Rain birds

Last evening, we heard the ‘rain birds’ for the first time this year. Usually we associate them with May, but we are a couple of days before the 1st of May. I think that I talked a bit about these last year in May. The call is a prolonged sound a bit like a whistle; it stays the same pitch, fairly high. There were only acouple last night. Later in May when there a quite a few, the sound is continuous. Actually, as I mentioned last year, the sounds are not made by birds, but by insects. They are called ‘rain birds’ because they supposedly are harbingers of the coming rainy season. Last year, the first rain came on May 8th which I think was a bit earlier than usual. In 2008, our first year here, the first rain was on May 12th.

We have had more than enough excitement this week. Just after midnight Sunday night, the power went out. It did not come back on until just after 11 a.m. on Monday; apparently a transformer went out. That cancelled our irrigation scheduled for Monday morning. Barbara tried to make up for it in the afternoon. That was not a good idea. On Monday,, Wednesday and Friday, the water comes from La Floresta only in the mornings until early afternoon. Then, it doesn’t come on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday until late morning to about 6 p.m. Thus, the cistern (aljibe) was low overnight. When the irrigation system came on at 6 a.m. Tuesday morning., it soon draained the aljibe and lost the prime. We had to wait for the water from La Floresta to come on and partially refill the aljibe. Then, in the afternoon, we primed the pump and got water again. Usually, the irrigation system timer is set so that the watering coincides with the water flows from La Floresta. We shall certainly be more careful in the future. Right now in the hottest and driest time of the year, the grass and flowers need more water.

We just had more excitement; a hummngbird was in the house. Our feeder is in the patio, but until it gets dark, we usually leave the door from the dining room into the patio open so the dogs can go in and out. Actually, during the day many of the other doors are also open. Thus, we do have birds flying in. Some fly right out again; we have to be quick because Lily is fast and kills any she gets hold of, as she did 2 evenings ago. The humming birds always stay too high up in the rafters to find the doors to go out. The usual procedure is to keep them flying until they get tired. Sometimes, they get so low that they do find one of the doors. However, often, they just get so tired that they flutter down and I can pick them up; usually, I throw a napkin over them so they don’t struggle too much in my hands. Then, I take them outside. That is what happened tonight. It often takes 15 or 20 minutes for them to get tired out. I find it harrowing as I hate to see them get hurt.