Snow Hawk

I walked about starting at daybreak...more about that in a bit...but after Noon I was passing the Woodpecker Tree in Cook's and noticed one Acorn Woodpecker way up at the top...just where Hawk was the other day....digi was set up so did a clip and pic...even a 12x pan clip of the whole Tree with the Falls in background...what I should have done with Hawk the other day!...and I thought the clip and pic an ironic reminder of what could have been!....continued to the Village...Junco pics...but not very good ones...snow background is making all dark features on the Birds hard to resolve!!...I might be able to save them in photo shop...picked up a Tuna Sandwich, Elixer and a Hershy's...and went back to the Artist's Grove and took a seat on the snow covered Long Fallen Ponderosa....the Meadow and Woodpecker Tree are right ahead from here...and I noticed the top was occupied....checked with the binocs...the Acorn Woodpecker was still there!!...a clip and pic from this angle!...and for sometime...just after I took the last pic the Woodpecker flew off...so I sat down...the digi set in front sighted in on the Tree's top...and was eating my sandwich...and another Woodpecker started to land on the Tree...but made an abrupt turn around and flew off...whoooosh!...Hawk landed and perched right on top!...where the Woodpecker had been!...all I had to do was walk over and turn the 3x on...zoom out...and start a clip!...when Hawk is in a pose I'm certain at any moment Hawk will fly off...I let the 3x run...and took some pics with the new camera..and a clip with the 12x...and then...lot of 'and then's' in this report!...I went into sneak mode...and paddled over my favorite snow covered hummocks...fortunately it was just a few inches of snow!...and I got closer and closer...taking pics as I went...until the angle was just too steep...Hawk showed no inclination to leave...so I circled around to the Path...and took pics and clips from the vantage point I'd just been earlier with the Woodpecker!...but Hawk was facing the Falls...so I circled over to the complete other side...so now the sun was behind me..where it belongs for picture taking!...and I started getting some better exposed pics...I was having the same problem with Hawk that I was having with the Juncos!...except now it was the sky....Hawk is a Redshoulder I believe...with very dark feathers...I have to study this out...and something is happening with taking pics with the new camera's optical view finder...with the new camera the exposure of the pic is not the exposure I see through the view finder...unlike the 12x where I'm used to seeing in the lcd view finder pretty much the pic's exposure....this is a misconception with the new camera I have to correct!...anyway...I thought I had enough pics....knowing they were either too far or too dark...but I had them!...and was content...so went back to lunch...turned the 3x off...have a very long clip of Hawk from a long distance!...and looked back at the Tree and Hawk was still there!...heck!...I picked up the digi and jogged all the way to the far side where I had last been!....and sighted in...I was too close!....so I backed up...like it's often said to do!!...and wonderfully the Pines became the Background and Hawk's exposure became good!...what a lesson!....a critter must be the same value as the background...otherwise one or the other is going to be out of wack!...Hawk and the Pines were the same value...so I got some pics...and was able to sight in the digi...which I think is a really cool clip!...I should have taken a still with the 3x...but it takes several steps to do...and I am working with that anxiety Hawk is going to fly off...which Hawk did as all during this a family of tourists gathered under the Tree...and commenced a snowball fight!...this is a very long winded report!...

Now....back before Daylight...I started over to Last Chance for Breakfast...and saw Deer tracks all over the Backyard...I went to investigate...and ran right into Antlered Buck, Does and Fawns, and a Two Point, Four Point, and Six Point...the Deer were all in the Backyard!...and gamboling...I had the 12x with and got handheld pics...all too dark until enough sunlight crept into the sky...I took the chance they wouldn't all leave...and went to the Cabin and geared up...back with the tripod I got some really neat clips...for sometime!

Finally got to Breakfast...and from there with a friend took the Shuttle to the A. Rooms and walked from there over Three Arch Bridge...Sugar Pine Bridge...well..all the way almost to Mirror Lake...and all the time looking for tracks..and too, Birds for the Xmas Bird Count...though it's just a personal count!!...plenty of Bear tracks..and Coyote...and found what looked like Raccoon tracks...and following them took us along the Trail from Mirror Lake to Happy Isles...aside from the Tracks though, we didn't see anything!...the Bird count was a flop until later when on my own I found the Woodpecker on the Woodpecker Tree....my friend went off to dig out his car!....oh...got clip of Coyote being dive bombed by Raven across from Last Chance just before Breakfast..for sometime too!...

After the Hawk pics and clips...and after eating up the Tuna Sandwich!...very hungry by then...kept looking overhead in the Artist's Grove...it was where Hawk flew off too...see clip...after lunch...I paddled over to the Road and through the Oak Grove...I'd seen Flicker and Blue Jay in the Sleepy Owl Woods...I went all the way to Lower Falls...happened on Mama Doe and Two Fawns...and got some more really nice pics and clips...for sometime...I think I've mentioned all the bird species I saw...heard a few more like Chicadees and Kinglets...Raven was the first I heard in the morning...and a flock of them the last I saw back at the Cabin...it was time for work...a long very cool snowy Snow Hawk Day, I'd say!!

And too, for sometime...are some scenics..as the Day was nothing if not Scenic!...it was a perfect snowfall...enough to set everything off...but not so deep one cant walk about without it being a slog!...

Tomorrow more snow coming....and last night...it was really cool...the Moon was on the edge of the North Wall...and it had a rainbow around it..double..tried for pics...but too dark!...dark being a kinda theme through all this!!...but with my imagination I'm going to try to do up a pastel...and one too of earlier Moonbow like this I've seen....

It was clear at Daybreak with a few wispy clouds...temp reached forty degrees...and by the afternoon..about when I took Hawk's pics...snow began falling..hence Snow Hawk!!