Owl and Bear

Went over to the Post Office in the morning...feeling a bit gloomy that I didn't go up to Tuolumne...Creek was quiet....got a neat pic of Ground Squirrel standing up nibbling on dry grass....and the Owl book came...How to Spot An Owl...this is the companion to How to Spot Hawks and Eagles...both are excellent with great pics!....got back to the Cabin and curled up....woke up for an inspection...then curled up again!...finally got up....and geared up for Bear...or Owl as it were...took both 12xs....and the binocs....becoming an optical octopus, I'd say!....walked back to the Creek on the dirt roads and took note that the Bear Clover is growing back already!...also noted I could get to Owl Woods without fighting the tangle behind the Tiki Temples...thanks to the Weed Wackers!...so took this route to Owl Woods....and heard just one Blue Jay scolding....I'd been scanning the tree tops...and couldn't see what was troubling Jay with the binocs...reached one of the great old Cedars...and was just admiring the tree...and looking up saw Owl looking back...they're so quiet...a quiet presence...and to see Owl like this is an ethereal vision....I looked down and tried to be quiet taking one 12x out....setting the tripod down probably spooked Owl...as Owl was gone...it makes one blink trying to see if Owl is really gone..or really there!...but I crossed over an open area and relocated Owl up in the Ponderosa...but badly back lit so didn't get very good pics...Owl was patient..but glided off to another tree...they're just like Hawk...tree to tree...this time I saw where and could see the light would be good...I gave Owl plenty of distance...and was setting up...but Owl glided off again when I looked down...I was blinking and blinking!....I had no idea where to go next...and walked out the Diversion Channel to Owl Log...sat a long while...a wind had picked up...and leaves are on the ground now...and it was cooler...it was a very hot morning...a Mallard landed...but the Creek quiet too again...so picked up and went to Chapel Bridge...started to walk along the path beside the Merced....and Bear was moving through the grasses!...glad I was loaded for Bear!...I got some good...but long distance clips... of Bear in the Meadow and walking right up to the Picnic Benches at the Deer House...Bear will be by the Creek!, I thought....and went back the way I came to Creek's End and Owl Log...and waited...and waited...it was a thought...and Bear coming out of the Creek to the Merced would have been great clip...picked up again and went back the way I started before!...made it to Sentinel shuttle stop but missed the Shuttle to Siberia!....and was hungry...but decided to loop back...thinking maybe Bear went to the Lower Falls Apple Trees...that's where Bear had been earlier...up another Apple Tree in Cook's...the one by Zeke's Cedar....(a Buck was entertaining nibbling on Bear's fallen Apples!)

"200 meters.....Black Bear...200 meters..." the two German tourists told me on the Owl Oak path...with thick accents!!

"Up in an Apple Tree!?", I said.

"Yes!...Yes!!...200 meters!"

Dont know but they had the distance dead on!...Bear was up the Apple Tree next to Bobcat's Apple Tree!...got clips...very cool..but very hard to get pics in fading light...even with the two 12xs!...and no one came along the Paths until the very end...I set up a little off the dirt fenced Path...I didn't want to attract attention...had some concern when I heard a family approaching on a near Path....which has a connection to the Apple Trees...but they didn't come that way...was ready though to hop up and yell "Go Bear!"....didn't want them to come up sudden on Bear in the tree!

The Bear Managers have a lot of ideas and advice on what to do when a Bear is about...and other critters too....like Mountain Lions...it's all in the the weekly newspaper....when it's just Bear and me off the beaten path...there's no point in yelling... sometimes yelling pushes Bear towards more people...so that's no good then...if Bear has somewhere to go...and has intruded a camp...then that's the time to yell "Go Bear"....as for conditioning Bears to stay away with the noise...and noisemakers...I dont think that works!....the animals are tame by Nature....until they learn to fear a predator...or in Bear's case...a more dominant Bear...the Bear Whisperer has some thoughts on this...that by showing a dominant gesture one can spook a Bear to stay out of a whole territory...but an idea in the experimental stage!..and beyond my purview...I keep my distance and stay quiet...and wait...it's surprising how I often I've gotten good pics of the Critters just meandering my way and passing by with hardly any notice of me....

sunny hot blue in the afternoon...cooling in the evening with a breeze rustling the drying leaves....tomorrow Tuolumne..at least for the afternoon!...back by five I can keep tabs on the evening show hereabouts!!