Buck and Does

Paddled over to the Rocky Slope at Sunnyside...and found a place to sit aways up...with a wan hope Bobcat might come by....a rustle in the leaves behind, and I turned about to see the Does coming up between the Boulders...it was the same group I saw Sunday...and the Young Buck with them....pics and clips...pics not too good...the light and shade tough...and the clips marred too by a water spot...when pointing at the sun it shows....picked up and continued to the Post Office...two boxes of old slides of the Valley came...an ebay...so far, have found a few critter pics...one very neat one of Bear...have to get a slide scanner...they're from late sixties and I hope to find some pics of the Trees on the walks...had to go back to the cabin to drop them off...had lunch...then a long walk!...took the Rocky Slope trail behind the Village...and over behind the A. Rooms...things are very quiet!...did find what might be an Acorn Woodpecker nest....have to check on it now and then...nest doesn't describe it...it's like a perpendicular bole? (what's the name of a hole in a tree where a branch tore out!?) in a Live Oak...well..a bowl shaped hole!...at the Trail intersection near the Long Gone Sawmill... thereabout are a lot of birds, and today lots of Acorn Woodpeckers...and two Tourists sneaking up on Flicker with long lens....at the Backpacker Camp I headed for the Stables...stopped at Million Frog Meadow...the Frogs are singing like crazy....pic and clip...then went through Upper Pines and walked along the Merced to Happy Isles...this the Trail...not often traveled...where I saw the Mushrooms...and Ouzel clip...at Happy Isles I visited the Fen...still desolate from Winter snows...pic...Sparrow clip...took the Shuttle to Lower Falls and walked out to Chapel Meadow to see if Owl was home...this was the goal of the day!...at sunset, to see if Owl was about, and maybe get a clip of Owl awake!...there is indeed a 'bowl' hollow in the Cottonwood!...I set up with the didgi under the Two Tall Ponderosas...I checked for Owl through the mini scope...and was surprised to note the magnifications I've been seeing in the didgi clips, aren't the scopes...they're the 3x through the scope...well, I guess that's obvious...what I'm saying is the 3x camera magnifies the spotting scopes magnification when I zoom out with the camera....this is something to think on!...some of the new point and shoots, with the new hd video, have like 5x lenses...and I'm wondering if they might work...the higher the zooms the more likelihood of vignetting, and too, the lens has to be tiny enough to 'see' through the scope's eyepiece...oh..there's adaptors for big dslr lenses....but they dont work as well at the point and shoots just set close to the lens on an adaptor...well...I'll have to go into this more clearly in a Gear Blog...a sometime!....but Owl was there!...but not in the Cottonwood!...rather in the Two Ponderosas right over my head!...and hoo hooing now and then...did record the hoos with the Cottonwood in the scene..I looked and looked for Owl..the hoos were infrequent...scanning all the Trees with the binocs...which is kinda fun!...but Owl fell quiet..and light gone from Half Dome....so I picked up...and, of course!, just as I did, Owl flew over my head from a Ponderosa out to the Trees by the Maple Tree near the Chapel...very cool to see Owl!....I followed... and looked and looked...but it was almost dark...and no luck...paddled over through Bobcat Meadow to the Village for dinner...frogs singing in the Meadow too...sunny hazy sky and warm....a nice Owl day...oh!...saw a little bat fluttering in the dusk...reminded when just reading about the white fungus troubling bats back east...