Mallards

After Breakfast, sat awhile on Ozone Boulder...Merced back out of its channel, almost to the Boulder...Sandpipers, Robins, Raven, Song Sparrow about....Female Merganser flyby...Grosbeak perched overhead...pic...picked up and back on the Path to the Cabin...nearing there, sighted MacGillivay's Warbler...pic for sometime...and at the Cabin took a nap....sunny blue warm, overcast in later afternoon, clearing a bit at dusk with broken clouds...late afternoon, paddled back to Ozone Beach...Mallards pics and clips...Ground Squirrel clip on the way...and continued out to Two Top Pine Meadow....went around Two Top Pine to the right, skirting the Scorched Forest, and took a seat on the Burnt Log by the Willows... hoped to see again Woodduck!...but no luck....experimented with the kodak...(it digis okay, but clips too contrasty on the computer screen)....Redwings, Brewers, Mallards, Sandpipers, Violet Green Swallows, Blue Bird, about...Doe in the Meadow by Two Top, and one Doe came from the Forest and looped all the way around by the Broken Cottonwwod...pics....may have been same Doe....tried for Swallow pics....getting near dinner time, so picked up, but forgot bandana, again, so went back to the Log....lots of Swallows and Bluebirds about....and more Does...pics and clips...returned again to the Forest, and startled Bear...Bear was browsing grasses along the Forest's edge....tried for digi clips....but low light, and lots of Trees to sight through....cool to see Bear....picked up when the clips were nearly black, and back to the Cabin...and dinner at Last Resort...minestrone, chips with guacamole, sprite....oh...sighted Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly while at Ozone...too far away for pic....

Violet Green Swallow

Sunny blueblue warm...at Lunch: sat awhile at Ozone Beach...tourists about, and another fisherman...father and son playing catch with a hardball baseball and gloves....Doe and Fawn, Sandpiper, Ravens, Chickadee call, Song Sparrow about too...I slept in until five minutes before get ready for work time!...pics and clips from two days ago...it's Summer....

ImpossiblePossible Nest

On the way to work, with just a little time!, sighted Blue Jays still at work on their Nest above the back entrance of the Store...Blue Jays have been working for weeks..dont know if the housekeepers knock the Nest down, or Blue Jays are just having trouble making the Nesting Sticks stay put!.....picked up orange juice and danish...sat outside with all the tourists on the benches...during talkabout with friend, Buzzbird flyover...pic....sunny blueblue warm....at Lunch: Female Mallard snoozing right at edge of Ozone Beach....Male Mallard splash landed and walked over....closer, and closer..then they both stood up and went into the water...was sighting through the new camera viewfinder, set the camera aside....Mallards startled by Impossible Fisherman walking about....I shouldn't say impossible, without trying my own self to catch Fish from the Merced hereabout!...a project...Songsparrow, Blackbirds, Robins, Grosbeak, Chickadee, Blue Jay, and Yellow Warbler about...blurry pic of Warbler...was going to post up clip, Deer and Mergansers, but trouble with ethernet cable...end that goes in the the computer very worn...after some frustration, turned it around, and that works....ordered a replacement!...Mallards came back ashore, and paddled up into the Diversion Channel Ponds and Grasses....report of Garter Snake on the Trail, and flyby of Ravens pursuing 'Redtail'--this near El Cap....

Link of the Day: Fine Art America Owl search, and another from Oil Spill search, same site, along with this one--did a valley search too--over 500 pics or paintings and such!--Sugar Pine Bridge...bit jealous, have to put mine up...a project...

Coyote Morning

Out and about early with all the gear....and back to the Cabin three times with troublesome gear....20x keeps giving out with 'busy' and 'low batteries' when batteries okay....finally took the new 12x...I have three of these point and shoots..s3, s5, s11....anyway....each time I started out, I ran into Deer, four or five Does and Two Fawns, and One Buck...first along the Path, then by the Perfect Dogwood (pics up), then right around the Cabin....pics and clips for sometime....wanted to get to Two Top Pine Meadow before the Mists burned off, and was just a little late....pics for sometime....went as far as Swinging Bridge, then out along the Merced in the Meadow...sighted Mama Merganser and Six Merganserlings in the Slough...clip for sometime....then Coyote out in the Meadow....pics and clips for sometime....Coyote was sunning, and gave time to divert the digi to Violet Green Swallow overhead...clips and pics for sometime...lost Coyote, but then near Beaver Bend, looked back over the Meadow, and relocated...very cool..pic and clips up....while doing clips, started to hear Ravens over by Rocky Point, scolding...Coyote heard too...and we paralleled one another trotting over to looksee!....I went a little bit up the Slope, but was a bit spooked by the loud reports of Jumping Rocks earlier...they're loud, like bangity bangs!...so I didn't see what was up with the Ravens...maybe Coyote had better luck!...whole purpose of going out to the Meadow, aside from the knockdown scenery after the Rain, and Snow up on the Rims, was to look for Woodduck at the Willows...but doggone if there wasn't one photog out and about that went exactly there...hmmph...but I thought to go back through the Burnt Forest and looksee, and along thataway, heard emergency vehicles with sirens blaring heading out the Valley...Coyote somewhere still by Rocky Point, heard too, and started barking and howling....so, I went back thataway, but no luck...lots of Bear plop about...so continued along Rocky Slope behind Camp 4....think I got some more Solitaire pics....and did get a Grey Squirrel pic and clip....all for sometime....dropped the gear off at the Cabin, and to Last Chance for Breakfast, and back to the Cabin where I dropped off to sleep!....sunny breaking storm cloudy, cool....at Lunch: sat awhile on Ozone Boulder....Robins, Raven, Woodpecker knocking, probably Acorn, Sandpiper, Mallards, Song Sparrow about...and a flycatcher...Phoebe or Blue Bird..not sure...some neat flight pics...for sometime too!....once determined to do so, and with critter cooperation, and weather!, I can take a lot of pics and clips in a hurry!...I think the Fawns were the Last Chance Fawns...and Doe in the pic up looks pregnant...

Two Top Pine Coyote

no pics of note today...slept in 'till work time....cloudy cool, sprinkles in the evening...at Lunch: Robins, Juncos, Mallards, Sandpipers, Songsparrows about while I sat on Ozone Boulder...Merced in its channel pretty much....report of Bear in the Campgrounds yesterday, Report of 'white duck' out in Two Top Pine Meadow where I saw the Woodduck...it was even raining a bit when I came home from work...cool enough outside to make my toothacheache...."Does it hurt when hot or cold?" Yes....to the dentist Tuesday....until then walks a bit curtailed...maybe it'll warm up...maybe!...oh...pics and clip from Tuesday...

Oil Spill: There was nearly an identical spill in Gulf in 1979, a Mexican Pemex well being drilled...link to wiki's take:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ixtoc_I_oil_spill

and I'm wondering where in the 'law of the sea' books there is the 'sovereign immunity' clause...dont know but the Cubans might be curious too!!

oh..here's wiki's take on sovereign immunity..sheesh...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sovereign_immunity

and here's related story about the Caspian Sea, where five countries surrounding have intricate concerns:

http://www.rferl.org/content/History_BP_Oil_Spill_Haunt_Caspian_Sea/2052194.html

and here's the whole oily ball of yarn:

http://wildlifelaw.unm.edu/fedbook/oilpollu.html

I dont know if any one nation has determined what to do if another nation is responsible, or a company that flies a foreign flag! To appreciate the tangle, one must begin with the history of BP--wiki's take:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BP

hmmph

Violet Green Swallow

no morning pics--snoozed....cloudy grey cool, clearing at lunch: at Lunch, perched on the Ozone Boulder...Robins, Juncos, Sandpipers, Songsparrows, Mallards about...and a flock of Violet Green Swallows darting and skimming the surface of the Merced...took a lot of blurry pics...one up the least blurry!....

Coyote And Woodduck

Made the Little Loop, from Ozone Beach to Creek's End, after Breakfast, and thought to go for a long hike, but at the Cabin, weather report seemed a bit ominous, and I was a bit sleepy, and so snoozed until two!....geared up,picked up lunch to go, roastbeef, peanutbutter cookie, apple juice, and then back to Ozone, and thereabout tourists with report of Coyote on the Road... turned, and looked between the Rooms, and there was Coyote!.....tagged along with Coyote, and tourists too, out to Two Top Pine Meadow.....more clips and pics for sometime than just the two up...paralleled Coyote out to the Broken Cottonwood...set up thereabout....Coyote was across the Meadow, but then meandered back towards me....used the Cottonwood as a blind, and came very close to a closeclose Coyote pic!....Coyote went up the Use Path past the Stone Wall, and then back across the Meadow....Ponds had made Coyote divert....followed out about to the Burnt Log, and looked at the Willows, and there was Mallard Pair, like before, and a third Mallard too, I thought, until I looked closer....Woodduck!!....all thumbs...quick pics with new camera, and tried for clip with 20x, but card full...fortunately, the mini digi was all set to go, and I got a couple clips before Woodduck disappeared into the Grasses...for a long time!...I sat on the Burnt Log and had lunch....Mallards flew off...and Wooduck made a brief appearance swimming about...I was patient, and waitedwaited, hopeful for clear in focus clips and pics, which I really hadn't gotten yet...and then, sigh, in the distance I see a patrol of teenage kids headed for Two Top, exploring, and inevitably they explored right over to the Willows, not knowing they couldn't cross the Meadow there because of water--"Are we in your picture?"...."There's my picture."...I pointed to Woodduck flying off towards Sentinel....an apology was offered, but I remained silent, too miffed!, and they all reversed and trooped back the way they came...hmmph...tourists giveth, and taketh away....picked up, and followed Woodduck back to the Merced, but no luck, until I happened on the Snag Log...it hauled out right over Sentinel Creek, and family was about...distant pic...as I walked by, some began sitting on the Log, and I really wanted that pic, but didn't want to intrude, and continued out to Beaver Bend, and across the Road along the Rocky Slope...Flicker clip....and back to Ozone Beach...made the Little Loop part way second time...figured out the kodak does zoom, digital wise, and works fine with the scope!...cut through the Woods to the Path, and nearing the Cabin, happened on a Doe, good subject for the kodak to try, and thereabout were several Tanagers....tried the kodak, but it zooms in so much I couldn't sight on Tanagers...left off, and got some pics with the new camera...for sometime...still a little time before dinner ends, and went back to the Creek...Blue Jays scolding, but no luck....picked up pizza to go at Last Chance, and was all settled in in the Cabin for the evening, and the power went out...watched a Starwars dvd animation, Clone Wars, and then thought to go to sleep, and the power came back on...sigh...so once again up late doing uploads and post up!....it's okay, I can sleep almost 'till one....clear blue early in the morning, gradually clouding over for a greygrey evening, cool, and breeze.....veryverycool to see Woodduck.... when I first went back to the Creek for Fauna and Flora, the Tiki Temple workers reported a Woodduck...this three years ago!.......formatting a new card in the 20x, I messed up, and lost some clips, and pics that showed just where Woodduck was, with the view across the Meadow to Half Dome, Clouds Rest, North Dome, and the rest...will try tomorrow, maybe Woodduck will still be about....top pic is motioned blurred...

Ouzels' Nest

Slept in way past noon....need a name for afternoon cheerios!...checked Ozone Beach...tourists thereabout reported seeing Bobcat by Upper Falls Trail Head...back at the Cabin, gathered all the gear...Doe in the Deer House Woods..pic....through Bobcat Meadow to the Village....picked up snack: egg salad, chips, crangrape...along the Road beside A Meadow, over Three Arch Bridge, Sugarpine Bridge...Nuthatch call at the Backpack Camp...quiet otherwise...and out to the Pony Path and the Snag Nest...One Ouzel perched on Snag in midstream...waitedwaited...ate snack...and out flew Second Ouzel from the Nest...Ouzel flew back and into the Nest I thought, and wasn't sure...and couldn't resist...took off boots and socks, and Indian walked to take a peek...Ouzel flew out chattering, and joined her Mate nearby, and they both were singing and chattering, scolding me....took a quick blurry pic of inside the Nest...pic reveals nothing..too blurry!....sigh...and quick retreated to where I sit hidden behind some Trees...and waitedwaited anxiously for Ouzels to return....was gathering things up, and sighted Ouzels on Boulder near Nest..pics up...and Ouzel flew twice into the Nest...second time to stay...so all okay!...continued along the Pony Path, and a Fen visit, and caught the Shuttle back to the Cabin, almost eight by the time I got to Last Chance for dinner...cloudy blue sometimes a little sunlight, cool...tourists on Shuttle reported it rained for ten minutes on the Mist Trail...rained tourists all day!

Oil Spill:

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...an unprecedented anomaly.

--Thad Allen

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oh...an anomalyanomaly

and here's link to: NPS Oil Spill Response

Chipping Sparrow

After Breakfast, paddled to Ozone Beach....sighted Chipping Sparrow Pair, gathering nesting...pics....and walked out to Swinging Bridge along the Merced, looking for the Snag Log....no where to be seen....windy sunny blue, puffy clouds with darkening undersides, at lunch, dark clouds came through the Gates, and it sprinkled a bit, Half Dome dusted with snow from last night...at Lunch: sat awhile at Ozone Boulder...Female Mallard, Sandpiper, flock of Little Birds flyover (Bandtails flewover yesterday), Robins, Sandpipers, about...Song Sparrows...pics...and a tourist's dog got loose at Last Chance after closing, Bishan, and a chaseabout through the familiar warrens!....and concern for an open door escape...surrounded, and captured..."keep Bishan Pooch on a leash...Coyotes outstide!"....much the same experience with our Bishan once on vacation in the Valley!....can't identify the Grey Bird pics up...

Tanagers

Slept in....just before work, tried to digi with the kodak....without a zoom feature, of course, it portholes...kinda hoped it wouldn't, but I'll take some porthole clips with it, and see if I can crop in....real reason I got it, it has a remote shutter, or will, when they're in stock, and with that, I can set it up and move back..or even put it under water--maybe Trout will come by!...anyway, a new toy in the box....sunnyhazy, at lunch, clouded over and cool...at Lunch: paddled out to Ozone Beach, and friend was there on bicycle. and a talkabout for the time, and no pics, save for a few of a Little Bird hard to identify--pics too dim and backlit....pics of Tanagers up are from yesterday...

Oil Spill: Well, here's an answer to some of the speculation of the other night's post:

quote

"If anybody is frustrated with this response, I would tell them their symptoms are normal, because I'm frustrated, too," said Coast GuardCommandant Thad Allen. "Nobody likes to have a feeling that you can't do something about a very big problem."

As simple as it may seem, the law prevents the government from just taking over, Allen said. After the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska, Congress dictated that oil companies be responsible for dealing with major accidents — including paying for all cleanup — with oversight by federal agencies.

Frustration mounts as oil seeps into Gulf wetlands

By GREG BLUESTEIN, Associated Press Writer

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_gulf_oil_spill

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Mallards Dancing

After Breakfast, paddled out to Ozone Beach with the kodak to try it out....by the Merced, took about 5 second clip...and out of memory....needs an sd card...well, I have some on order from amazon, so Shuttled over to check Mail...before I left Ozone, took note that the Snag Log had moved some more yards downstream....cards not in the mail pigeon hole, so went over to the Gallery to pick up a 2gig card....took note that the little pigeon hole shadow box that held different boxes of film for sale, is gone!!!.....I suppose there is still some film in the drawers, but the display on the wall is just gone!... sat out front, put the card in, took a clip, everything fine...but not much time and sleepy, so went to the Shuttle Stop....just missed one Shuttle, and the next was the El Cap, and the Third just rolled right by!...so sat a bit, and sighted Tanagers across the Road high in the Oaks....there was like a dozen, chasing about...tried for pics...some up in the clip, others for sometime....in fact, I'll go back tomorrow, looked to be a popular spot to Tanagers....let one Shuttle go by, and hopped on the Next, and to the Cabin and sleep in five and ten minute naps in the hour remaining--didn't want to miss time!...sunny blue with a few puffy clouds, warm, at lunch, a chill and breeze...at Lunch: sat awhile on Ozone Boulder...quiet...Sandpiper about...looked out over the Merced, and noted that the Snag Log is gone!!!...floated away....looksee tomorrow where it floated off to.....Sandpipers, Robins, Chickadee call, maybe one Female Tanager...pic too dark...time and picked up....when I got to the Path, between the Path and Rooms, Mallard Pair were courting...oh!...wish I had the 20x with and its video....took a sequence with the new camera...pics in slide show clip up.....very cool....some of the moves resemble Flickers' and Acorns'....and time, and left off reluctantly!!

Oil Spill: Nat Geo will have show on Thursday night, May 27...found that here at IBRRC blog.

Grosbeak Pair

Shuttled over to the Village...errands and mail....yet another camera came...Kodak Play Sport...it's bigger and heavier than I thought....but okay..waterproof, and does hd clips, and I should be able to digiscope with it....project for tomorrow....Shuttled back...hopped off near Ozone Beach, Camp 4 stop...quiet...asked at work if I took any pics today?...nope....a ten minute snooze before work...sunny overcast warm, at lunch, clear blue....at Lunch: perched sideways on Ozone Boulder, and had the Beach View to myself...Merced up to the Boulder's edge again...quiet....Robins, Sandpipers about....Grosbeak Pair perched awaysaway...pics....and then Sandpiper...pics....a kinda quiet easy going day....observed to a friend that maybe those are the best kind...though I almost needed the Heimlich!...ate a cookie too fast at break...tourists took little notice, and once recovered, I finished the cookie...

Oil Spill: Brouhaha (Washington Post's take...)

Clearly, there's a conflict of interest in having BP try to do its own repairs and clean up, and a future policy should establish an oil emergency agency, with all the equipment and personal for any contingency. Actually, I thought there was such a thing, and am a bit mystified where it is. There are any number of environmental groups with plans and equipment and personal ready to go in the event of a spill--posted up previous link to the San Francisco group...brb...

IBRRC

Fauna and Flora has now attention from these groups, but I have no idea if oil technology has independent groups that provide know how...well...there's Kevin Costner's invention, but actually that's the the kind of creative forethought in response to previous spills one would appreciate.

quote

“Everywhere you look, if you look, you start seeing these conflicts of interest in how this disaster is getting handled,” Mr. Kirschenfeld said. “I’m not a conspiracy theorist, but there is just too much overlap between these people.”

Conflict of Interest Worries Raised in Spill Tests

John M. Broder, Andrew W. Lehren and Michael Luo contributed reporting.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/21/science/earth/21conflict.html?ref=us

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quote

Still, Alaska came away from the disaster with some valuable lessons. The state is much more prepared to deal with a future disaster because it has a huge response apparatus still in place. The system involves a flotilla of fishermen ready to go in the case of another disaster, including 350 vessels under contract ready to participate in a response.

21 years after Exxon Valdez led to boycott, Gulf oil spill yet to resonate at BP gas stations

By John Antczak, AP

May 5th, 2010

http://calamities.gaeatimes.com/2010/05/05/21-years-after-exxon-valdez-led-to-boycott-gulf-oil-spill-yet-to-resonate-at-bp-gas-stations-21080/

unquote

That from site called, Accidents and Disasters--one never quite knows when a Heimlich is required, as I can say from experience, beware blue sunny days!

Buoyed up by that coffin, for almost one whole day and night, I floated on a soft and dirge-like main. The unharming sharks, they glided by as if with padlocks on their mouths; the savage sea-hawks sailed with sheathed beaks. On the second day, a sail drew near, nearer, and picked me up at last. It was the devious-cruising Rachel, that in her retracing search after her missing children, only found another orphan. --Moby Dick, Herman Melville

Mountain Chickadee

Out and about before Sunup....wanted clip of Backyard Dawn Chorus...reprise of earlyearly Fauna Flora Post...picked up, and thought to Owl Prowl a bit...and Providence smiled...Raven Pair and Blue Jays were pestering Owl, Sentinel....clips...but all dark!....just mostly sound...though one has Owl making short flight...and hoohooing too.....with enough light, and an angle, was able to sight with the digi...clips...picked up, I was yawning too!....to Breakfast, and to Cabin, and to Sleep....sunnybluepuffcloudy in the morning...at lunch, greyclouded over...at Lunch: at Ozone Beach, went to Rivers Edge to see closer what was on the Snag Log...just another Snag...turned to go back to Ozone Boulder...but just that quick it was occupied by two tourists contentedly smoking...hmmph...paddled over to the Ponderosa Roots, and sat...quiet...picked up, but as I was, Mountain Chickadee perched and sang....would like very much to get clip of Chickadee's Plaintive Call....returning on the Use Path, sighted Little Yellow Bird....think it might be a MacGillivray's Warbler, which would be new sighting...but have to get better pic!....

Oil Spill: PASS A LOUTRE, La

Horseshoe Crab

A long while ago, I spent a week's vacation at John Pennekamp Park...stayed at little motel, where the first thing I did on arrival was snorkel over the sea grasses on the Gulf side at the end of the motel's dock, and saw Horseshoe Crab....and the slender Barracuda saw me...

Two Top Pine Meadow Mallards

Out and about late...same time as yesterday!....started out to the Creek, but tourists about, so diverted where I thought to go anyway, to Two Top Pine Meadow, and look for Ducks and such....looksee at Ozone Beach...Merced went down a lot....Sandpipers about, and Mallard flyby...at the Meadow, began to sprinkle a bit, sat under a Pine awhile, then out past the Broken Cottonwood...Bluebirds...pic...and Violet Green Swallow flyby...no where to sit..Ponds...so found a seat out in the Meadow on the Burnt Log....set up the digi...Mallard Pair across the Pond thereabout...actually, a kinda Oxbow that begins at the River and winds around Two Top Pine ...Male Mallard on the lookout, Female browsing in the Green Grasses...sat and waitedwaited awhile...now and then Mallard flyovers...missed pics in bright sunlight...but on review of the Mallard flight sequence I took--very cool!....picked up, and made the Outside Loop....Stream by the Boardwalk back in its Channel....scenic walk...but quiet...Yellow Warblers in the Apple Tree by the Woodpecker Tree...pics...caught the Shuttle at Sentinel Bridge...thought dinner in Siberia...bult long line outside the doorway...pizza deck too...and Shuttled back to Last Chance...cloudy sprinkles clearing broken clouds and splashes of sunlight....Three Bucks and a Doe in Stoneman Meadow yesterday....Does and Fawns at Ozone today...pics...oh....scattered Deer in A Meadow--

Oil Spill: bit about the Wildlife...and neat blog!

and some practical instruction:

quote

To wash a bird that is already highly stressed and not medically stable could mean death. Many oiled bird's die because well-meaning people, anxious to get oil off the bird, wash it immediately, resulting in death from stress. It is actually more important to give oiled birds the much needed nutrition, hydration and medical treatment they need before they are washed.

Once stable, oiled birds go through a series of tub washes alternating between baths with a one percent solution of Dawn dish washing liquid and clean water. The wash time varies depending on the amount of oil, and the size of the bird, but on average it takes two people 45 minutes and 300 gallons of water to do a thorough washing.

http://www.ibrrc.org/oil_affects.html

unquote