6:45 AM

I had thought to get up around six, gear up, have Breakfast, and out and about by daylight...as it was, I finally dragged myself away from sleep, and got out at six forty five...with everything...I missed seeing the stars, just enough light in the sky to obscure all but one, maybe a planet, to the right of Sentinel... but I was out before first bird call....paddled over to Lower Falls...just before the View Bridge, heard two calls simultaneously....Blue Jay and Acorn Woodpecker...then I got fascinated by a squiggly trail on the Path...it looked like something a big snake would leave...flash pic for sometime...I thought the trail was from water...but on closer look, it was like grit and fine duff...thought it was from someone's leaky water bottle...but it wasn't water..so I dont know what it was!...anyway, when I came back to myself, the little tiny birds were calling in the Tree Tops....I never see them...they're forever the invisible little tiny birds!...clip of the Falls...heard and saw Ouzel thereabout...heard Raven...clip of Blue Jay by the Bench....paddled back the way I came to the Cabin...wanted to get to Owl Woods before too much light....Mama Doe and Two Fawns in the Backyard..clip....at Creek's End heard Flicker...(Robins in the Backyard before...Flicker call too in the parking lot before)...along the Diversion Channel, sighted Owl...pic up and clip....recorded some tiny bird calls...oh...at Lower Falls heard Nuthatch...to Ozone Beach and along the Merced to Swinging Bridge...quiet all the way to the Broken Cottonwood...there I sighted Hawk (Red Shoulder) on the other side of Two Top Pine Meadow...pic and clip...faraways!!...heard Pileated over in the Scorched Forest...continued away further along the Aspen Row...then across the Meadow...scenic clips and pics...to the Scorched Forest....heard Hawk....recorded small bird call I couldn't identify...heard Creeper...crossed Road to Camp 4...clip of Pileated faraway high on Oak...with sound of stirring in tent right behind me!...heard another Pileated...to the Rocky Slope...and looked carefully for acorns...throughout the day along the Slopes where the Live Oaks grow, I looked for acorns...have already noted the Black Oaks haven't any...and now note, the Live Oaks dont either!....talked later with Shuttle driver about this, and they related that their Pecan Tree has good and bad nut years...so I guess nut trees some years dont have nuts!!...nuts!!...a concern now for the Deer and Squirrels and Bears and everything!....acorns a big part of many critter diets...to say the least, the Acorn Woodpeckers!...anyway, back to Rocky Slope..continued to Lower Falls. and around back to the Cabin...dropped off the gear, and went to Breakfast, and back to the Cabin, and back to Sleep!...for four hours!!!....plan was to walk the same route, more or less, that I did last Oct 27, in the afternoon...at 2 pm I opened the Cabin door, and the wind was blowing strong...nuts...I know from experience that the birds are scarce on windy days...but geared up, and out again...back to the Three Dogwoods...losing all their leaves in the wind..and quiet..along the Backyard Dirt Road to the Road at Lower Falls, and across to the Path...little bird, Yellow Rump Warbler I think..clip and pic, at Creek Foot Bridge...at Lower Falls Shuttle Stop...four Ravens soaring above Bobcat Meadow..having great time...clip...(heard a Hawk when I left the Cabin somewhere over in Chapel Meadow)...paddled to the Deer House and back to the Creek...quiet except for the Tiny Birds...Robin calls...sometimes Flicker...to Creek's End, back up Lodgpole Point to Chapel Bridge...along the Merced to the Appletree and Cottonwoods...lots of tiny birds in the Cottonwood tops and in the Fir Tree branches...took pics I have to study...but did get one of Brown Creeper...and Mountain Chickadee I think..at the Woodpecker Tree, one Acorn Woodpecker..clip....out through Artist's Grove to the Road and Post Office and Village..picked up lunch...tuna, kitkat, chips, root beer...(clip of Flicker back by the Library)...at the A Meadow, Three Does and Two Fawns...clip...continued to Sugar Pine Bridge...no Pigeons at Three Arch Bridge like last year...and no Robins in the Dogwood Grove...very very quiet...wind quiet...anyway..found a log to sit on and have lunch at Sugar Pine Bridge...two Ouzels came by chasing and calling...picked up and went along the Path to Backpackers Camp...cut over to the Rocky Slope Trail...to Indian Caves...finally saw Flicker in Dogwoods at the Mirror Lake Path Junction...took Path to Shuttle Stop...and Shuttled all the way back to Last Chance...hopped off with time for Owl Woods walk...really really windy in the Woods...bit hesitant to walk under Trees!!...glimpsed Owl way high, flying off toward Two Top Pine Meadow...taken by the wind as much as flapping!...heard CottonwoodOrAspen...but lost sound when tourists, separated from one another, were calling to one another...think they may have been the same from last night, back to get pics of Owl...not much chance in the wind!...still a bit of light on Half Dome...another alpenglow show...picked up, and back on the Path, happened on Mama Doe and Two Fawns...flash pics...last year it was flash pics of Mama Doe and Fawns in the Little Lower Falls Meadow to finish up!!...but no Bear...no a lot of things...but did see Hawk, Owl and Pileated...which kinda made up for the quietness...didn't take very good pics...too much on the move!...and didn't pause to get close to Hawk, Owl, and Pileated...usually they would have all my attention...Shuttle driver and I agreed that the Fawns in the A Meadows were the ones born in Siberia...and those, and the Last Chance Fawns, may well be the only ones in this end of the Valley...(though I saw a new Mama Doe and Two Fawns the other day...so that would make just six Fawns)....sunny cool blue...some clouds in the morning..and windy all afternoon....not so cold as last year!...didn't need gloves...I didn't sit anywhere hardly at all...except for lunch...and the nap!...for sometime, I'll post up a little map with routes I took on this walk and last year's walk...I think I saw and heard more jets fly over than birds!!...oh...Deer Mousey is bold tonight..after my tv snacks!!...oh!!!...pic up is from Owl this morning...and clip is from a few days back of Pileated....