Ouzel and Mallards

I'll add pics and clips when the art table top computer is finished backing up my pics...will take awhile...350 gigs worth!...been putting this off way too long...what I think I'll do from here on is have two one hundred gig external drives, and load to both each upload...relatives are having trouble with computer crash and lost access to internal drive...I've come to think it's best to just use the internal drive for software and work in progress files, saving to it alone means one can't get to it if the computer breaks down...with the pics and clips on the external drive, I can access them with another computer. ...

on another note: Canon will soon have an 18 meg dslr, expensive (1,600), but I'm wondering if it's very high iso s , much touted, see Amazon, will make my 5.6 telephoto lens into like a 3. or 4. .... more and more, I'm taking pics in the very low evening light, like this evening:

Slept in past noon, and first order of things was do some laundry, then unpacked the second 750 gig external drive and started downloading everything on the first!...meanwhile, Shuttled back and forth to the Post Office...hopped off at Lower Falls, and heard Hawk far away...but..well...a poem:

Hawk

Dust on all the lenses,
Batteries all low,
Across the Meadow, far away, Hawk calling.

DolphinWords

Well, I'll have to fiddled with that....came back to the Cabin across the Creek...quiet...but glad to see the Creek after too many foreign vistas of the rideabout!....putzed about the web while batteries were recharging...cleaned lenses, watched TV....and finally made it out and about for the evening walk with all the gear....and a quiet walk, but Ouzel was singing at Creek's End...along with a dozen or more Mallards quacking......a fine didn't do much day....oh....report of Buzz Birds in Weldon...brb...looks like a go to place!

link of the day:

http://kern.audubon.org/KRVSNFwildlife.htm

report too of AspenAndCottonwood calling before dawn 'talking for twenty minutes'...sunny warm blue...cool now at night....an almost Fall day!

CoyoteCoyote

After an early morning walkabout yesterday (quiet, save for Hawk's call, and a glimpse of some critter running through the tall grasses in Owl Woods...oh!...and Mallards swimming, and Kingfisher flying by at Creek's End)...and after Breakfast, I thought to Shuttle over to the Village for laundry soap....driver called out 'Coyote!' as we went over the Creek Bridge....clip...and then at the Store, Edie was in cashier line with large water bottles, and I with soap, and I...was diverted....next thing I know, it's midnight, and I'm making a trip to the little rest room under the Tamarask Tree at a little free desert campground called Stovepipe, and just as my headlamp shines around the building's corner, I sight a little Owl blinking and looking back at me...I think it was a Burrowing Owl...Ranger today thereabout thought it might have been a Poorwill....still checking my books!...didn't get a good look, as I hurried back to the Green Tent for my camera, but when I got back the Little Owl was gone....but up in the Tamarask I found the Loggerhead Shrike seen earlier...night flash pic for sometime...under the stars and moon and clouds and wind, I was back and forth across the Road checking the Tamarasks with my headlamp for Owl!...even heard a kinda call I think!...but no luck....it was blustery windy..the half Moon in a dark sky with streaked and smeared about moonlit grey clouds...and hot!...many pics and clips on the rideabout to the campsite during the day....and in the morning we were up early to see Sunrise at Zabriske Point...and on the way from there to other sights to see...Edie called out 'Coyoyte!' just before Furnace Creek...I hopped out...and got a knockdown pic and clip of Coyote...a bookend sighting with yesterday's!...Creek to Creek!... pics and clips of many things, for sometime!...on way back, came upon going up Tioga Pass, first snow dusting the Peaks in Tuolumne...very cool...and a very welcome cool after the desert heat!...a fine two day rideabout of the East Side...and much thanks to Edie for inviting me along!....sunny hot cloudy hot cloudy cool snow rain...along with missing Owl pic, I missed three Hawk pics...one at Tioga Lake...camera set to Owl low light exposure...hmmph...one at Manzanar...not out of the car quick enough...and the last in the Meadows...Hawk on a snag...but no place to pull out, and Hawk gone on a return looksee...sigh...did get a blurry pic of Rabbit running through the Sage at Manzanar...for sometime...Manzanar is fine place for critter pics...the area has a a Tree Line that one can get to as it's a Park now...have often wondered where along 395 one can walkabout the Sage, and thereabout is a place!...I dont know how to describe the weather!...the desert clouds specifically...it was hot....or how to express the dry desolation of Death Valley...was very glad for the few rain sprinkles at Tioga Pass...and even a few snow flakes...additions to this report as things come to mind..and pics and clips!

Hawk Overhead

Paddled out to Creek's End...and right across the Merced....wore the sandals...River came up maybe six inches on my pant's legs..pant legs?.... pants legs...anyway, lots of algae and made my pants smell like swamp...hmmph...anyway, I found a log to sit on the Long Shingle..which stretches from opposite Creek's End to Chapel Bridge...I've been taking note of how here and there, one side of the River will be Gravel Beach...while the other will be eroding into the dirt landscape...anyway!...the Cottonwood Log was under some young Cottonwoods...and I was content to just sit in their shade out of the heat....and it was quietquiet!...and Hawk was quiet soaring over head....was lucky to spot Hawk...pics and clip...oh...Hawk has missing feathers right where the Toulumne Hawk did...brb....here's link to earlier postup for comparison: http://treeinthedoorvideo.blogspot.com/2009/08/gaylor-lake.html.....

lemegofind the names of the icons Hawk soars by...brb....well...the climbing book I bought just for locating out of the way trails and cross country routes...how the climbers get to their climbs!....doesn't have them...in the clip.:..first is Indian Canyon...then a spire I'll call the Castle....(Castle Cliffs http://www.yosemite.ca.us/library/yosemite_valley_place_names/.).until I find what it's called!...then Yosemite Point...from which one can slack line over to Lost Arrow..the last..when the line is there...I was hoping Hawk would continue over to the Falls notch...which I think has a name too...everything hereabout has been named...and the climbers are busy adding new ones all the time...there's another book I might acquire that has all the boulderingboulders...with their names...and routes!....climbers are in another 'valley'...and congrats to Tom for scurrying up El Cap in a day!!...sunny hot and blue....report of many Hawks and Eagles up in Tuolumne....reporter lured there by this report, reported, that at Pothole Dome, no Hawks or Eagles to be seen during their visit...and it was too hot for Tuolumne!!...weather report tonight says things might cool a bit...
Link of the Day:
One of Tom's route write ups:
http://yosemiteexplorer.com/climbs/east-buttress-el-cap
'just before the abyss'

Chicaree And Kingfisher

Paddled back to the Creek, and found a seat on the RipRap by the Giant Log...Chicaree came by...pics and clip...same Chicaree, I think, of yesterday's post up....heard Kingfisher far away downcreek....and waitedwaited...little birds about, but too high up....and Kingfisher came by, and found a perch in a distant Alder...very cool...still too far away for sharp Kingfisher pic...but got fuzzy one, and clip....followed Kingfisher as far as the Great Turf, where there was a little shade to sit on the Log thereabout....quiet....sunny hot blue...saw Mama Doe and Two Fawns behind the Rooms during the lunch sit... pics for sometime...quiet otherwise....back four minutes early...could have gotten better Fawn pics in those four minutes!!

Creek Chicaree

Pic and clips from Monday and Tuesday...if I remember right!....paddled back to the Creek with danish and orange juice (slept in too late for Last Chance Breakfast!)...and was happily eating and drinking, when I heard Hawk calling loudly somewhere just upstream from the Twin Fallen Cedars....I was at the Swath on the RipRap...'Maybe Hawk will come this way...' I thought, and waited...happy to finish the danish...oh!...but I should have just picked up immediately...glimpsed Hawk above the Creek...then again lifting off above the Deer House Oaks...I may have been able to catch up...Hawk's call woke up Owl, who hooo hoooed near the Deer House...checked, but no luck...up and moving, I decided to go through Bobcat Meadow to the Post Office, maybe catch up with Hawk...and heard another Owl in the Giant Ponderosa by Chapel Bridge...these day time calls from Owl are very soft...and easy to think it's just one's imagination!....I looked and looked....but no luck...but looking up into the Ponderosa made me appreciate its magnificence!....this often happens scanning for Owl....the forest canopy is a marvel!...at the Oak Branch that Arks Over Halfdome...looking up...it's like a dome of Oaks!...anyway, Bobcat Meadow very quiet...and very hot...passed the artists in their class...always diligent!...picked up mail, and Shuttled back...too hot for return walk!....sunny hot blue.....lunchtime sit was quiet, but thought I heard one soft hooo from Owl....warning with our paychecks today not to stretch lunchtime!...

Sunny Hot Blue

Paddled back to the Creek for a little while..found a place to sit in the shade by the Great Turf....was diverted there by folk at the Swath...and the Deer House...and while there by the Turf, a whole troop of YIs came by...a few little birds had been settling in the Alders and Cedars...but the whole Creek shore was made silent by the troop....picked up, and just as I did, I startled Kingfisher out of a Cedar top overhead...must have been there all along!....followed Kingfisher out to Lodgpole Point, and almost raised the camera in time to take pic of Kingfisher perched high in a Cottonwood....followed out to Chapel Bridge..but tourists about, and repair crew having lunch...and so quiet!....thereabout I got the Grey Squirrel on Snag pic...sunny hot blue...with the light breeze...at the lunch sit, I went out into the Woods a bit...whereabout I heard Owl last evening...and quiet, but I thought I saw Owl on a Ponderosa...but very far away....moved closer, only to see I was fooled by a bunch of dried Pine needles....but while at this new location, near the Cattails, I heard one scolding Blue Jay...and through the grasses, and shrubs, and tree branches...I was in a kinda hollow...I glimpsed a little bit of Owl...and very close!...had the new camera with...and tried for pics...but difficult....I started to work around to the right, around an Oak...but over aways in the Diversion Channel, a tourist was about..I think they were Owl hunting, and had one in sight!...but not Owl I was seeing...so I went to my left, and found a spot right amongst the Cattails where I could see Owl clear...and Owl paid no heed...preoccupied with something high in the Oak....wanted myself to see what was Owl's interest, but it was time...so crunchedcrunched out of the Himilayan..looked back for one last pic...and Owl was still looking up...I could have gone right up under Owl!!...too sleepy to edit clips...Creek Chicaree is ondeck...oh....while at the Turf, I noticed a carbiner hanging from an Alder trunk attaced to a small nylon leash...a bit of a mystery...pic...thought to leave it there, but thought too I've always wanted a real carbiner for my keys...everyone herabout has a carbiner to hold keys and whatnot...but usualy the store souvenier ones...anyway, I snagged it...likely someone used it to tie up their raft when the Creek was high...now...now the Creek is discontunuous at Creek's End...it's just wet mud for ten. twelve feet, before reaching the Merced....what litte water is running just soaks into the sand thereabout....

Creek Pileated Woodpecker

Pics and clip from yesterday(Monday, actually)...figured out that in Premier I can control brightness...so corrected the kinda faded out look of the clip...a problem I've noted with all the clips, but didn't realize I had such an easy way to fix it!...there's a contrast control too, but at mpeg rez, that doesn't have much play....slept in, and payed off some sleep debt!...then out to the Creek after Breakfast...found a place to sit by the Water Level Measuring Pole...a good spot for the Little Birds....some shade for me, and sunlight on the Alder leavers for bird pics.....saw Grey Warbler...I'm trying to catch up with a sighting list posted in Yahoo birder group...serious birders put up species count lists each time they're out......I think they're were ten or so on the list, mostly Warblers of one sort or another, and different sparrows than the one I always see...Song Sparrow...wish it would cloud over and rain a little..then all the little birds come down to ground for grubs and worms...anyway, I've seen five or six on the list....tomorrow try for more....Kingfisher flew by while I was sitting...and I saw Flicker land at Duck Harbor...then fly up suddenly...and then all the little birds followed Flicker in a hurry...and I thought: 'Oh, this is what the books say happens when Hawk is about!'...and sure enough...Hawk came flying low out of the Deer House Woods, across the Creek, and up the Swath the way the others had flown...and it was a small Hawk...too far, and too fast, to know which one...but very cool....at the lunch sit, I heard Owl hooo hooo hoo hoo hooo hoooo...which was likely Sentinel...didn't hear Aspen or Cottonwood..unless they've grown to hooo hoooing!!...sunny hot blue with the slight breeze....oh...Mallard came by at the Pole..pics...

Little Birds

Pics from yesterday, and day before....top pic is new sighting for me...Common Yellow Throat...next two blurry pics might be Wilson Warbler, not sure, and cant count as first sighting!...then Yellow Rump Warbler, and Mountain Chickadee....one short trip to the Post Office in the late morning...sent off paper work for Bronco...one fellow at garage wanted it...so I had to figure out transfer...like income tax forms...like miserable...Shuttled back to the Cabin and napped all afternoon!....out for a little while in the evening....sat by the Ponderosa...then at Owl Log...quiet..one Mallard for company at Creek's End....heard Ouzel..and maybe Kingfisher....sunny hotter and blue....oh...the Yellow Throat was out in Bobcat Meadow by the Lily Pads...and the rest at Owl Log....heard Hawk somewhere way over in the A Meadow when in Village...too far away...and too hot to walkabout!

Blue Heron Bridge

Blue Heron pics from yesterday...this morning, paddled over to the Post Office, pic of new little bird in Bobcat Meadow...for sometime...Shuttled back as far as Lower Falls, hopped off, went to Flicker Grove, and found a place in the shade to stretch out....read the photog magazine from mail....so sleepy, I thought to take nap...then thought to go back to Cabin for that...crossing the Creek behind the Deer House, I could hear Pileated Woodpecker...and little birds were in the Alders at Duck Harbor...tried for pics..haven't reviewed them yet closely....never sure what all I have amongst the branches and leaves!!...found a shady spot on the gravel across the Creek from where I was hearing Pileated...and Pileated flew out of the Trees...landed on the Giant Log...and then down to the Creek cobbles to take a drink...pics and clips...very cool...for sometime...last three days I've gathered collections of Piliated, Little Birds, and Chickaree..all for sometime...I think I've found the old Black Oak Pileated is making a home in..has a kinda hollow top...and Pileated disappeared into it!...back at the Cabin, message on phone had news of Bronco...too expensive to repair...and so to the wreckers I guess...asked, and found it okay just to mail the title to the garage...so no need for another bus ride down and back to town...they'll take care of things...wanted to nap and watch TV, but outside I heard Hawk back by the Creek...so geared up, remembering to take tripod to camera attachment I forgot in morning walk....back at the Creek, no more calls from Hawk...but Pileated flew a circle around me while I was standing on the gravel at Duck Harbor...pic of Pileated on Oak...and the little birds were about...another effort for their pics...thereabout, I sit on the riprap and wait under the Alders...and while there, two Mallards came paddling by...pics...still hearing Pilaeated, I went over to shady spot on the gravel near the Giant Log...and sighted Chicaree with Pine Cone..clip..a very neat clip...for Chicaree's post up!...and pics...picked up, and Pileated flew by again, and lighted on a Cedar trunk low down...had time to set up the digi...clips and pics...for Pileated's post up!....no clip for tonight....too much editing to do, and too sleepy!...sleep debt goes all the way back to last Teusday!...anyway, tomorrow out and about for some more little bird effort...sunny hothot and blue...oh...back at the Cabin, did doze off..right in the middle of Bones...woke up without much daytime left...sun gone from Half Dome...but paddled out to Woods...quiet...but sighted Mama Doe with Two Fawns...

Link of the Day: (there's an odd drink sold in the store, the logo caught my eye, and researching it, found this charming tale of an early conservationist..been meaning to track out the history of conservation!...)

http://www.crystalbay.net/town/sthubertus.html

Two Antlered Bucks

Paddled out to Creek's End early...thought to get pics of the little birds...took a seat at Owl Log with my back to the sun, and looking into the young Alders and tangle of snags...got pics of a couple of the little ones..for sometime...over at Heron Point there were little birds too...so walked over there....and from there I saw the Bucks...they are really magnificent!....the Bucks browsed a bit right where I had been sitting, then went up the Diversion Channel...I heard Hawk, somewhere again out in Chapel Meadow...so went up Lodgpole Point...stopped for awhile to try again for the little birds...they are really hard just to see, let alone to take pics....only one call from Hawk, but at Chapel Bridge I sighted Merganser upstream by the 'L' Snag....was able to get close, and took lots of pics and clips, but very hard to get good one...Merganser's feathers dont lend themselves to bright light....too much contrast...while taking these pics, I was surprised by Blue Heron gliding by....I'll save this surprise for sometime too!!....followed the way Heron went back to Creek's End...quiet...and sat beneath the Leaning Cedars where it was shady...and I heard a large Pine Cone fall right below the Ponderosa....'Chickaree will be along shortly!' I thought....and that happened...it was three cones together, and Chickaree went to work trying to seperate them..lots of pics and clips!!...for sometime....picked up and went up the Creek...and Pileated Woodpecker was by the Swath again...and again pics marred by too many branches in the way!!...it was a long morning...over four hours, with a pause for Breakfast...Ouzel showed up at the Pond...and a flock of Blackbirds...clip....but no Hawk....sunny hot blue...and weather report says more hot weather on way...Heron showed up almost to the day this time last year too, and the year before that!....cool...while getting ready for work, I saw Pileated in an old Black Oak above the Bus...very cool...Pileated is making the Backyard home...

Pileated Woodpecker And Owl

Paddled back to the Creek, and as soon as I got there, sighted two Pileated Woodpeckers....dont know where one went, but the second I followed about for the next two hours!....Pileated didn't go far, back and forth across the Creek...from the Swath to the Deer House...and downstream to the Great Turf and the Pond...following from Tree to Tree, I was getting kinda tired!...so had a seat in the shade at Zeke's Perch...and waited...hoping Pileated would perch in the Leaning Cedars at Creek's End...almost happened...in the Cedars just across the Creek thereabout I got last pic...got a lot of pics and clips...but most like one posted..distant. ..and branches...when I got back to the Cabin, I was taking clothes out of washer at the laundry room, and heard Pileated again!...got the camera and some more pics....and if that wasn't enough, at the lunch walk, I heard Pileated behind the Rooms, and would have gotten pics, but was diverted by Owl!....I heard Owl over by the Cattails....I had just checked the Ponderosa...but no Owl, I thought...but AspenOrCottonwood came swooping from the Cattails to the Ponderosa, and tried to perch, but the spot was occupied by CottonwoodOrAspen!!....they bumpedbumped wings, and AspenOrCottonwood flew back to the Cattails....I hadn't seen Owl in the Ponderosa...but now I could..I took a seat in the grasses, and took pics and clips the whole half hour!!...AspenOrCottonwood moved about in the Woods..but CottonwoodOrAspen stayed put on the Third Branch of the Ponderosa...both calling to one another...very cool...sunny hot but overcast a bit...and I think this is why there were lots of birds about...White Headed Woodpecker clips, and Blue Jay clips, for sometime...Creeper pic too!...report of Redtail Hawk at Pothole Dome...report of AspenAndCottonwood calling in the morning before sunrise..this at the Train Wreck....so close to getting pic of both Owls together!...and hopeful the Piliated Woodpeckers will make their home in the Backyard Woods!!...oh!...and heard Hawk while at Creek's End...somewhere over in Chapel Meadow...but it was time so picked up....maybe tomorrow I can catch up with Hawk!!...oh!!..report from Creek's End in the Yahoo birder group (see link to blog page on mast)....mixed flock report with all the little ones identified...which is beyond for me!!...tomorrow I'll try to be out thereabout before sunrise...maybe see some of the little birds...if not diverted by Owls...or Hawk!...did see tiny yellow flock one by one swoop into the Fig Tree...was ready to pursue them, but that's when I saw Pileated!!....think they were Audobon Warblers...

Furiously Fishing

Mergansers clip from Monday...Pin too....out and about before sunup...took all the gear, with the thought to make a side trip to Los Banos and the Wildlife Sanctuary after going to AAA with the Bronco...hmmph...after a tentative drive down the hill, the Bronco just quit in the Middle of Merced...lucky actually...maybe the gas gauge doesn't work...had half a tank..maybe it ran out of gas...whatever...it wouldn't start again...and lucky I was right at the little Zoo's parking lot when it stopped running...I coasted in...and pushed it into a parking spot...it was still early...but I paddled over to a big grocery store open, and found a gas can...but putting gas in the tank didn't work...so, I gathered the gear, and paddled over to AAA office....thinking somehow there would be a tow truck thereabout!...and of course there isn't...called the national number which hooked up to local..and first a service truck with more gas came...oh!...I had to race to get back to the Zoo, and luckily a voice from car leaving a lot said as I walked by, 'Where are you going, David?"...another bit of luck!...friend from the Valley took me over to the Zoo...just in time...service driver poured more gas in, but nothing...while waiting for tow truck, I went in the Zoo store and called work to tell them I wouldn't be able to come in....that done, it was off to the Ford dealer's garage...hmmph...this I've done a lot in past lives!...'we'll give you a call'....I was rght back in the middle of the car lots, right back where I was Teusday!!...and on foot with all the gear!!....felt out of place looking...but no one took notice!...I had like four hours until the Bus to the Valley, and so shopped...remembered to get the 10/32 bolts for the digi bracket in the big hardware store..needed to replace the lost ones...new ones are nice, with knobs!...that done, I paddled back to AAA...paid registration, insurance, and membership....'it needs to be smogged'....many times I've gone through that!...well...it's in the right place at the garage...accomplished that in a roundabout way!!...but if it needs big expensive repairs, it's to the glue factory....I've always had a lot of affection for my cars, especially after they go through travails...and so gather lore....but I thought often today to avoid them all together forever and ever!!!!...sunny and blue and broiling....the people in Merced are great...and on the Bus ride back, I was reminded how much I like the Bus rides back!!...and M. hopped on the Bus at Amtrac..and we had the usual ramble..though soto voice so as not to befuddle the other passengers!...they took no notice....'an unlocked door doesn't need a key'...'there are no paths'....I get a little befuddled my ownself...but threw in the origin of 'looking a gift horse in the mouth'....with the days travails as comment on that!!...but was one upped with tale of rental car travails...and two hours less sleep than I had!!!...but M. caught up on the Bus...snoozing....I window gazed the whole ride...even in the dark...looking for Bears...the Bus hits bats!...a fine after image: having a soda at the Zoo...with all the gear...and watching the Foxes....a glimpse from Lion....

Brown Mantis

Paddled over to the Post Office and Credit Union to get check for Bronco...Brown Mantis in Bobcat Meadow on the way, pic and clip...this was after nap...I'd gotten up early and walked back to Creek's End...Mallards clip with digi...and heard Hawk wayaway somehwere in Bobcat Meadow...made loop of the Meadow, but quiet..Doe by the Artist's Grove...oh!...so after the nap, I went back to the Creek and one of the Artists that takes the classes was sitting in the Creek painting...should have gotten pic!..but didnt think...we've known one another for six years now...not well, just the way I know people who come up to take the classes...but charming!....so when I got to Post Office my friend with Bronco said he needed to work another half hour...so I got the check and went to Last Chance...and my friend came to have lunch, and brought the Bronco...and I bought the Bronco...just that simple...hmmph....looks okay...it's small one...Bronco II...but I fit okay....and tomorrow plan to go to Merced and get insurance and register it...so it will be a long day tomorrow!!...and I'll have to remember how to drive!!.....sunny hot blue...well...somethings are troubling the computer....ever since the mp3 hookup....cant get the spell check to work....and get pop saying I'm working off line...and that's just one of these things!...tried to update to Explorer 8...that wouldn't even start...so deleted it...and now a host of problems...hmmmph!!

Link of the Day:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/scruffydan/3901761349/

Burnt Forest

Pic and clip from Monday....paddled over to the Post Office...Creek and Bobcat Meadow quiet...Bobcat in Meadow pic on board came...Shuttled back and passenger driver friend on Shuttle spoke: 'Wanna buy my Bronco?'...sheesh...seems he has one too many cars having just bought a new one...and I couldn't look the gift horse in the mouth!...so tomorrow I'm buying the Bronco....sigh...anyway....report tomorrow how this develops!....sunny hot blue...slept in so only a short time for the back and forth...and the lunch sit was quiet...I dont even know what kinda Bronco it is...'It runs?'....'Yes, new engine, 10 thousand miles.'....I was smitten....waylaid...ambushed...sigh....

Link of the Day:
http://beautybread.blogspot.com/2009/09/every-day-is-gift.html

Zoo Visit

Wasn't a certain thing to do, but with just enough time when I woke up, I paddled over to Last Chance and caught the Bus to Merced...and paddled all over Merced!!....was looking at cars and daydreaming....everyone seems to have one, I thought, watching them all rushing about, and trying to imagine myself back inside one rolling along driving....one feels very weak walking about on foot over all the cement and asphalt....and I took note of the number of handicap scooting about in motorized chairs....it's a hard world...didn't talk to any salesman, and none took note of my passing...last time at least one did....and the lots looked a bit empty...on the ride down, looking out the window, I tried to imagine how a car would help the walkabout effort...if I saw a Hawk, driving along, could I stop and get pics and clips!?...and...I'm not sure if I could!...everywhere there are fences...all the road side lands....miles and miles...are all fenced...so if Hawk perched in a Live Oak...I couldn't get close!...and also noted along the Merced canyon, watching the River from the Bus window, how I've never seen a Hawk....or even a Duck or two, thereabout...this was noted together with counting bugs on the big Bus front windows...just a few....the flora seems thriving...but there's a concern for the fauna....did see one Crane on ride down...and woke up from nap on way up to report of Hawk catching Snake...missed that!...and a second Crane....there's a little ditch with standing water nearabout Cathys Valley going though the farm land...in some past time before farming, it must have all been Live Oak forest...in the evening in town, a huge swarm of Buzz Birds, Vultures, were circling over nearabout the little Zoo...where I stopped in earlier, and took the pics and clips...towards the walkabout's end, I stopped in one store and got an mp3 player...which is supposed to have a pedometer and video...but it came with no instructions...so am a bit mystified...guess they're on line somewhere....and bought some unlevi genes on sale...2 for 1...some stores have closed....but Merced seemed lively enough..and always friendly people in the stores...sunny hot blue...did get a car..tinytiny...diecast race car came with the HappyMeal!....Mountain Lion dreams of the hillsides, the same yellow now as Mountain Lion's fur....

Kingfisher and Mergansers

Woke up early before sunrise, with no plan for the day, but geared up for a start, and paddled back to the Creek....Blue Jays were making a ruckus by the Twin Fallen Cedars...but couldn't locate their concern...hopeful it was Hawk or Owl, but no luck...glimpsed Deer across by the Deer House...crossed over, and got a really neat clip of young Buck nibbling grass and Oak leaves in front of the Deer House...for sometime....heard Kingfisher at the Merced, and hopeful that from Creek's End, Kingfisher might come by...once there...that's what happened!...kept Kingfisher in sight all the way to Half Stump, where Kingfisher perched!...I had the digi with...and inspite of all thumbs, managed to get faraway pic and clip of Kingfisher...clip up...tried to work my way along the River to get closer, and did get some closer pics with the new camera...but Kingfisher's head is tucked under one wing...Kingfisher went to sleep on Half Stump!...drat...anyway, by the time I got good and close, Kingfisher went off somewhere on the other side of Half Stump Island...picked up, and cut through Owl Woods to Last Chance..no hoo hoos, but just enough time to catch the Hiker's Bus...a plan!!...only five people on the bus, and not a word from anyone all the way up, not even the driver...no narration!...got a neat clip of the burned area...for sometime...the fire took away all the new growth since the 1990 fire....kinda thought that was a possibility...mountain side looked thick with foliage like the hillsides in southern cal....but the rest of the burn area, old forest, has the look of a control burn...fire kept low to the ground....there's really not that much flammable stuff on the ground of the old forests...just duff, and then granite soil...and it burns so quick that the fire just travels past full grown Tree trunks.. scorching the bark low down...not all is well though...a lot of the Trees' upper branches' pine needles are scorched from the heat...in the Valley by the Moraine hump, there are a lot of Trees scorched in past burns in this manner, and they haven't survived....but all in all, it's not the disaster one might expect....the fire didn't get up into the Tree tops...credit the hard work of the fire crews for that...and also earlier work done on the Road's sides near Crane Flat in past years...clearing and control burns...was really sleepy, but didn't snooze on the Bus...maybe I need the narration!...but then, the ride was knockdown scenic!...clouds moving through after the little rain....had Breakfast at the Grill...checked everything, and headed out Soda Springs Road...where the Marmots play...and they were about..pics and clips for sometime...took blurry pic of large Bird on snag....learned in review tonight it was Hawk...wasn't sure...and faraway at time...visited 1915 Bridge..sat awhile...then went out to the little granite and Lodgepole island in the Meadow where I took the Bluebird pics....set up the digi, hopeful...and was skygazing when Hawk came swooping low right towards me...thought to raise a camera...none really ready...so just watched...Hawk went by...oh!..what a clip it would have been!...and soared up and banked...and I did manage to get a short clip...Cathedral in background..but Hawk tinytiny....alert and awake for sure...I skygazed intent....and after a short while...saw two Hawks chasing one another high against the clouds..tried for clips and pics...one up....I skygazed some more, more intent...but quiet...picked up and thought to walk out to the Road...Hawk seems to like to soar along the Road....and another Hawk came low swooping past me...tinytiny pic with Lembert Dome for background...pursuing Hawk took me back to 1915 Bridge....and thereabout I glimpsed what looked to be Merganser furiously fishing....there were eleven Mergansers furiously fishing!!!...I spent the next forty five minutes taking clips and pics of Mama Merganer with her ten almost grown up Merganserlings!!!..much fun...kept looking at the pocket watch...and time came...so picked up, pic and clip up the last of the Merganser ones...and paddled back to the Store across the Meadow...the usual route...pic of Picket Pin in the Path..for sometime...always nostalgic the last Hiker's Bus pic of the Meadow for the Summer...quiet ride down to the Valley...some more burn pics...hopped off at the Post Office...new pants and prints came...I keep wearing the bottoms out...and dont know why Levi pants aren't what they used to be...something to do with being made in China...hmmph!....anyway...squared away at the Cabin...and hopped on the Shuttle to Siberia, with binocs and 20x along....on hopping off at Siberia, heard report of another rock fall at the A Rooms...'four minutes ago'....'that for after dinner', I thought...was hungry..missed lunch...after dinner, paddled over to Sugar Pine Bridge to looksee...and loaned my binocs to small group gathered there...Ranger was there with barrier tape...but said it wasn't very bad...I got a neat clip with talk in background...rumour climbers were up there somewhere...we all looked and looked...but I think it's just rumour....dont know what to do with clip...the backtalk is hilarious...pic of the trouble spot...it looks like the peak of a roof..a gable...actually there's many of these chevrons...small and giant...if one looks from Indian Canyon over to Washington Column, there's a real contrast in the color of the Wall...from dark lichen streaked black to much lighter and more thinly streaked...it helps when I draw to understand why the Walls look the way they do...each coloration actually has a very distinct story to it...was almost dark when I left off from Sugar Pine...a cloudy cool day after the brief rain in the Valley...clouds and cooler in Tuolumne...didn't look like it rained there, and no snow...report yesterday of four Mergansers on the Pony Path near Happy Isles...and a wished I'd been there report:...'Bus was on Wee Bridge..stopped to watch Bear walking across the new fallen Pine in the Creek'....a pure gold day....and expect to find transport to Tuolumne for walkabouts before the Snow comes...can always just walk there!!...Ouzel came along in the Merganser clip...singing....

Blue Jay On Deer House Log

Slept in, but a little time for walk...back at the Creek I heard Hawk somewhere far out in Bobcat Meadow...no more calls when I got to Deer House Log...oh...Acorn Woodpecker clip along the way...at the Log I took a seat...and ate my late Breakfast...a croissant and coffee...Blue Jay came along to looksee...clip and pic...sunny blue with overcast....have to check weather report!...a bit windy at the lunch sit...and quiet...report of Midpine's dustup between Dog and Rattlesnake...and Owl hoo hooing...but couldn't persuade reporter to get pics!...'too much brush with stickers'...hmmph...caught Deer Mousy in the togo box tonight...remains of macroni and cheese thereabout...Mousy snuck in, and I just pressed down on the lid...didn't know quite what to do next...so set the box down and watched...Mousy slid back out and scurried out the door!....tourist was moving chairs about...and I asked...and they said...'a mouse..and so cute, with big ears!'..yes..they're all about....

Morning Owls, Faraway Hawk

Woke up before Sunrise, and couldn't sleep...well...could, but I was counting sheep....so, geared up, and paddled out!...at Creek's End, heard Hawk back the way I came at the Swath...went back and stood on the Creek bed gravel, and looked about...there's a tall Snag thereabout I was hopeful for...but no more calls...so back to Creek's End, and up the Diversion Channel...heard Owls...and heard Hawk faraway in Two Top Meadow too...thought to look for AspenAndCottonwood, and found them both by the Cattails...may have startled one....set up with the 20x and got some clips...and dim pics...and with the new camera some pics...I could have moved closer...but let them be..Blue Jays were enough aggravation!......was still hearing Hawk...so out to Two Top.....surprised to see it all in shade...the South Wall shadow is over the Meadow now...all the way up Rocky Point...this all between six thirty and seven...a late sunrise according to the daylight saving thing!...anyway....when I got to the Bike Path, I saw Raven chasing Big Wings across the Meadow at the Tree Line along the Merced...right by the Broken Cottonwood!....took a faraway pic maybe just to get a glimpse..and did find Hawk reviewing the pic tonight!...dont think Hawk is Falcon...I have trouble distinguishing the Calls of each....Hawk flew down to the Cottonwood...and I hurried to the Path thereabout, hopefull...but Hawk was gone when I got there...without the sunlight, the Little Birds are hard to photograph thereabout at this time...tried for Downy pics...and then heard Hawk across the River at Sentinel Beach...waded across...wet boots and pant legs...but call moved further away, across the Road!...and once over there...call was behind again out in the Meadow!...made a rest stop at Swinging Bridge...and out again following Hawk's call over to the Scorched Forest...craned my neck at Two Top Pine ...a little whitewash on the bark...would be very cool to see Hawk or Owl perched in Two Top Pine...just couldn't catch up with Hawk...went to Last Chance for Breakfast...and reviewed the Owl clips and pics...I was out and about for over two hours!...and back at the Cabin I had no trouble falling asleep!...drowsy all during work shift...at the lunch sit, saw Mama Doe and Two Fawns...clip and pics for sometime....and heard one call from Owl...but couldn't locate..took dinner with...and was somewhat taken aback how quickly the 'meat' Bees showed up..flies too.......will have to start making bag lunches to take to the sit...just not enough time to deal with ordering and cashier line!...sunny hot kinda cloudy...humid...I'll miss the low angled sun light across Two Top Pine Meadow...wont be like that again until late Spring I imagine...now is coming the season when the low evening sun light shines across the Meadows and up the Merced...a favorite 'lighting'!!....more light would have helped the slo mo clip of Owl taking off!...but by the time it's light enough...Cottonwood and Aspen are asleep!...kinda cool what the slo mo does to Blue Jay's and Owl's calls...Deer Mousey is getting very bold...paddling about the drawing table top computer top....inches away!

Smokey Day Mergansers

Pic from Pigeon post, clip from Smokey Day Owl post....had a Bug post for today...all that I had for today!...but for sometime...need to add some more Bugs...sat awhile at the Deer House Log...took note of half a dozen yearling Black Oaks thereabout...think they're from the acorn crop of two summers ago....there are some young twenty to thirty foot Black Oaks along the Bike Path behind the Rooms on the way to Ozone Beach...think they must have been part of landscaping thereabout back aways...the whole area of Owl Woods once resembled Siberia, what with tents and cabins...until the '97 flood....hundreds of employees and tourists...a spot thereabout is where I can see Owl on the Ponderosa's snags, and where I go most often for the lunch sit..quiet today...usually is....sunny hot blue with dark underneath puff clouds....

Woodpecker Begins

There's a Spider in the Whiteheaded Woodpecker pic....didn't know it was there until I moused over and clicked the pic to enlarge it....and it's giant!...though very thin....pic from yesterday, which was quiet...well, taken up with car pics, but my ears were listening and I heard Woodpecker and took a moment to go get pic and clip...thought Pileated was about, Woodpecker was so loud!...and it was very quiet today...went and sat awhile by the Twigs...but too near the Chapel Bridge work...so went and sat in the shade below the Leaning Cedars...set up the didgi, and sighted on a Snag across the Pond, but no birds came by....just Ground Squirrel...clip up....sunny hot blue with wispy white clouds...thought for a moment they were smoke....lunch sit was quiet too...heard bangitybang stick way in the distance towards Camp 4...heard it earlier too...and report of Bear over thataway...

Cars

quote

Although a phylum is often spoken of as if it were a hard and fast entity, no satisfactory definition of a phylum exists. In fact, a phylum is perhaps best described as a statement of taxonomic ignorance.[2] Consequently the number of phyla varies from author to author. The relationship between different phyla is increasingly well known, and larger clades can be erected to contain many of the phyla.

and

A clade (from ancient Greek κλάδος, klados, "branch") is a term used in modern alpha taxonomy, the scientific classification of living and fossil organisms, to describe a monophyletic group, defined as a group consisting of a single common ancestor and all its descendants.

above from wikipedia

and

In 1876 German engineer Nikolaus August Otto built a four-stroke gas engine, the most direct ancestor to today’s automobile engines.

http://encarta.msn.com/text_761576902___127/automobile.html

unquotes

I have the peculiar view that automobiles, viewed as inanimate machines, are in fact animated, and what animates them, is us!...and being animate, they follow the same laws of evolution that Darwin laid out...to survive, they must have our affection...kinda what's happened with dogs since the nineteenth century when breeding for appearance and skills began...I was surprised to learn most dog pedigree's date from that century....oh..this is far fetched I know!...but I spent all morning taking pics of my friends model cars....lighting courtesy of the Backyard Cedars, and the Bear Box for a platform...paper background by tientes.....cars are ingratiating...and if real ones like the ones above weren't so expensive, I'd certainly have one..or two!!....I used all the cameras....liked the digiscoped pics best, but these above, taken with the 1.8 50mm, showed the best detail on the decals....depth of field is maddening...have to look up model pics to see how it's done!!...sunny hot blue...Wolfie showed up at Last Chance...by the soups...same place I last saw her!...and back from a summer in Tuolumne...dont know but that was my intention six years ago...but got diverted....the pics in Elements were darkened about ten percent, and increased contrast ten percent, and sharpend twice....a kinda standard adjustment....the pics orignally are often softer and lighter...and I just like them darker with more contrast!...evolution at work...Wolfie asked, but no, I haven't seen a Ring Tail Cat yet....

Pigeon

Woke up five to eight....Hiker's Bus leaves for Tuolumne at eight fifteen!....geared up....and Bus was under the Port Roof waiting...but driver explained there were still long delays on the Road because of fire crews working...disappointed, but next weekend, Bus is still running...so..next week!...two weekends lost because of the Road delays!....Shuttle to Siberia was across the Street, so hopped on and went there for Breakfast...caught the Shuttle back...but didn't get far...Buck was browsing in the Road...for a long time!...driver waited patient...see pic!....at Village stop, sighted Pigeon....one I've heard reports about...hopped off...pic and clip...picked up Mail and caught the Shuttle again, and back to Last Chance....walked out to the Creek...had all the gear!...but quiet...so to the Cabin and sleep...afternoon naps and tv....critters have their routines...I have mine....out and about in the early evening...with all gear... could have used second tripod!...was in the Diversion Channel, under the smokey day Cottonwood...looked up...and Owl opened one sleepy eye to looksee who was below...neat pic...for sometime...just one...as I didn't want to disturb Owl...and saw the opportunity, finding Owl so early, to watch Owl go into it's evening 'routine'!....went ahead aways, and circled back, and looked with the binocs...and lost Owl!...oh...I had to go back to the same spot..look up...and there Owl was still!...so I went off at another angle...found a spot to sit...and looked with the binocs again..and lost Owl again!....I often lose sight of birds when the binocs are to my eyes, as they fly off while I'm scanning.......this time I was lucky...bringing the binocs down, I saw Owl swoop low from the Tree, past me to somewhere beyond the Cattail Pond...Owl often doesn't move far... and flys straight...so, I took some time while still on the ground...a little slope under the Black Oaks...and put together the digi...adjusted the 20x and new camera....gathered myself together, and stood up...often a task in itself!...Indian walked out from behind the Trees to where I could see across the Pond clearly...hoping Owl wouldn't be startled...and there was Owl perched between two Ponderosas a good distance away...and by good, I mean both far enough I wouldn't disturb Owl, and the right distance for the digiscope to focus..not too close...not too far...pics not too good...but clips are knockdown!...dont know if Owl caught something...thought it a good time to pick up after Owl left the Perch...paddled about the Woods and along the Merced a bit more...still a lot of light...but couldn't locate CottonwoodOrAspenOrSentinel...OrPonderosa...Ponderosa is the name now for Papa Owl...of course, I cant tell one from another!...except the young Owls will be making the scrreech calls for awhile....sat awhile at Owl log...had been diverted from there earlier by tourist!...and then up to Chapel Bridge...heard Kingfisher again...found a neat spot just downstream from Bridge, by Butterfly Flat... thereabout a log jam with lots of Twigs for little Birds...pic of Phoebe...try again here tomorrow...it's shady!...sunny hot and clear blue...report of Peregrine on a Cathedral's Dome in Cologne, Germany!...talkabout with German rock climber on Bus...shared interest in critter pics...and answered his enquiry about where to find critters!...told him of Falcon...and he one upped with tales of Falcons in all the German cities...seems they have a pigeon problem and the Falcons a welcome control!...report of Bobcat and Mama Bear with Two Cubs in the Little Valley on his way up and down Half Dome....when the light leaves Half Dome, the Bats come out....fly close by too...and will have to get a stronger flash for pics...and have thought maybe just a really strong headlamp might work for clips.....thinking aloud!!
Link to story of German Falcons:
http://www.springerlink.com/content/4c1nyx9ujyeae9pm/
and one to Faclon on Cathedral...but in England!!
http://www.flixya.com/video/889238/2008_Derby_Peregrine_Falcon_(4)_-_Too_Close_for_Co
on youtub more of these...chicks in this one!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tawTDADXvuM