[light wind]
- CAROLYN: We're in Brewster County Texas,
and we're in the southern part of it.
Nearly adjacent to Big Bend National Park.
This is a curved-billed thrasher.
And what's interesting is they're not known to nest
in nesting boxes but they do here.
Well I've got boxes up all over the place.
That just comes with having a bird sanctuary I guess.
[generator starts]
- NARRATOR: Meet Carolyn Ohl-Johnson.
This birder loves her water.
- CAROLYN: I'm going to pump some water into a concrete tank
where it'll last a lot longer.
[water splashing]
- NARRATOR: She needs all this water for the ponds,
and trees...
and birds.
- CAROLYN: There's a blue grosbeak.
- NARRATOR: You see, this part of West Texas is a dry,
prickly desert, that doesn't get much water.
But there's plenty here at the Christmas Mountains Oasis.
[playful acoustic music]
Carolyn and her late husband Sherwood started building
this oasis in the 90s.
- And I told him how we could put in some diversion dams,
and he just hopped right on that without greasing
his equipment, the same day!
And so we started out with one tank that wasn't
nearly big enough.
- NARRATOR: They ended up with three dams...
and five water tanks.
Almost 20 years later, and here we are!
- CAROLYN: It's a refuge for birds, butterflies.
[dragonfly flutters]
Just give them a little dry seed.
- She's built this oasis out of gravel and creosote,
and put in some wetlands to catch rainwater,
the birds also use the water, and she's created truly
an oasis out in the desert.
- Oh, here's a black-throated sparrow just came in
to the feeder, he sticks his little head in there.
I can be sitting here, just looking at the same old stuff,
and bet money that nothing interesting's going
to come along.
And there, all of a sudden, oh my gosh, there's a lifer!
But it won't happen if I'm not sitting here looking,
so what do you do!
You sure don't get much work done, that's for sure.
- NARRATOR: Plenty of work's been done here as well.
Deep in the Chihuahuan desert near Presidio,
in the driest ecoregion of Texas is the
B.J. Bishop Wetlands, a river wetland ecosystem.
A habitat that's pretty much dried up round these parts.
- Originally, back when the Rio Grande was still
healthy with good flows,
you had ebb and flows that created estuaries like this.
Well, those no longer really exist.
And so we had an opportunity here working with the city
to put this in and create something unique.
- NARRATOR: Terry allows the city of Presidio to discharge
its treated wastewater here.
[birds chirp]
And the people of Presidio get their first ever
birding wetland.
- PATT SIMS: Yeah those black, those are the white-faced ibis.
- As farmland turned into wetland,
I never would have thought it could do this.
This was an amazing, creative idea.
And in a year and a half, it has just really increased
the numbers and species of birds that we're being able
to see here!
- If you look over here, right on that vegetation there,
there's some killdee working the uh, the water there,
you'll see them moving their feet, and they're eating
the bugs that come scurrying out of that!
Must be great for killdee, because I have never seen
so many in one place here in the Presidio valley.
- NARRATOR: This man-made wetland is a win-win,
for the birders and the birds.
- PATT: I am surprised at how many species have
cashed in on this.
I really am and the numbers, the birds know it's here,
so they're coming in!
- DENNIS: And to have one here, have one in Presidio,
and to have it be such an integral part of all the
environment here is pretty unique, and it's pretty awesome!
- ELLEN WEINACHT: We are at the Sandia Wetlands,
on the west side of Balmorhea.
[upbeat music]
And we're happy for anybody to come!
- RICH KOSTECKE: A bunch of teal flying right there.
- NARRATOR: Ellen Weinacht's place is another birding oasis
in the desert.
[water trickles]
Sandia Springs flows through her land and she decided to set up
her own birding wetland.
- You see the killdeer moving, there's at least
three of them in there.
- We have a water right on that spring, and it just made
sense to use it to make a pond!
Really been a lot, been a lot of fun!
[blue-winged teal flush]
- We are in the desert, and water is very limited,
so these little patches, they may not seem like much.
But the birds do find them and they can get really heavy use!
- CLIFF: You wouldn't believe what's flying over the desert
until you create the gas station, the stopover sight
for these birds to refuel.
[green heron calls]
- ELLEN: Would you say try something different
at each pond.
- Yes absolutely, something different
in each pond would be good!
Hey, hey look at that!
What is that!
That's a peregrine!
No, it's a prairie falcon.
He would eat ducks!
- ELLEN: Really, he is that big!
- Oh yeah, he would definitely take a blue-winged teal.
Creating these wetlands out in the desert are a
magnet for wildlife.
I mean every critter needs water!
- ELLEN: So, thanks for coming.
- CLIFF: And so to bring water, open water to the desert
is fantastic.
[light wind]
- NARRATOR: Back at Christmas Mountains Oasis,
Carolyn is getting her place ready for a special guest.
- CAROLYN: You know it just evolved, where the trees
attracted more birds.
And then you flip them real quick.
And then I learned more and learned about the lucifers,
and how rare they were and special they were.
If everybody's real still they'll come into the feeder!
- NARRATOR: Carolyn's oasis is home to one of the
rarest hummingbirds in the United States.
- CAROLYN: Basically, this is lucifer central.
- CLIFF: The lucifer hummingbird has a very tiny
global range in Mexico.
It just peaks into a little part of Texas right here.
And he's very special, because if you want to see that bird
in the U.S., you need to come here!
He's sitting right there, near the tip top of that shrub
in the background.
- BIRDER: Okay, on the top of that tree right there!
- CAROLYN: He's back on that perch there, if you can get
that oughta be a-- ooops!
You know, when I originally did it, it was only for my
enjoyment, but it didn't take long for me to realize
that I had to share it!
- BARBARA PANKRATZ: It just sat down!
Oh my goodness!
- CLIFF: The male has a very long beautiful purple
magenta gorget, it has a fairly long and drooped bill!
- BARBARA: That's the lucifer!
That's a lifer for me!
- Well it is for me too!
[laughing]
- BARBARA: This is the most amazing place!
Beautiful!
It truly is an oasis in the middle of the desert!
It's a daunting task to have come out here
and to create such a haven, thankfully she did!
- It's fantastic to landowners doing this,
and bringing back this wetland habitat out
in the Chihuahuan desert.
- NARRATOR: For Carolyn, she's happy to be behind the scenes.
So the lucifer can shine!
And folks will continue to enjoy her West Texas wonder.
- CAROLYN: To me this place is wonderful and special,
and I know it won't be here forever!
You just can't not share it with people that love it,
that's to me what life is all about!
- NARRATOR: This project was funded in part by a grant
from the Wildlife Restoration Program.