AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. — San Diego State’s basketball team has a tradition as pregame warmups conclude of surrounding bouncy forward Pharaoh Compton as he flies down the lane for one of his patented dunks.
Saturday night, they gathered around the blue-painted lane at the Air Force Academy’s Clune Arena, and here came Compton, who spun and … aborted liftoff.
He went back to the top of the key and tried again. Ignition, liftoff, dunk.
And that’s pretty much how the game went. Air Force, still winless in the Mountain West this season, jumped to a 5-0 lead before the Aztecs launched and rocketed away from the Falcons wearing special all-black Space Force uniforms.
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San Diego State’s Tae Simmons runs through the lane during Saturday’s Mountain West win over Air Force in Air Force Academy, Colo. (Air Force athletics)
The 88-54 win was a welcome change from a year ago, when the Falcons weren’t much better (1-19 in conference) and the Aztecs needed a Wayne McKinney III layup at the overtime buzzer to escape what would have been maybe the worst loss in program history — and almost certainly would have kept them out of the NCAA Tournament.
“The veterans know, they know how hard it was in here last year,” coach Brian Dutcher said. “Also, I’ve tried to tell them we need a greater sense of urgency in February. I’m trying to pick up their urgency in everything we do. If we can stay urgent and play more consecutive possessions, we’ll have a better chance to win.”
It helped that the Falcons didn’t attempt 44 free throws, as they did here last year, but just 12. And that the Aztecs made six 3-pointers in both games but needed 10 fewer attempts (16 compared with 27).
This one was over midway through the first half, when a 23-2 Aztecs run had Air Force interim coach Jon Jordan calling all but one of his allotted timeouts in the game’s opening 14 minutes in a desperate attempt to stem an oncoming tide washing away his sandcastle.
As if 12 first-half turnovers (to one by SDSU) weren’t painful enough, BJ Davis plunged in the dagger at the halftime buzzer when, with the clocking ticking from 3 to 2 to 1, he launched a 3 closer to midcourt than the arc.
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Swish.
San Diego State’s Miles Byd puts up a 3-pointer during Saturday’s Mountain West win over Air Force in Air Force Academy, Colo. (Air Force athletics)
Dutcher said recently that he wanted “in the worst way” to reach their bye week in first place, and he has. The Aztecs (17-6, 11-2) remain tied atop the Mountain West after Utah State hung on for an 85-83 win at Wyoming later Saturday night.
Now they don’t play for a week, until Saturday against Nevada at Viejas Arena. The plan is to re-evaluate injured starters Magoon Gwath (hip) and Elzie Harrington (leg) sometime midweek in hopes both will be available and game fit for the stretch run.
“It’s all in the doctors’ and trainers’ hands,” Dutcher said. “They’ve got more testing to do, whether they’re scans or MRIs to make sure whatever they want to see on those is where they want to see it. You watch them out there now, they’re walking and moving like they’re ready to play.
“Sometimes, you look at a guy and he’s limping, and you’re thinking, ‘Oh, he’s way, far away.’ You look at these guys shooting and goofing around, they look pretty good. But I want to make sure what’s going on internally is where the doctors want it before I put them back out there.”
Both were in street clothes again Saturday night, and the Aztecs didn’t need them — even with a shortened rotation at 7,067 feet. They were projected as 22-point favorites by the Kenpom metric and led 23-7, 33-13, 59-33 and 72-39.
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Temperatures outside were unseasonably high, topping out at 63 degrees in February at 7,000 feet, and the Aztecs obliged with some torrid shooting. Even after a 1-for-5 start, they finished at 60% — their best in conference and highest all season other than the 67.2% against Oregon back in November.
The Falcons (3-20, 0-12), who have now lost 36 of their last 37 conference games, proved the ultimate slump-buster for Davis. The junior guard had been averaging 5.5 points on 26.7% shooting over the four games since missing a late free throw against Grand Canyon, and he shook that off with 16 points on 7-of-8 shooting.
San Diego State’s Miles Heide flexese during Saturday’s win over Air Force. in Air Force Academy, Colo. (Air Force Academy athletics)
Miles Heide had 13 points — a season high and one shy of his career high — on 6-of-7 shooting, and not all those were around the basket. He swished a 3 from the top of the key, making him 4 of 16 in his three-year career.
Reese Dixon-Waters continued his emphasis on pump-faking and drawing fouls, with half his 12 points coming at the line. Compton had 11 points and four steals — and no fouls for only the third time in his last 35 games. Jeremiah Oden also had 11 points, giving the Aztecs five double-figure scorers. Taj DeGourville had eight points, five assists and two steals.
Miles Byrd was the only starter not in double figures with four points on 2-of-7 shooting, but he didn’t attempt a wild one-handed windmill after his seemingly nightly steal for a breakaway dunk. Instead, he safely (if unspectacularly) stuffed it with two hands, Dutcher’s stated preference.
Chet Carney, San Diego State superfan and an Aztec ‘for eternity,’ dies at 70
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Little-used 7-foot redshirt freshman Thokbor Majak subbed in with 8:19 to go and filled the stat sheet as well, although maybe not with all the numbers he wanted. He had five rebounds … and four fouls in just under seven minutes.
The two most notable team stats were points in the paint, where the Aztecs scored 52 points; and turnovers, where the visitors committed six while forcing 22, both season bests.
The 22 turnovers were converted into 32 points.
“First of all, they’re a very good basketball team,” said Jordan, the interim coach while the academy investigates allegations involving the treatment of players by the suspended Joe Scott. “That’s a fact. It’s not an excuse, that’s not a rationalization, that’s a fact. They’re very good. They’re long; they really get after us in a unique way.
“If you’re not careful, if you’re not aware of how important that basketball is, you’ll end up with 22 turnovers.”
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Notable
The announced attendance was 1,741 in 6,000 capacity Clune Arena but that seemed a bit high. It included a strong contingent of Aztecs fans, some of whom made the trip from San Diego.
• The Falcons were without 6-9 leading scorer Caleb Walker (11.9 points), who warmed up before the game but was ruled out again with an injury. He has now missed six games.
• Oden got a technical foul for taunting after a dunk on the break.
• Instead of rolled-up T-shirts being thrown into the crowd, they’re dropped from the rafters with parachutes attached.
• The officiating crew included Randy McCall, who also worked last year’s 77-76 overtime win here.
Angel City FC’s 2-0 win over the San Diego Wave on Saturday should have been a cause for celebration. Instead, it was marred by injury.
It didn’t take long for ninth-place Angel City to take down the NWSL table leaders in San Diego. Maiara Niehues scored in the 17th minute, marking four straight games with a goal for the Brazilian international. Ary Borges finished the job with a goal less than 10 minutes later.
But heartbreak ensued just before the halftime whistle when Jun Endo went down with what appeared to be a non-contact injury. The Japanese midfielder grabbed her knee and could be heard sobbing before she walked off the pitch.
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Endo tore her ACL in 2024 and went through a recovery process that lasted more than a year. She returned to the pitch in June 2025 and completed her first full 90 minutes in Angel City’s win over the Orlando Pride on July 3.
Among life’s most magical moments is when you stand quietly in your garden and a hummingbird hovers less than a foot away in front of your face, seemingly taking you in and letting you do the same.
It’s not exactly interspecies communion, but it can feel like communication of some kind. Especially when it happens more than once. Which it can if you have hummingbirds visiting daily because you’ve created a space that welcomes and nourishes them.
Apparently a lot of us in the U.S. have been doing just that. According to Emergen Research, the hummingbirds feed market, which includes nectar solutions, feeders and supplements, was valued at half a billion dollars in 2024 and is expected to reach $1.2 billion by 2034.
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But hummingbirds don’t live on sugar water alone, so while hanging some feeders is useful, creating a holistic habitat that provides them with other nutritional and life needs is just as critical.
A hummingbird alights on a bush sunflower (Encelia californica) at UC San Diego’s Kendall-Frost Mission Bay Marsh Reserve, in Mission Bay. (San Diego Bird Alliance)
Keep in mind, caring for hummingbirds is a commitment to maintenance:
• Making sugar water, keeping it fresh and the feeders clean and protected from ants, bees, wasps and other intruders.
• Providing clean water for bathing in sheltered, clean bird baths.
• If possible, growing native plants that not only flower but attract the insects that hummingbirds eat and the spider webs they use to create their little nests.
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• You have to keep your cats indoors, too, and be strategic when placing feeders and fountains to protect the birds as much as possible from other potential predators, like hawks.
A full in-ground garden isn’t a must: McLeod’s small hummingbird ecosystem fits in an area on her deck, with feeders, a couple of birdbaths and flowering plants. The plants are also home to bugs — necessary protein — as well as material to use for nests. (Luke Johnson / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
Creating an ecosystem with food sources
Birds find most of their nutritional needs in nature, explained Dan Payne, owner of Wild Birds Unlimited in Scripps Ranch, which sells feeders, food and other backyard bird gear.
“What we do is supplement their feeding in a way that helps bring them closer to us so that we can see them and enjoy having them in our lives,” he added.
Essentially, he said, what we’re doing is a hobby.
But it’s a hobby that potentially goes beyond satisfying our enjoyment. By creating an ecosystem in our gardens, we’re contributing to the health of our environment. We’re attracting pollinators. Some will do their jobs and fly off. Others become a source of food for hummingbirds and other birds.
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Colorful, tubular blooms of Mexican honeysuckle at McLeod’s home fit the birds’ long beaks. (Luke Johnson / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
Hummingbirds are frequent visitors to McLeod’s yard, especially in early morning and at dusk. (Luke Johnson / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
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Colorful, tubular blooms of Mexican honeysuckle at McLeod’s home fit the birds’ long beaks. (Luke Johnson / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
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Hummingbirds, said Kelcy Coleman, conservation coordinator with the San Diego Bird Alliance, use nectar for most of their diet, and sugar water is a great replacement for that if you don’t have native plants.
“But they eat protein for a complete diet,” she noted. “They feed on small, tiny little bugs, and especially during breeding season, they will feed the bugs to their chicks, so the chicks will have more protein and grow faster. They also need shelter plants, like bushier plants or trees, to be able to rest on, as well as build nests, so a layer of habitat.
“What I mean by a layer is blooming and flowering plants,” Coleman added, “And then, bushes or coastal sage scrub habitat, where the bushes are taller than the smaller plants, and then sporadic trees as well.”
Native plants are recommended for several reasons. You’ll have more success with plants that prefer the soil and climate where they naturally grow. Many have low water needs. Wildlife is dependent on them for food and shelter. And if you plant natives, you’re connecting your habitat with others, including in our canyons and fields, giving the birds a broader home base.
Making plant choices
What native plants are we talking about? The most often mentioned is the California Fuchsia (Epilobium canum), with its brilliantly colored tubular flowers — designed for those long hummingbird bills. Coleman also recommended Dudleya, a succulent that flowers from spring to midsummer, again with vibrantly colored tubular flowers.
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Then there are monkey flowers: The bush monkey flower has orange and yellow blooms, while red bush and scarlet monkey flowers, of course, have red, trumpet-shape flowers.
Others suggested to me were coral bells and Western columbine.
Fuchsia-flowering gooseberry (Ribes speciosum) at Anstine Nature Preserve, seen during a nature walk, is a plant that attracts hummingbirds. (San Diego Bird Alliance)
Bush sunflower (Encelia californica) at UC San Diego’s Kendall-Frost Mission Bay Marsh Reserve, in Mission Bay. The blooms also draw hummingbirds. (San Diego Bird Alliance)
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Fuchsia-flowering gooseberry (Ribes speciosum) at Anstine Nature Preserve, seen during a nature walk, is a plant that attracts hummingbirds. (San Diego Bird Alliance)
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If you’re sensing a pattern, you’re right, hummers have great vision and are drawn to bright colors, especially reds. (That’s why the most popular hummingbird feeders are red.) So a good way to attract more hummingbirds is to grow native plants that have those brilliantly colored flowers. You can find them at nurseries across San Diego County.
A good source for finding both plants for your specific needs and nurseries that sell them is the Calscape website, calscape.org. Also, advised Coleman, try to choose plants that bloom in succession. Anna’s and Allen’s hummingbirds are species that tend to be year-round residents in San Diego, instead of migrating, so we need to have a variety of plants that can bloom throughout the year.
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And don’t have anything to do with pesticides. Use the bugs to your advantage: They’re the food that hummingbirds — and other birds — need as part of their diet. You don’t want to poison what you’re working so hard to attract.
Anyone can create a home for hummingbirds, says Renee McLeod, a “Birding for Beginners” instructor for San Diego Bird Alliance. She also leads inclusive tours for EveryBody Birds San Diego. (Luke Johnson / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
All this may lead you to think that if you don’t have an in-ground garden, you can’t attract and keep hummingbirds. Renee McLeod, a Certified Access Birding Outing leader who leads tours for the San Diego Bird Alliance and inclusive tours with EveryBody Birds San Diego, would beg to differ.
McLeod and her husband’s outdoor space is a large deck, which she’s outfitted with several feeders, a couple of birdbaths, platform feeders for other birds and some flowering shrubs. Not only does she get visits from hummingbirds throughout the day — although mostly in early morning and at dusk — there are times when more than half a dozen hit the bar together.
Over the years, McLeod has changed feeder types as she realized they were harder to clean, were getting moldy or were hard to fill.
“When we first started, we were using purchased powdered food, and we stopped doing that pretty quickly,” she said. “That stuff is not good at all, and just the regular sugar is great.”
In fact, you may find something called electro nectar for sale, with ingredients such as sucrose, potassium sorbate, citric acid, sodium bicarbonate and potassium bicarbonate.
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“I don’t think we need to feed birds anything except for just the sugar,” said McLeod. “They get all the rest of their stuff from tiny little gnats. In fact, when they’ve got a lot of babies, and we go to empty the feeder, it’ll have all these little, tiny gnats and bugs inside, and that’s because they’re dipping their beaks into the nectar with them into the feeder, and then going to feed the babies.”
After trying several types of feeders, McLeod settled on ones that are easier to fill and to clean. (Luke Johnson / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
Choosing a hummingbird feeder
How do you choose the right feeder? According to Mark Hocking, the former owner of California Backyard Birds in Encinitas (who still works there part-time), try to buy a feeder that has at least some red on it.
“They see red at farther distances, and it tends to be their favorite color,” he said. “You want to buy a hummingbird feeder that’s easy to clean, because you want to clean it thoroughly, and you want to clean it every third day, and to get all that gunk out of there. The sugars ferment and that’s bad for the bird — and it ferments faster in hot weather.”
McLeod recommends a simple-to-make sugar water solution for the feeder, using granulated sugar, not powdered food. (Luke Johnson / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
The sugar solution ferments, especially in summer heat, which is bad for the birds, so feeders should be cleaned out every third day, says Mark Hocking of California Backyard Birds in Encinitas. (Luke Johnson / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
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A hummingbird perches on a feeder on McLeod’s deck. (Luke Johnson / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
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McLeod recommends a simple-to-make sugar water solution for the feeder, using granulated sugar, not powdered food. (Luke Johnson / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
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Look for feeders that have large necks that allow you easier access to clean inside. Try to find ones that have raised ports, not ones with replaceable flowers, because mold can get trapped in them. The ones with yellow flowers on the ports are also said to attract bees and wasps, so skip them.
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And look for units with water moats, either built into the feeder or that you can hang the feeder from. They prevent ants from crawling in. Just remember to keep the moat filled with water.
Cleaning the feeder
You’ll need scrub brushes to get inside the bottle for cleaning. There are different opinions on how to clean. Some experts suggest using distilled white vinegar, others a 9-to-1 ratio of water and household bleach. McLeod said she’s been cleaning her feeders for years with dish soap.
“I think the thing is to wash them,” she said. “The big thing is you don’t really need to disinfect them unless they get full of mold.” Examine for black dots inside and around the feeder. That could be mold.
Also scrub the threads of the bottle neck, the feeder section and its threads, as well as the ports. You can find tiny brushes that look like mascara wands to clean inside the ports. Rinse it all thoroughly and dry.
Filling the feeder
Once the feeder is cleaned and prepared, fill it with a solution of 1 cup water to a quarter-cup of granulated sugar (not powdered sugar, and not honey). The easiest way to dissolve the sugar is to measure and boil the water in a kettle and add it to sugar in a bowl. Stir and let it come to room temperature before filling your feeder.
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When you start out, just fill partway to get a sense of how many birds you’re feeding to avoid wasting the sugar water. One way to expedite feeding is to make a larger batch and store that in the refrigerator for up to a week. But again, bring the sugar water to room temperature before filling the feeder.
Placing the feeder
There are a few factors to keep in mind when selecting a spot to hang feeders: sun exposure, territorial behavior and safety.
“If you’re looking at a small space, keep it away from windows, because bird strike is a very common issue when they go into a feeder and they don’t realize how close that window is,” said Hannah St. John, conservation assistant with the San Diego Bird Alliance and coordinator for the 11-acre Anstine Nature Preserve in Vista. “There are decals you can put on windows so birds register it’s actually a solid surface.”
She added that if possible, keep feeders in the shade to keep the nectar from fermenting. If you put up multiple feeders and you find that you have territorial male hummingbirds (they’re the ones with all the color), place feeders as far from each other as possible and even blocked from one another.
A small fountain at McLeod’s home also serves as a stopping point for a lesser goldfinch. (Luke Johnson / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
Considering water needs
Another crucial component for hummingbirds is a clean water source. According to St. John, they enjoy water, not just for drinking, but also baths.
“Hummingbirds also might get pollen on their feathers, so maybe that’s a way to clean themselves off, but most birds do enjoy taking baths, and so they’ll splash around a bit, and then that will kind of help them realign their feathers, and they usually preen after a quick bath.”
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Some birds will come to still water, but moving water is attractive. Buy a fountain or place a small solar fountain in a flower pot saucer filled only an inch or so. Add rocks for perching. And clean it weekly to keep it free of debris and algae.
Most of your setup will start as trial and error. It takes patience when you start — and even as you continue. You may get a single hummingbird for a while, then a couple and then, hopefully, more. Then not as many for a few days. If there are males, you’ll see them driving off other males to protect what they see as their territory. Some may not return.
Some weeks you’ll need to fill the feeders daily and then think, “Where did they go?” But stick with it. You’re both witness to wildlife in all their behaviors — and because hummingbirds seem to be very tolerant of people, you can get truly up close and personal with them.
If you’ve been putting off a proper reset, consider this your nudge. Rancho La Puerta – the iconic fitness resort and spa nestled in the hills of Tecate, Baja California – has once again claimed the top spot on Travel + Leisure’s World’s Best Awards list, earning the No. 1 ranking for International Wellness Retreat in 2026.
Eight Times at the Top
The Ranch doesn’t just show up on this list – it dominates it. Previous wins in 2013, 2014, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024 have earned it a hall of fame distinction in Travel + Leisure’s history.
Rankings are based on reader ratings across rooms and facilities, location, service, food, and value, so this is real-world validation straight from the people who’ve been there.
A Week at the Ranch
Set across 4,000 private acres of gardens, mountains, and meadows, The Ranch runs on a weekly stay format designed to help you slow down, move, and reconnect. The fitness program is broad – yoga, Pilates, strength training, water aerobics, Tai Chi, and guided hikes across more than 40 miles of trails.
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Three onsite health centers handle the spa side, offering a full range of treatments and therapies throughout the week. The food earns its own mention: nourishing, pescatarian-style cuisine built around fresh produce from the Tres Estrellas Organic Farm right on the property.
Rooted Since 1940
The Ranch was founded by spa pioneers Deborah Szekely and her late husband Edmond Szekely – two of the people most credited with shaping the modern wellness resort as we know it.
That foundation is still very much alive here: a focus on nature, community, movement, and nourishment that has kept people returning for decades.
See you there!
Rancho La Puerta has been drawing people in and keeping them coming back for over 80 years. Your first visit – or your fifteenth – awaits.
