Pileated Woodpecker

Walked over to the Post Office...book I ordered came..."The Naturalist's Field Journal"..."A Manual of Instruction Based on a System Established by Joseph Grinnell"....by Steven G. Herman....it's...it's full of advise on how to keep a journal of Nature watching!...a scientific journal I should add!...I opened the book to read about this system under the Apple Tree by Zeke's Cedar...some Grey Squirrels were scrambling again up and down the Cottonwoods and Ponderosas...and Tourists of course were about!...I picked up...worktime approaching.... and went to cross the Creek behind the Deer House..oh...at the beginning of the walk Two Does and One Fawn were out front of the Cabin...and when I got to the end of the walk at the Cabin I saw a large dark bird amongst the Cedars...but hidden by the parked cars..and the Bus!...oh..I thought..Hawk!...but was delighted to find Pileated Woodpecker!....we played hide and seek from Cedar to Cedar...near the parking lot out front Woodpecker surprised a couple sitting in their car...and they took some flash pics...from inside their car!...then came out and followed about as I was...learned from the Hawk pics of a few days ago to be more aware of the background...and the light..but try as I might I never got a really good pic...Pileated is always moving...lots of sharp body and blurry head pics!...and what a neat bird!....said to be the inspiration for Woody the Woodpecker!...and these the only pics and clips I took today..aside from the Deer....another short walkabout...I need more sleep!!...the book has a little slogan..refrain..."No Journal this Day...No Sleep this Night"...oh...that's just fine...it's as I feared...once one starts one of these things one doesn't stop until one drops!...but it's fun...and may even have some meritorious uses for others present and future....surprisingly the blog format here is not far off from the Grinnell's method of keeping a journal...the emphasis by the book's author on doing things by hand is a point well taken...one will see more into things with a hand drawn sketch...and words fashioned to relate what's seen...why hand drawing is taught in military academies!...it exercises and sharpens one's perception...anyway...one thing missing hereabout is the species list...it would be very time consuming to list out all the species I see...I've thought to make a printed out list...the list on one side..and the Map on the other...the Map gridded...and recording a species sighting would just be a matter of checking its box...noting the grid coordinates...and the number seen...but...recording too much detail might lead to a Bloomsday Journal...a very thick book of the occurrences of one day's walkabout!!....which may be what James Joyce intended...as Ulysses has a cultural following that preserves the Dublin of Joyce...kinda like the Dashel Hammit walks in San Francisco!...Novels as Naturalist's Field Studies!!...I like the scene in the Frida Khalo bio on PBS...she's in bed...again..layed up...and the camera watches her thumbing through her journal...which was beautifully illustrated...and then she folds it up...and it rests closed on her chest..I have still to read the Delcroix journal I acquired...bits I'm familiar with are really good...anywayanyway....the blog isn't scientific...it is the 'close observation' I pursue!...which is 'superlatively unscientific"!!...sunny warm and blue....oh...Canon is indeed coming out with a counter to Nikon's D90...the DSLR with video...Canon's will have 21 megapixels..video...and cost five times more!....sigh...oh...oh...and Nikon has come out with a mini 50 mm FieldScope...weighs only a pound...and can adapt for digiscoping...that...that I must acquire!!

Well...I went and watched a Woody Woodpecker cartoon on YouTube...and then found story of baseline study done hereabout in 1993...they went about and stood in Grinnell's shoes sortaspeak!...link: http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/science/20031119-9999_1c19yosemite.html

Survey of Yosemite wildlife draws telling comparisons with naturalist's early 20-century journals
By Neal Matthews
November 19, 2003
San Diego Union-Tribune

Someone, I'm guessing, might have gone and stood at Creek's End for seven minutes!...

Well...I happened again on the census lists I mentioned in another post...it was part of Grennell's transit that was being repeated in '93....link: http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/grinnell/census.htm

I will have to walk awhile in the footsteps Oct. 25...or close to that on my day off..and see what I see!...can tell right now I see a different menagerie!!...and Grinnell mentions the Birds are about at different times of day...the morning and evening hours best for Birdwatching...I'd like to find one of those Pygmy Owls...do have one report of one in the A. meadow...but awhile ago..like years!...and all the little birds they saw are a bit of a mystery!...and where are the Ravens back then!!