Canyon Flowers

Out and about early for a roll down the hill to Town....diverted at the start to try and get a clip of the Dawn Chorus...poked the waterproof camera at Sentinel in the Backyard, and at the Hummock Ponds in Bobcat Meadow, along with Half Dome and the Falls...Birds hard to hear, and, I haven't compared clip yet with previous early May Choruses in old posts, but Chorus seemed a bit subdued...to do this right, I have to sit by the Deer House, looking out towards Half Dome, and listen carefully from first Bird call....the usual Robin contingent seems about, but not so many Redwings, and very few Black Headed Grosbeaks....it's been such a Long Winter and Cool Spring (both very cool though!!), that I think Birds have stayed down the hill....but way down the hill, at Merced Wildlife Refuge, where I rolled after visit to Town, Birds have flown off for parts unknown!...or at least parts very far away!...and most of all the Water is gone now..pic up is Carrizo Plain like!....anyway...made one desultory roll around thereabout, with just a few farfar away pics...on return, sighted Hawk in Eucalyptus Tree...pic up...settings wrong so noisy....Egrets were still in the Field on 59, but roadworkers made a looksee problematic....continued back through Town, reconnected with 59 via Olive Street (just past walmart) and out to Osprey Road!...Snelling is cool, but thereabout one passes on either side of the Road, Gravel Piles from the gold rush days dredging (at Copperopolis, the odd Bluffs (I asked) are remnants of the mining thereabout)....sat awhile at the Fishermans Parking at Merced Falls...Canada Geese on the Far Shore...One Mama Goose with Goslings?--Little Geese!.....Mergansers Pair...glimpsed Hawk, and Osprey...Ospreys on the Bridge Nest, and T Nest....glimpsed Lizard..and beside the Road nearing Snelling, a RO Wild Pig...happened on Pig when I pulled over to sight Two Faraway Hawks perched together...this often happens when I pull over, that by the Roadside is some poor RunOver Critter.....hmmph...almost smacked into Airborne Hawk in front of the Windshield on Sandy Mush...maybe Kestrel....anyway, snacked--hotdog and gator aid, and back up the hill....Hawk dutifully on Nest at Buzzard Cliff Pond....pics too blurry....Oaks are thick with Leaves now, so couldn't sight other Nests...Grasses mostly turned golden....and hot blueblue breezy day...Flowers all along the Merced River Canyon, but Poppies missing...saw a few by the River--pics up......back in the Valley by four, but a longlong day!, and after snack at Last Chance, sighted Ravens--see pic!....Dawn Chorus Day is something the Brits do once a year, on the first Sunday in May....think it may have gotten diverted a bit by the wedding!

Link: youTube Dawn Chorus