Osprey Road

A long day rollabout exploring the Foothills...report for sometime....drizzly rainy in the in the morning, but clearing as I
left the Valley, and a knockdown day....returning from Merced, sighted One Coyote, and then Another Coyote, crossing the Road nearing Catheys Valley--this at Dusk...first Coyote sightings in the foothills..for me!....Ospreys too...Redshoulder Hawks mating too!!...and Hawks sitting on Nests!!....not many Flowers...ones up all I saw....Two Identical "Perched Osprey", is a post up mistake!

Before recollection collects too much dust, a report of Osprey Road (written up on 3/21 while the Cabin power is out, and I'm trying to charge up the computer at Last Chance!): After errand in Mariposa, rolled out 49 to Bear Valley, and made a left on Bear Valley Road...Hawks, Redtails, here and there, and knockdown scenic, rolling Oak Hills all green (Oaks not in leaf yet)....nearing Hornitos, began sighting Hawks on Nests, and just Nests...pics...no traffic, so could stop...along the Road is a seasonal Creek, and in one place it emptied into a Pond...and across the Road from the Pond was an exposed Rock Bluff in the Hill, and there was enough roadside room to pull over, and I saw New Ducks (pics for sometime) on the Pond, so pulled over....while I was taking pics, a car passed, slowed, backed up, went forward, backed up, parked, and out hopped a fellow who started right in talking about Hawks and Eagles...reminded me a bit of that scene in Jeremy Johnson...anyway, my first impression was the fellow was a local, he knew the Pond like the back of his hand--'Hawk on Nest in the Cottonwood, Two Canada Geese across the Pond, Ducks dont stay long..."....and he explained where the Ospreys and Eagles were at Merced Falls, and Lake McSwain, where I was headed....I tried to keep up, and reported the Hawk's Nest I'd just passed, and showed pic on the lcd screen of the newer camera....."Oh, he said, "let me show you my Eagle pic!"....and I followed over to his car, and watched him take a camera with lens from the front seat--a camera set the envy of every photog on my budget!....Eagle pic was cool, kinda the same pose of my Eagle pic from Tule Lake--(mine's better, I thought, hmmph..)...and we talked and talked, swapping critter stories...and I asked for a pencil and paper to write my email on, and my like minded new friend opened the car's trunk, and rummaged through every camera and lens known to man looking for a piece of paper!...and gave me his phone number, and a guide to every National Wildlife Refuge in the Country, which he has apparently been too!...'I grabbed a handful of pamphlets last stop...'....'thanks!'....a bit flummoxed, I went my way, and he his, his to the Valley for Snow pics....'there's a little Snow left', I counseled....and with promises to get together for critter pics sometime....before leaving, I sighted Turkey Vultures on the Cliff...pics...and hence the name, Buzzard Cliff Pond.....oh, the little light on the charger is green....more of this report for sometime!!!