Birding starting to pick up

The past month, or more, has been poor birding and not much in the way of odes or butterflies either. Now a migrant or two is starting to show up so I anticipate more interesting times. Today got up to 109° so I watered for a couple of hours this morning, then finished this afternoon in short bursts. 

It seemed strange to see a young mule deer without an adult at the tank, but I assume it's OK.

No interesting birds. Maybe the best migrant was a Warbling Vireo.

That's about it. It seems like my son Lee will finally get moved down here this weekend, which is exciting for me. I'm not sure how much time he'll actually be able to spend here, but it's a start.

My health is about the same. No dental problems at the moment (fingers crossed), and just the normal aches and pains. I feel grateful that I'm not dealing with cancer, like so many people are, that I can't even think about complaining. My oldest son started radiation today for his cancer and my one brother's body has had just about all the radiation it can tolerate. My youngest brother will soon be starting his radiation. It all weighs heavy on me.

I enjoy and read all your comments but for some reason I'm still not able to respond to them.

Blog glitch

About a week ago my blog started not letting me comment on comments. I'm not sure I'm even getting comments anymore. I had an expert check all my settings, etc. and it seems to be a problem that google is having. So until they fix it, I want you to know that I enjoy and appreciate all your comments and would respond if I could.

Yesterday my son and I went to the oasis to service feeders and water. I also got him to do a small project for me, which I really appreciated. I'd like to get all the horsetails out of the back pond, but that would be a huge project that would kill the hackberry tree that sprouted in the pond, so  he cleaned the horsetails out for now. It's possible that by letting the pond go dry for about six months this winter the horsetails will die.

before

Not only do they not fit into the native look I prefer, but they get dry and die back a lot, not to mention blocking views of birds for birders.

after

(The first photo was taken in the early morning and the last one in the afternoon so lighting is different.)

Blooms, but not many birds

It's been brought to my attention that I haven't blogged in well over two weeks. For anyone that's concerned because of that, all is well here. Weather has been great; cooler and occasional light showers. Nothing interesting going on, just same nesting species and plenty of things blooming. Oasis looks lovely! 

Sea Urchin (coryphantha echinus)

Cactus Wren nest-building

Any day now migrant hummers will start showing up and before I know it fall migration will be in full swing.

I can't complain about my health. It's good for an 84 year old. At this stage of my life, I'm losing peers, friends, and relatives. Two brothers and one son are dealing with prostate cancer. My ailments are very minor, so I'm grateful for that!

Another lovely oasis day!

Yet again, I arrived shortly after daylight. Checked the tanks and no alarming amount of leakage. Enjoyed the lushness since the rain, and the wonderful quietude that is always lacking in Alpine.

I noticed that a critter had defecated not far from the seed feeder, but I saw no evidence of bear. Not sure what it was. I think the scat is composed of berries and berry seeds, not feeder seeds. Perhaps a Ringtail? Seemed like a really large assemblage for a Ringtail though.

My intrepid niece found a Common Poorwill nest on a slope along the driveway in. One egg hatched today, but she rushed away so as not to stress the adult that flushed, so can't tell if the nestling is alive or not, but I would presume it is.*

Back at the oasis, I had noticed during that big rain last month that a portion of a walkway flooded, so I dug a ditch near it and built the walk up with the dirt. The ditch heads to my newly planted Faxon Yucca, so it should work out good for that too.

And after rain, pruning has to be done, so I pushed myself to the limit doing that as well. Had to nap before heading back to town.

I think we'll get some rain from Hurricane Beryl, but none yet. South of us a ways got an inch yesterday. That's how it goes.

Here's a blooming Sea-Urchin Cactus that my awesome niece photographed today. I stopped to look at it as I headed back to town but it was closed up by the time I went by.

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UPDATE: This morning my niece did a quick check on the nest and found the baby all fluffed up. The second egg will hopefully hatch today.

All good!

I just love precocial* chicks, maybe because when I was a child we raised chickens. Here are a couple of clips of quail chicks from my trail cam yesterday. They're finally big enough to climb into the drip bath. (Somehow I didn't get the year set right on the cam. Every time the batteries run down I have to reset it and sometimes it messes up. The temperature is right though.)

Dragonflies are abundant at the oasis, and surprisingly, so far, mosquitoes haven't been bad. Today I had not one, but two, Five-striped Leaftails. That was a treat! Otherwise, just the usual suspects.

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* Precocial chicks are those that can walk, run, and feed themselves soon after hatching. Ducks are precocial also, which I adore equally.

Lovely oasis morning!

I arrived at the oasis around 7 AM to service feeders and then head back to town. Immediately upon walking over to the mostly empty hummingbird feeders I heard and saw a male Broad-billed Hummingbird. That was awesome!

When I finished with the feeders I spent a little time surveying the abundance of dragonflies present. Mosquitoes weren't too bad. Was happy to see a good number of California Spreadwings.

I had spent a total of three hours at the oasis, yet when I got back to town I was totally exhausted and had to take a long nap. Good thing I didn't need to water trees, but next time I go, I will. Old age sure sucks!

Doses of nature

 

Today my sister took her son and granddaughters to see the oasis. She texted me from there that they had found a lone weak baby quail and what should they do for it? Unfortunately, all I could tell them was to put it down and walk away from it. If it's not strong enough to keep up with the adults, it won't survive. Such is the nature of nature.

There's a small volunteer cypress tree that I've been nurturing, and a bear has damaged it twice now. I think it'll survive, eventually. If you look closely you can see a cord that I had tied to it to keep it upright after the previous time a bear had ravaged it.

And there was new damage to this Mexican Pinyon tree. It should survive also.

It was so hard for me to manage the hoses and pump to fill the 11,000 gallon tank yesterday. I had to get my sister and niece to run up and help me. When I looked inside to see how fast the tank was filling, I was greeted by drowning rats. Ugh! Another ample dose of nature.

The mosquitoes have arrived at the oasis in force, my sister tells me. I'm not anxious for that much nature right now, but I'll go in a couple of days, long enough to fill feeders. 

Question: Why is it so difficult to create a bear proof trash can (or seed feeder)?

Answer: Because there's considerable overlap between the smartest bears and the dumbest people.

Fortunately, the electrified feeder is working. I toyed with the idea of removing the zapper setup and concreting the feeder in so a bear can't jiggle seed out of it. That way I could make it prettier with rock perches etc. BUT.. I can't bring myself to do it. Maybe a strong bear could wiggle it loose, especially if the concrete hadn't cured good yet, and it had access to the ports. If it's not broke, don't fix it, even if it goes against my nature to want to beautify it.

Perfect surprise monsoon!

Just before daylight this morning, my son and I headed to the oasis to service feeders and do some watering . We were surprised to see a few showers at a couple of places along the way, as none were forecast. Our hope was that the oasis would at least have wet ground when we got there. From what we could see it didn't look too promising.

When we arrived around 8:00 AM a few sprinkles fell but we went about getting ready to set up the hoses to water. A little lightning flashed, but not close to us. Nothing to indicate a monsoon. And I've seen enough monsoons to know when one is impending. I thought. And we almost never ever get a monsoon in the early morning unless we're in the direct path of a hurricane, with many days notice and anticipation... usually all for nothing. In short, I can't remember ever getting an early morning monsoon. 

We noticed a bear had visited, so took a few minutes to look for damage and tracks when suddenly we started being pelted by hail.

We dove into the viewing blind, but it afforded no protection. Soon hail and rain deluged us. We got drenched, but couldn't stop laughing! It was hilarious in its freakishness!

I tried recording with my camera as I shivered. Totally forgot to set the brightness in the excitement, so the videos are too dark. I can't find a way to brighten them without buying some programs online, so here they are, for what they're worth.

In minutes everything was full and running over. The big tank was full before we were even able to walk over to watch it fill.

It was an incredible experience. So glad I'd gotten to share it with Lee. He'd never been present there during a monsoon before. Within an hour, the skies were cloudless, with temperatures fast on the rise.

As for the bear visit, we assume it got zapped by the feeder. Nothing to indicate the feeder had been messed with. There were some broken branches not far from the feeder that probably happened in the aftermath of the zapping. Bark was ripped off a pine tree, but no real damage.

So I'm a most happy camper! Hated that my son had to get back to town, but I'll go back in a few days and focus on photographing the dragonflies that are sure to show up.

Here and there

 In Alpine I have a lovely little habitat with plenty of water security.

It would be great if it wasn't surrounded by barking dogs, and other city noise, including trains.

In the Christmas Mountains I have a lovely habitat with scant water security, but it's special, nevertheless. Today my son and I did a short watering, in keeping with my resolve to make the oasis less dependent on water. We'll see how it goes. My plan is to cut water usage in half while retaining the important vegetation. Some plants require more water than the value they add. Gonna be tricky, but I feel it's necessary. There seems to be no question but what the area will become hotter and drier in the future, and for sure I'm getting too old to be a slave to it. So a new chapter begins...

Last time I was there watering, a quail kept going into and out of a clump of grass beneath a tree. I knew there had to be a nest under there. Today I didn't see the quail anywhere near the clump, but did see the nest. I hope that doesn't mean it's been abandoned. It could mean that the weather was lovely and the eggs don't require sitting on. Or she's not through laying and hasn't started incubating. I don't know.

Again today, visiting birders got their lifer Lucifer Hummingbird. That always makes it so worth while, and I'll always be able to at least maintain feeders. No major health issues. All is good!

Rain update

My son and I arrived at the oasis at 7 AM this morning. The only runoff was at the upper dirt tank. We spent the day wrestling with heavy lines to make the water go directly from the dirt tank into the reserve tank. Eventually, we topped it off, but in hindsight decided we should have done it differently by putting it into the stucco tank first and then into the reserve tank. We got .62" to dry parched ground during a half hour period, so most of it just soaked into the ground. Nevertheless, so grateful for it.

Good to see water going into tanks instead of out from.

Here you can look at the vegetation around the dirt tank to see how high the water was before we started pumping. Notice how lush the Soapberry thicket is there compared to the one at the oasis. Better soil is the reason, I think.

This is the oasis Soapberry thicket today. Since the rain it should start putting on new leaves.

Hoping for a great monsoon season!  I still intend to water less, even if it means losing some things. I want a more natural habitat with a less risky maintenance routine.

After the reserve tank was topped off, we put what was left into the stucco tank. Not a lot, but should last until a good monsoon.