Five Deer

Paddled out for a short walkabout over to Sunnyside along the Rocky Slope....on the way back...after Flicker pic...a tourist family were all looking up slope from the trail...sure sign of a critter... they'd spotted some Deer I'd missed at the walk beginning...understandable, as they were all resting and quiet...some 'spring snow' fell while make the clip...cool cloudy...cleared...and now tonight it's stormy...three big Thunder rolls....before I curl up I'll see if snow is falling...looks to be some neat weather coming...and I have a couple extra days off...so looking forward...report of 'big Bobcat' towards the Village...being chased by Ravens!...and all manner of seabirds from a far flung reporter's trip to Eureka....

Half Dome Hawk

Paddled over to the Post Office...by way of going first back to the Creek...then over to the Creek Bridge...out around to the Deer House...Chapel Bridge... through Cook's...passed the Woodpecker Tree....from the Artists Grove to Sleepy Owl Woods....and arrived at the Village...with the two Brazilians with a new camera (same as mine almost..xs...rather than xsi) in tow!!....they wanted to see where to take pics!!...so after Breakfast I invited them to come along...they'd already been to Cook's and thereabouts...the Creek was new...but I think seeing things from my perspective helped them out!...and too bad they weren't along when I left them to return....back at the Oak Arch Branch Over Half Dome, I glimpsed Hawk on the wing over the Birdfoot Intersection of the Roads....Hawk didn't fly to the often photographed Oak Branch...but to another one just on the other side of the Path!!....this was real luck!...I crossed the Road and tried to get the sun to my back...and Half Dome in the background...was using the new camera...and was almost 'there' when Hawk flew off back across the Road into Sleepy Owl Woods...another blurry flight pic of the Woodpecker Tree Redshoulder!....I followed into the Woods....but lost Hawk...started back to the Oak Grove, work time nearing...and to avoid some tourists ahead, went to the left and the Roadside Path....and glimpsed a branch across the Road that looked Hawkish...and Hawk's head turned...what I was seeing was just a dark silhouetted extension of the the tree branch...so I was able to take some more pics...and get pretty close..after shushing some approaching tourists...who were delighted when Hawk flew over them towards Fern Ledge...couldn't track the flight, so I was disappointed a little...but happy to see Hawk is about...in the one pic, the sunlight picks up the color of Hawk's red shoulder....I strongly suspect this Hawk is Coop...whose feathers have gone from the light orange of last year, to the dark reddish orange I'm seeing now...hard to tell the color in the flight pic..couldn't get around to Coop's front...I've seen Coop in just this area now five times...pics from four...and a sixth sighting over at Lower Falls...and some of the glimpses around Cook's have probably been Coop too...Cook's Meadow is Coop's territory!!.....kinda cloudy cool...the moon full tonight and lighting up the low puff clouds over the Rims...no photo has ever come close to what the Valley looks like on a cold Winter night with the Moon and Broken Storm Clouds!!...or Tuolumne on a Summer night for that matter!!

Pine Cone Grey Squirrel

Had an early Breakfast, and Shuttled over to the Village...expecting package, but it didn't come yet....PanPipes!...took a clip and pic of the RainSnowRain....and back at the Cabin, curled up...and slept in 'till work time....peeked out once, and the Trees all had a light dusting of snow...but next time, it was all gone!...rain washed it away....and the sky cleared in the afternoon...then clouded over again...clip is from Monday....cloudysunnycloudy, cool, with the rainsnow early on....oh!...reports of pregnant Mountain Lion at the A. Rooms...

Three Deer

Paddled over to the Post Office...returned through Cook's...pic of "hazy grey" sky...things quiet...Ravens, Blue Jays, Acorn Woodpeckers, Grey Squirrel...and the invisible tiny birds calling!....I keep trying to get their pics!...clip is from yesterday...and shows why I carry two cameras that do clips...I'd started taking clip of Squirrel...who as it happened didn't do a whole lot!...and the Deer came along, so I left off from Squirrel to do the handheld clip of Deer...before I would have lost Squirrel...with the two I can get both...though if one critter moves off...I may have to acquire a film crew!!....cloudy...sprinkles during the walk...and cool...oh...a report of Bobcat in the Village, and at night...seven thirty or so....never had a report of Bobcat after dark before...

Cedar Oak Buck

I made a left at Lower Falls intersection...instead of my usual right!...Mama Doe was over by the Rooms...pic...once headed thataway, I continued, crossed the Road and set out on the Trail to Upper Falls Trailhead...Trail hereabouts threads along the Rocky Slope through a wide variety of forest trees...found another Acorn Woodpecker Tree...pic and clip...then a Grey Squirrel high up on a Pine Limb...pic, and while doing clip, Two Does and One Fawn came along and crossed right in front of me...pic and clips with the 12x...for sometime..it will be a glued together clip of Grey Squirrel with the minidigi, and the Deer with the 12x...well...one will have to see it!...I reached Sunnyside Camp, and saw a group of Robins...mixed with Blue Jays....and while watching them through the Binocs...thought Flicker was amongst them!...all these other birds showed up!...Nuttall's Woodpecker, Flicker, Brown Creepers, Kinglets?, Acorn Woodpeckers, Downy Woodpecker?, and a bird new to me!....Whitechested Nuthatch!...I was right near the Tents....and apparently in the midst of one of those 'mixed flocks'....well...I'll be going over thataway more often!...I tried to get a good clip of the Nuttall Woodpecker....and what with switching to other birds...following Brown Creeper with a minidigiscope is no mean feat!...I didn't end up with much...I kept trying and was following flown off Nuttall's, and two tourists came up to the Trail from the Road...I was a bit miffed and grumpy and went off trail just to get away, but as I was, they called over to tell me that a Buck was laying down just where they had been...by the Tents....oh!...I said...a bit privately chagrined!...and thanked them....they'd been taking pics...had a red ring lens....'it's in good light!"...oh!...thanks!...anyway....Buck was indeed in good light!...the Rocky Slope light...

on the clip is (from yesterday, and day before): Nuttall's Woodpecker, Blue Jay with the black vignette I get when I dont zoom in with the 3x...some of these are kinda cool...porthole clips, I call them....and Raven with bottle at the end...a second Raven takes a tumble...which brings to mind to say...dont drink and drive!!!..

another sunny blue blue day!...but tomorrow rain is in the forecast...which will shift everything back into winter mode!....sure the one woke up Ground Squirrel I saw in the Camp will be a bit confused...along with the Tortoise Back Butterflies, the Frogs calling...oh...one was in the Shower the other night...two actually...one jumped down the drain...which made me wonder how it fared!....a fine walkabout this morning!!

Running Deer

Paddled over to the Post Office...then out the Road to the A. Rooms...and a bit past the Church Bowl...on the Path near the Rocky Slope (was looking to see if I could see where the Slide was!), I heard a tiny pecking noise in a young Cedar...oh!...it was the Black Barred Woodpecker!...I'd gotten a blurry pic a week or so ago...thought to post it up...but thought too to wait and maybe see it again...and there the little Nuttall's Woodpecker was!...pics and clips...for sometime...Nuttall's was the post for today!...until the Running Deer...and I'll fill in how I got to Creek's End for that!...at the A. Rooms...after the Nuttall's Woodpecker...I found the little Trail that goes along the Rocky Slop under the Royal Arches...usually hereabout I take the dirt road to the Bridges...but this is a neat Trail!...a small stream is crossing it now where the Water Fall over the Arches is...and I followed the Trail to where it meets the Bike Path at the Backpacker's Camp...pic of Blue Jays....(so busy with the Deer, two cameras didn't get downloaded tonight!)...I made the same loop I did in the first transit..trying to complete yesterday's....almost to Mirror Lake and then return....at the Stables I shuttled back to the Village...and walked out to the Road by Cook's East End...actually straight out to the Road from Stop 9...route I often take....and I thought to go into Sleepy Owl Woods...found Grey Squirrel eating....I have like five clips of Grey Squirrel eating from just the last two days!...I was kneeling on the ground with the Tripod legs retracted sighting the minididgi...what can I say...the Squirrels are fun...and along come Mama Doe and Two Fawns pronging!....bouncebounce through the leaves...tried for clip...a little luck...picked up and followed over to the Oak Grove and Lower Falls stop...they settled down...and I lost them back up in Lower Falls Woods...was hungry and made it to Last Chance for late lunch...afterwards, I happened on what again I thought was Mama and Two across the Road...but actually there were seven Deer...all Does and Fawns...they went out through Owl Woods to Creek's End with me in tow!...pics and clips...I sighted them at the Creek and was using the 12x from the Diversion Channel....pretty far away!...but I thought it cool that they were by the Creek...then they started to cross the Creek...more cool!...and then they started gamboling!...oh!!...I wished I was closer!..did get the clip where they go up the bank...picked up then to move closer...and while carrying everything, many of them came back down the bank...all on the run!...bouncebounce!....by now I'm all thumbs...did the best I could..working with Squirrels yesterday helped!....and knowing the layout of the Creek helped too...they would run out Lodgpole Point...then come back...then disappear again...I finally reached the Creek...set up and waited...and waited...of course they all moved up the Creek!...runrun, bouncebounce...I edged along the Creek to about the Great Turf...and set up..and got sortofa good clip...they're always tiny in the clips!...but I think one's imagination can still 'see' them okay!!...I put one of the up and down the bank clips at the end...it made a good ending!!...if I had been able to move closer..sooner!..the best bits I didn't get...they crossed back over the Creek at the Swath....I knew where they were going...the little clearing with the Cement Block...headed that way, a fellow employee..a bit lost!...from Brazil and back from hike to Upper Falls!...popped out of the Woods...was looking for a shortcut to Siberia!...we walked out to the Road, can't get across the Creek here, I explained....and he spotted the Deer first...just as he pointed, I, distracted, stepped in fresh Bear plop by the Fig Tree!....he asked about the Deer, and was curious about my critter pics..."You have lots Deer photographs?"...a few...out front of the Cabin, I pointed up the Road and how to walk to Siberia...kid was one of rare few who prefer to walk, rather than catch the Shuttle!...it was another balmy warm blueblue Day....after dropping off the gear at the Cabin, I saw the Shuttle pull up, and bouncebounced down the Road my own self to catch it!!...reviewed the pics and clips over pizza at the Loft...a fine evening...and some genuine Creek gold!!...oh...saw first Robin in awhile, pic, high in an Oak Grove Oak..making a repeating singular peep peep peep!

Running Squirrel

Got up before dawn for the Groundhog Day 'transit' walkabout....idea was to sit awhile here and there, and write down notes of observed birds and critters and such!...but it was too cold to sit...and write!...so I kept moving, and wrote down things in my memory, and took lots of pics and clips...in the dark before sunrise, I was going through the Lower Falls Woods trying to locate what sounded like Pygmy Owl making a single repeating call...two of them even...but the Falls sound was loud, making it tough...I did make a recording of the call...the rest of the account I'll post up after I write it out...there were two walks...one in the morning...and another in the afternoon 'till nightfall...a curl up nap in between!...the stars of the day were the Grey Squirrels chasing one another at Creek's End...got a good Ravens playing clip too, for sometime...and saw the Deer out at Cook's under the Elm....it warmed up in the afternoon...and I sat awhile for lunch at the Long Fallen Ponderosa...except for Breakfast in Siberia, I didn't get further than the Village...but made several to and fros!...bit like the Squirrels!...it was an exceptionally mild sunny warm blue sky day...a recollection of Springtime Tanagers by the Post Office...and report of recent Bear plop in Cook's...had hoped for Hawk and Bear and Bobcat...but 'am happy to have seen Deer and the other critters!!.....oh...and heard the remarkable survival story of the Tumble into the Merced!!...