Thanksgiving Hawk Visit

What an odd morning!!...on the way to breakfast the Cooper's Hawk landed in a tree in the Front! Yard...and posed....not since the Creek Hawk has this happened...and stayed posed in spite of friends and tourists walking by and talking...so got some good pics...but clips were handheld...Hawk flew off to a Ponderosa...high up on a branch...the more usual pose!!...after breakfast and without much time...slept in again!...I retrieved the tripod and went off into Owl Woods in pursuit...as I could hear Hawk calling..but just as I started I saw a group of Ravens in a tree making a ruckous...and...I really missed here...when I viewed this clip tonight I see the wagging tail of maybe Bobcat, or Raccoon, or Ring Tail Cat, or ??? in the tree...I dont know..as I passed on moving in closer!!... the Ravens were doing the alarm thing...how could I be so dumb?...Hawk was calling and I did find Hawk high in a tree...but another friend popped up...so I tried to call them over to see., and looked down to put the lens on...and when I looked back there were two Hawks flying near one another..then off separate ways!!...so I missed that too!...at the end of the walkabout Coyote showed up...and got a clip and pic...of Coyote stretching and just laying down to take a rest...when they hold still it's easy!

Overcast, not quite so cold as yesterday...and almost quiet...maybe the fewest tourists about in a long long time...at least with all roads open!

Lodgepole Point Heron

I walked out through the Creek and Cook's to the Post Office...and didn't see much...on the way back took nice clip of young deer near the Deer House...then when I reached Lodgepole Point a large bird flew out of the Lodgepole and Ponderosa (they're right next to one another) and off I went wondering if I was pursuing Hawk or Owl...or, I thought, even Heron...turned out to be Heron and got good clip and pics up in a tree in Owl Woods...almost gave up on things and thought not to hop off the bus at Lower Falls!! Cold and smoke from a control burn making everything orange.

Carp

Didn't get out today...sheesh...been awhile that I just slept through...actually I had to get up early to tidy up for inspection...then had breakfast...then went back to sleep, and after the big day before I just snoozed right up to work time

Stop Ten Robin

I crossed the Creek on the way to the Post Office...and waited at the bus stop where I heard a plaintive peep.....peep.... a new sound....from a familiar bird...looked all over and then found Robin right behind te benches....further along I saw some Carp in the Merced...and took some pretty dull clips!...they dont do much....then walked on over for a late lunch (long morning with bus ride from Mariposa and yesterday at the dentist)....and then went back to Cabin for my drawing board and went to Owl Beach...and tried to do a drawing of Creek's End from on the other side of the Merced....just when I finished up...and taking pics of the painting...one of it, one of where it is...the Young Buck with the little horns came out of Owl Woods and crossed over to myside...which was kinda neat...was able to frame the Falls, Creeks End, my drawing, and the Young Buck all in one pic and clip....no owl....pic of Half Dome with pink clouds over it.

Creek Bridge

Overcast today with the sun barely shining...and just a glimpse of the moon tonight... took only a couple pics on the walkabout....this is view from the North side of the Creek Bridge...a new photo and art op since the removal of the footbridge.

Bridge Ouzel

Ouzel is always busy! This pic from the pond by the Bridge, which, by the way, looks very nice now without the footbridge, which was a homely thing.

A short walkabout...tried to get a pic of the little birds...juncos...but no luck.

Sunny, cool and blue...a big ring around the full moon when I walked home tonight.

Blustery Morning

I retrieved a package delivery early this morning, and then went back to sleep...and almost missed the walkabout...but managed to get out for about forty five minutes...and take clips and pics of the wind...the wind here brings the forest alive...Muir writes a great piece on it...I've yet to see it get that windy..today maybe the windiest I've seen..not nearly as strong as the wind in Southern California..the Santa Anas...siroccos in Europe....there they come from Africa...but today's wind was of that sort...the air dry and electric...and almost Tshirt weather...I came upon two does and a fawn resting in Owl Woods and got clip and this pic...I should maybe have moved in closer...but I didn't want to disturb them. The wind clips at Creek's End...are windy!! Didn't want to leave to go to work...it's a real temptation to "stay out" as Muir might put it...the job makes it all possible...the job is impossible!

Thanksgiving Hawk

I get disconsolate when on a walkabout...and I'm not seeing anything...and I was sitting disconsolate on Owl Log...in the shade of Sentinel...it was cold and nothing stirring..and I saw Hawk waay in the distance in Chapel Meadow make a landing...oh, I thought...I have to be to work soon...but picked up and and thought to give it a chance...got to where I thought Hawk might be...and was looking for a log to sit again....in the shade...surrounded by frost...but when I looked back...this is the first view of Half Dome on the Chapel Road...I saw Hawk silhouetted...and I got a clip...a tiny in the distance one...of Hawk flying off the tree with Half Dome in the background...and over to another tree with Sentinel in the background...Hawk's tiny in the clip...but I'm pleased...and of course then started the tree hopping...and I got some good clips and pics...one where Hawk lifts off a branch and flys off...very cool...looks like a swimmer leaping into the pool for a race....and I got clips and pics of Hawk in this tree with the Falls in the background...filled up the card...two gbs.

It's the same Cooper's Hawk I got clips of twice before....it's Cooper's Hawk's Meadow now. Cook's may as well be Red Tail Hawk's Meadow!

Cold in the shade, sunny and blue...

Doe and Sunshine on Creek

The Does and Fawns were right out back when I started the walkabout today, and this one was by herself down in the Creek by the Bridge....they were all taking a rest in the sun. Sunny and blue and cold.

Sentinel Charcoal Drawing

Well, I took the drawing board along on the evening walkabout...there were two walkabouts today...earlier I went to the Post Office...on the way saw the Raven perched on the same sign I saw Raven on yesterday...yesterday's clip was out of focus and I deleted it...but today, with the same opportunity!..I got a better clip...in the evening I sat at Creek's End and did the drawing...idea is a critter will come by and I'll get a pic...but all was quiet...I finished up and sat awhile on Owl Log and with the sun just half way down..up?...Half Dome, I heard the first screech...I picked up...tripod over my shoulder and drawing board and pad under my opposite arm...why not make things more difficult??...and up the diversion channel I got a glimpse of Owl flying off towards Three Brothers..too far...walked back to pick up the drawing board...which was jettisoned!!...and two Does came running into the channel at full speed...and right at me...I dont know what spooks them...but the first stopped in her tracks right by me...and then the second...did I make them feel safer??...I dont know...she was within six feet...and showed no inclination to run off...I thought to take pics...but...screech...Owl was now at Creek's End...but when I got there...screeech...Owl was over towards Swinging Bridge....back I went...screech...Owl was over by the Deer House...I got to the Creek...dropped the board...and found Owl in a Ponderosa...just a silhouette...and noisy woodpeckers making the alarm....and I heard screech..somewhere further out...not from the Owl I was seeing.....I...I suspect there may have been as many as four of them!!....for certain two.

Owls on both my evening off, that's cool. Hawk just showed its tail out in Cooks around noon. Blue and sunny, but getting colder.

Owl Glimpse

Oh, I was too slow, and just got one screech on a short clip! A Buck and Doe were laying down for the evening on Lodgepole Point...was trying to get good pic...and then heard the Owl over across the Creek in Owl Woods...off I went...and I could have gotten a neat pic, as Owl was as curious to see me, and was trying as hard to see through the branches as I was! After flying off I thought to hear the screech again, but no, Owl went away quiet...oh I did hear one distant screech way back behind me as I walked through Cook's Meadow to dinner.

There's dead fish in Pink Shoe Pond..where I saw the shoe, and the little Trout yesterday. I took a closer look today, and saw two of them, probably Trout too, and about six inches long...and a very strange orange color...tried to focus on one but something about the reflections made it difficult...made for a weird pic.

It is Deer mating season..now through January. I wonder if the Buck and Doe are a pair.

Two posts today..this the second.

I dont know what the weather is doing...it sorta cleared up after some cold and clouds. Across the Nation they expect storms...have to check for local weather.

Three Ravens

Got a clip of a fawn that was calling I think...sounded like it was in distress...near Creek's end, and it trotted off...got this still of the Ravens over in Chapel Meadow...walkedabout to the Post Office and all around to Swinging Bridge...mare's tail clouds but it's warm...I'm going out again in a bit...day off means I can walkabout in the evening...maybe hear the Owls...

Napping Doe

I got a lot of neat pics on the walkabout...baby trout trapped in a creek pond next to the Bridge...a napping doe I almost stepped on while looking for a white headed woodpecker...a fawn in the foreground with Half Dome in the back (a clip..clips of all these)...pines back lit by the sun up on Sentinel (it's shadow touches Creek's End at walkabout time)...and I thought to post all of them..oh, I'll do two, the trout and the doe..sunny today and cool. On second thought just the Doe...she and her fawn were by the Deer House path...I woke her up and then she went to sleep again while I was taking pics!...I could almost reach over and touch her, she was right by the path edge, when I looked down there she was!! Clip is very cool...wish I had taken longer one of her snoozing..there's something captivating to see their breathing.

Buck and Doe

Went to Owl Log, sat awhile, took pics of aspen leaves....and algae..in the Merced at Creek's End....crossed over, on the way back, to the Deer House behind the Garage and...finally...saw a critter...a doe...and in not a very good pose...but what the heck...and I remembered what I told myself yesterday...to stick with things and not pick up early...and I got a remarkable sequence of clips and pics...very subtle interplay between two does and a buck...very Japanese...I'm gonna have to learn to play the pan pipes to put a soundtrack to it!! I really like these two pics...which were taken during the clips...not stills but full res....I'm not going to worry anymore about wrecking a clip with a pic...the noise of the shutter and the hesitation will just be a part of things!!

There's something of a challenge in all this to meet...to take a series of clips in real time which by and of themselves tell a story about the Creek.

Pine needle Bird

It's small, and yellow chested, and has big eyes!!...all I could get was a clip..and this the clearest still!...but I'm getting smarter...I take off the teleconverter so I can zoom all the way back...find them...then zoom in...but they just dance all over the branches....

Sat awhile at Owl Log..took pic of Half Dome through the leafless aspens....this is going to be a neat winter pic if it ever snows!....looped over to Chapel Bridge where I saw the Deer House Does go..and where they were...with an adult Buck...which is why they must have gotten excited and ran into the Merced...and galloped in the meadow on the other side...got a clip...could have gotten a better one if I had kept with it...I'm learning that's important...not to anticipate that the action is over...high clouds but still warm...Indian Summer. Have to check if this is Deer mating season!

Mushrooms

These were along the bike path outfront...didn't get to the Creek!...expecting packages so went to village on bus...mama bear and cubs got into Last Chance's kitchen last night...that's never happened as the people density hearabouts tends to keep the bears at the other end of the developed Valley...they payed anther visit to the dock this afternoon....this isn't good for the bears...locks and some good sense can deter them...but they've been to food heaven!

Oh, and another bobcat (sounded like same one) at Curry...the sighting a lovely tale...

Just the Hawk's wing and tail...

Well, the pic is tiny! (fixed pic)..but in it is the Hawk's wing and tail..all I got as it took off....kindofa incouraging pic though, as it was handheld and the Hawk was aways away...so...one day I'll get that flight pic!..
Didn't get to the Creek...saw the Hawk fly to the Cook's Elm from the Bus....thought to ask for an emergency stop!...but waited until the next regular stop and got out and paddled back to the Elm...and of course just as I got there the Hawk took off, went to this tree where I got pic...then landed in the grasses...missed that...then landed in a tree..missed that...then a tree...got really long pic...then back across the meadow...didn't get to the Creek because I was chasing the Hawk!...and getting lanundry soap from the Store...tomorrow..
Bobcat sighting in Curry...lots of bear plop in Cook's...I'm getting to know all the short cut paths through the hummocks!
They hauled off the Creek Foot Bridge cut into sections on a tractor trailer flat bed...

Evening Ouzel

This is a still from a really neat clip of Ouzel....walkedabout passed Owl Woods and sat awhile at Owl Log waiting for...the Owls...what else!!??...but didn't hear them..nor last night...warmer and still blue and sunny but the days are short and everything in shade a lot...the Creek Foot Bridge...is...gone...dont know if they'll replace it...I'll miss it...as I always tried not to miss it in the dark...and take a tumble into the Creek!

Evening Deer

I made a walkabout after breakfast, but didn't take many pics...it's very quiet...sunny and blue, but cold....in the evening I went to Owl Log...took clips of the ever present Ouzel...and then the Deer House Does came trotting out of Owl Woods and ran up the Creek...following behind was this young buck with the small antlers...saw them all again...with the Young Buck behind...running about Cooks Meadow...they settled down under the same Cedar I took clip of Owl in last week....

November Azalea

A few weeks back this Azalea had blooms too...

A light rain all night last night, and off and on during the day...too warm for snow except up in the high country...made the loop walkabout...heard and glimpsed a large bird that chattered like the Ouzels...too loud for an Ouzel...but not much else!...a couple Jays chasing one another through the branches...

Blue Jay Preening

Walked back from the Post Office and got this still from neat clip of Jay tidying up...birds like to be clean....

Cool day with some clouds.

Creek's End Ouzel

Smoke in the Valley from a control burn...a few clouds from the edge of a front...(sprinkled around dinner time..stars out when I came home)...."Not a good day for photography?"...Well, no, I answered...the wind was swirling the leaves...and a big gust brought them off and showered them down on Creek's End, but I was too slow...(did get a little clip...my favorite of these sorts is one last year this time on the Big Steps to Vernal)..."Oh, you're right, I saw the wind pick up a bundle of yellow leaves and take them in a ball across the meadow!"....

Otherwise, the walkabout was pretty uneventful!! They're working like crazy and making a lot of noise at the Bridge repairing the Foot Bridge...all the planking has been taken out...under it is a safety net to catch debris from going into the Creek...now....what the heck happened in San Francisco Bay today?...a subject for the Tree in the Door blog!!

Driftwood Pinecone

Sat on Owl Log awhile, not much stirring...did some pics of the Deer House...while on the log saw this cone on the end....cool, sunny, kinda blue today.

Owl Flight

Went to breakfast, then went back to sleep, so got late start...walked over to Post Office around 1 and coming out I walked past the Shuttle stops to the road and glimpsed the Hawk going to the same tree it went to yesterday! Rather than give chase I just sat on a roadside boulder and waited. After five minutes or so the Hawk usually flys up to another tree...got a clip...followed...got another flight clip...and a sketch of the old elm!...gotta do something while waiting!..but the clips are long distance...went to lunch...and then went out to Two Top Ponderosa Pine Meadow...the one beneath Sentinel!...and walked along Merced...there's an old stone wall...and some secluded gravel beaches...afraid I ruined a couple's solitude...and made my way to Swinging Bridge...clip of Raven...then crossed the bridge and made a left into the meadow...this is where I think Ayers did his drawing of the Falls...first drawing done in the Valley...and saw another Hawk swoop down to ground ahead...thought to get a great pic as sun was low at my back...but no...too many leaves on the ground....Hawk took notice and flew off...I thought...but no...it flew right towards me...and whoosh up to a tree above my head...tried to get clip of flight...but too clumsy..did get clip and pics of Hawk in the tree..but too silhouetted...and then...doggone..two joggers came up behind me, running loud on the leaves...I tried to shush them...but the Hawk flew off low right over the picnickers...expressed a lament to another photog about the joggers...and he consoled.."There'll be more Hawks"...and Owls!...I went over to Owl Log just in time to see Half Dome turn pink, and while snacking on animal cookies heard...screech...screech...in the distance in the Creek woods...took my time eating cookies, and thought, 'What are you doing!'..and quickly gathered things up...just a little into the trees past Lodgepole Point I saw another Owl high in a pine...and could hear the other screeching near...I wonder if these two are mom and baby....took clips...then followed the screeches out into Cook's Meadow...where I got clip at very last light of the Owl screeching on the top of pine(cedar)...and it's flight away.

I was delighted, but over dinner these long winded descriptions are boring my friends!!

When I was standing on the path by the Woodpecker Tree, the Owl flew over between me and the tree...that close! as close as the Hawk earlier!

There's like only a fifteen minute window once I hear them and the light becoming too dim...I have to try this in the morning...

Cedar Brown Creeper

Got a good clip of this Creeper...came upon it right at the Cabins when coming back from breakfast...the little birds like the Cabins.



Chased the Hawk in Cook's meadow...I mean really...it was back and forth...and I was trampling where I ought not to be to preserve the meadow plants...but it's like when it snows now...not much damage to be done as the ground is dry and the grasses too...described myself with eyes fixed on the last tree where the Hawk went, not looking down, tripod and camera over my shoulder, and not understanding why I couldn't get my footing...each hummock of grass was hampering my stride..."Sounds like you were going over moguls..." Exactly!, I answered. Never did get close...but good clip of a distant flight.



In the evening went to Owl Log, and waited...but only company Ouzel, and the Does settling down for the night across the Merced.

Posing Squirrel

Took this pic at Duck Harbor, which hardly has enough water to float a duck, and has "silted up" with oak leaves!

Spent a couple hours out on the walkabout....thought to stay for the Owls...but got hungry and went to dinner...did get clips of the Deer House Does with their Fawns...some at Half Stump, and later right in Cook's Meadow with Falls in background...kinda cool they showed up there...they made a big walkabout as last I saw them by the Merced near Swinging Bridge (where Half Stump is and a large gravel island bar) they were trotting off towards the Lodge...so they must have made their loop too!

Took the Bus over to El Cap Meadow...didn't see any climbers...flushed a grouse or something...but it flew too far away for pic...I didn't realize how close together El Cap and the Cathedrals are...really closed in area...with the ever present sound of rolling auto tires...I can block that out at the Creek (along with the Tiki Temple Whine...and smell) but here it's kinda pervasive...imagine they hear it on the climbs...whole place felt a bit Paite Meadowish...this to say...haunted.

Creek's End

On the left is Lodgepole Point...the Cub and Mama Bear crossed the gravel beach...Cedar Trees lean over Tiki Pond...behind the shrub on the right (have to identify!) is the stump that the Creek Hawk posed on and the Tiki Temple Outlet...at the base of the Aspens in the distance is Owl Beach on the far side of the Merced...this side is Owl Log...and the bank here where I took clip of the Does, my first close up clip...the pond was home to the Bullfrog...the mating Trout there in the Merced...Ouzels...Northern Flicker...the Blue Heron flew by here twice....Brown Creepers...Juncos....the two Ravens sitting on the Gravel...the Doe Herd crossing the Merced...clips all lost to make room for the Sentinel Owl...waded barefoot across here the Creek Hawk day...twice crossed with boots in pursuit of the Sentinel Owl and Chapel Hawk...

Today, here, took good clip of Ouzel diving....back near the cabin the Does, with the two young ones, were relaxing beside the Tiki Temple dirt road, got clip and pics...earlier opposite Lodgepole Point at what I might call Crawdad Point (where the diversion channel veers off) I spent a lot of time trying to get clips and pics of a Whtie Headed Woodpecker...accedentally deleted the best!!

Got colorist pic of algae growing along bank of the Merced.

Went out bundled up, but it was T-shirt weather. Mostly sunny.

Shade Ouzel

I thought to make a longer walkabout, but nearly the whole Creek is in shade from the Glacier Point Wall in the morning...sun didn't hit Creek End until 11:15. I sat on Owl Log awhile, which had a coating of frost, which gave me a wet bottom!! Took pic and clip of Ouzel...when the sun came out I thought to move...I'm right in way of anyone taking pic from Chapel Bridge...which is a nice postcard...so I moved to another log out of view, but not with such nice views...so I dont know what to do....I like Owl Log for a sitting place. Walked back by the Deer House and took nice pic I like of Blue Jay. I plan to make a little photo book of each critter, and plants too.

Being able to make so many pics with the digital, I think a great boon to the quality of photography.

Sunny, blue, and cold enough for a fleece pullover and my hooded sweatshirt.

New Woodpecker

There's like half a dozen different woodpeckers hereabouts, and I haven't seen this one until now except in the books. With the leaves off the trees I'm starting to see more of the little birds.

Short walkabout, squirrel on the Cabin roof posed for the tourists, so I took some pics too to start out...went over to the Deer House and roundabout to Owl Log, and sat awhile...cool, sunny and blue. Back at the cabin took some more squirrel pics, and this one of the woodpecker. Oh, a brown and yellow butterfly flew by...seems their days are numbered..but I dont know, haven't studied weather forecast. A trout in the Merced too, and wondered how they are doing in the shallow water.

Merced Coyote

Got to Owl Log (the log at Creek's End where I wait for the Owls to hoot!), and no sooner sat down than Coyote came from the Chapel Meadow and crossed the Merced. It did get it's paws wet, but that's about it!

Squirrel pic from the roof of the Cabin, butterfly on Ponderosa bark over at the Fall's Meadow (I looped across the street..think I'll do that more...) and pics of the perfect Dogwood...actually it's several trees bunched together, but when in flower it's like the perfect tree as it's symmetrical tree like, and it stops the tourists in their tracks in the Spring just off the bus and on their ways to first view of the Falls. Tough to photograph though as it's in a very nondescript location next to the road...most of the time not even noticed till the flowers show up...today it was it's Fall leaves.

The White Alder leaves just dry up and fall off green! hmmph. Lot of the trees now are just bare branches.

Sunny, cool, and blue.