spend any amount of time here. I would love to let  bushes and weeds grow, but my husband won't allow it. He's too afraid of getting a ticket from the city even after I pled my case one year and they said they'd leave us alone... and have done so. So far. Things, and personnel, change.

Black Locust grow fast and make great trees if you prune them. They're terribly thorny so it's important to remove the lower growth as soon as possible. They're also susceptible to deer damage, so they need caged for the first five years or so. I have a couple that sprouted last year (they can be invasive) that I need to cage so the deer will stop eating them. Tomorrow.

Struggles here and there

The cottonwood tree is really struggling to stay alive. I don't see it surviving much longer without some good rains this year. It's so water needy that it would save a lot of water if it died. However, birds love it. Always great photo ops in it. The oasis sure wouldn't be the same without it. Just today I photographed this Scott's Oriole in it.

I really enjoyed watching a Curve-billed Thrasher struggling to fit a big twig through the nest box opening. It finally did get the twig in by turning it just right, but it was a nail-biter there for a while.

I got more photos of the Grasshopper Sparrow today too.

There are fewer hummers at the feeders since ocotillo is starting to bloom better. Not a good year for blooms though.

Time will tell

 

Finally, a month later than usual, things are starting to green up. I despaired that they ever would. Not only that, but they're wasting no time in trying to make berries. Time will tell if birds get to enjoy them. They still have a lot of adversity to get through (heat, drought, wind, insects, etc.).

Chinese Pistachio (ripens in fall)

Netleaf Hackberry (ripens in fall)

Black Cherry (ripens summer)

Wild Mulberry (ripens spring)

Unfortunately, the mulberry tree is a small volunteer and doesn't make many berries. Just tiny ones that don't last long. The persimmons aren't putting on fruit yet, but they can be a great source of fall berries.

I saw my first oasis Regal Ringneck Snake today. I tried to corral it for a photo; was too chicken to pick it up, so not a very good photo. It's a common snake, but secretive and seldom seen.

Time will tell if the new water feature can withstand the continual onslaught of javelina. I'll concrete the rocks in place if I have to.

Early this morning I left my camera in the pickup temporarily since I didn't see any birds and was struggling to set up my hoses and pump for a day of watering. Right away, as I was rushing around, I flushed a Grasshopper Sparrow. I didn't know if Ebird considers it rare here or not, so was determined to get a photo. (I've only seen a few here in all the years of the oasis.) For the next several hours, as I watered, I searched high and low. Got one glimpse of it, but I wasn't fast enough for a photo. Finally, I figured it had just stopped by for a drink and was gone, so I gave up. Some time later, I got down into the big tank to adjust my pump and there was the sparrow, making its way down to the water. My first thought was, "am I carrying my camera?" That's a valid question because I carry it so much that I'm not aware of carrying it. And as dedicated as I am about carrying it around my neck, swung around onto my back so it doesn't interfere with work, I do put it down occasionally (quite a bit, actually) and forget. Like if I'm getting into water or climbing a ladder or using the bathroom, etc.

Yes, I was carrying my camera since I wasn't actually getting into the water, just using a pole to move the pump deeper in. I did get my photos. Turned out Ebird didn't flag it, but I was prepared.

Too many times I've not expected a bird to be flagged, and it was. It's sometimes hard to know what is considered rare at what time, and what place.

Peregrine Falcon

Stuck in town, I can only enjoy the oasis vicariously. A week or so ago visitors reported seeing a Peregrine swoop real close. So last time I was down there, I kept hoping to see one. Didn't happen. Now today visitors saw one up close and personal again. Maybe when I get back down there I'll get that lucky. Meanwhile, enjoying the great photos of it taken by Star Posada.

Normally, this time of year they're nesting up along the mountain ridge; I hear them, but don't see them. This year, I don't hear them, but others see them. I never could understand why the Peregrines don't hunt right at the oasis where it's so birdy, and especially with doves. Perhaps this one has figured out it's the place to be. We'll see.

Years ago, maybe in the late 90s, I monitored a Peregrine nest on the cliff above the oasis that fledged a record 4 chicks, called "eyases."

New hummer nest in Alpine

Several days ago I saw a hummer with nesting material at my habitat in Alpine. Today, as soon as I got to town from servicing feeders and watering at the oasis, I was showing the habitat here to some birders. While I was at it, I glanced into the cypress tree I had seen the activity in, not expecting to see the nest, but lo and behold, there it was! I think it's interesting how the bird seemed to use the nest-building cobwebs to further attach the nest to the cypress needles.

 

Earlier today, at the oasis, I photographed a cooperative Solitary Sandpiper.

Funny how when there are no birds, there are no birders, and when I'm inundated with birds, I'm also inundated with birders. Right now there's a fair amount of both.

Remember that bird that I first thought was a female Cardinal (see post from April 2), then decided it was a Pyrrhuloxia with a berry-stained beak?  Well after photographing it again yesterday, I think it's a hybrid Cardinal x Pyrrhuloxia. If it was stain, it wouldn't be permanent, and besides there are no berries.

A whole lotta...

I received an email from a birder who visited the oasis today and she indicated that the feeders were basically empty. Knowing I'd worry and not sleep, I headed to the oasis, arriving around 8 PM. There were a whole lotta hummers swarming the feeders. I was planning on coming down early in the morning anyway, but glad I came down. I don't like them to have to fight over the last feeder or two with anything in it. I put up double the feeders.

Since the ocotillo is starting to bloom, I had expected they'd diminish at the feeders, not increase, but I think it'll still be a week or so before there's enough ocotillo to divert them.

Before I rushed away from Alpine, I saw the two Inca Doves that are nesting in the grape arbor cuddling together after the female apparently had left the nest for a spell. They appeared to be grooming one another. Very touching!

Whole lotta lovin'

Fun hour at Musquiz Lake

Frequently I run up to check out the bird activity at Musquiz Lake about 15 minutes north of Alpine. Today I saw an Elk swim across the lake. Really cool!

Other than that, I saw 25 bird species, including dozens of Yellow-rumped Warblers, an Osprey and a Common Black Hawk. The latter were too far away to get decent photos. Best I could do.

Bustling oasis

Watering trees today didn't feel nearly as onerous as it has during the last six months or so. Not only are things slowly, finally, starting to green up, but birds are starting to arrive. While watering I tallied 33 species and I'm sure there were more. Two of the species I couldn't identify, so that's fun. Got them identified by an expert.

 

Gray Flycatcher

Orange-crowned Warbler

Here are some deer coming to water.

A nest-building Curve-billed Thrasher. Things are definitely lively!

A busy Ash-throated Flycatcher

And a very old Lucifer female.

Picnic table day

I worked really hard all morning to replace the old top boards on a picnic table. The worst part was all the times I had to get down under the table and back up again. Like about 50 times.  A killer for my knees and back. I ended up taking an aspirin, something I only do in dire circumstances.

Before

After

                     

Now the canopy needs more sotol so the picnic tables will have more shade. That's a project I once did, but it would be too hard on me to attempt it again. Either my son will do it eventually or some volunteers will..... or it won't get done.

I thought I saw the female Cardinal today that's been hanging around all winter, but upon closer examination, I believe it's a Pyrrhuloxia with a berry-stained beak. Tricky!

No idea what berries. Vegetation is still pretty dead at the oasis. Ocotillo is starting to bloom. Maybe they eat the buds on that.

When I arrived at the oasis this morning Lucifers came right up to me. One poked its beak at a brown button at the top of my knit shirt, right at my throat. It didn't take me but a second to realize the feeders must all be empty and they're desperate. Sure enough. I literally ran to my pickup and tore up to my cabin for sugar solution. I had left plenty in five feeders. I think the wind tilted the feeders and emptied them. It can happen, although that's rare. One male Lucifer started drinking from a feeder before I even got it hung.

I came across an old, almost empty roll of  toilet paper that I had purchased in the 1980s. For some reason, I had saved it, maybe because it was the last of the blue toilet paper. They quit making it. I remember how fat those Scott rolls were. Today's rolls are pathetic by comparison.

It makes sense to reduce portion size in food products since so many Americans are obese, but they're also larger, so it doesn't make sense to make the toilet paper roles smaller. Of course, they cost more, not less. All about profits. I guess the pandemic proved how indispensable toilet paper is. People would have hoarded it no matter the cost.

Candelaria wetlands

I've been wanting to go to the Candelaria wetlands ever since birders have posted tons of great birds from there in the past month or so. Finally went yesterday. Probably wouldn't have if I had known it was nearly 50 miles beyond Presidio. I used to go there frequently and didn't remember it being so far. But I'm glad I went. Awesome birding! In the years before ebird I kept county lists, but no locations and dates. So I'm trying to get better documentation for my old sightings. I think I still have over 90 species to go for Presidio County. I'm sure I won't ever get that many, but I did add 7 species to my list plus got documentation on almost 20 species I already had.

I was dismayed to see a feral hog (Russian Boar) in the wetlands. If they come to the oasis, it'll be the end of it, I fear.

I saw hundreds of pelicans, cormorants, swallows, ducks, etc. there. Certainly the birdiest I've ever seen it, and maybe anywhere. Hadn't had photos of Common Gallinules before yesterday either.

These next photos will give you an idea of how packed it was with birds. The wetland extends for miles along the road too.