Owl And Aspens

Clip and pic are from Monday....just the beginning clip of a series with Owl, (Aspen or Cottonwood) in this pose.....paddled out through Chapel Meadow today with an eye out...but no luck...'cept the pic I took of some rafters on the Shore...with their camera...for them...but it was a good pic!...anyway...the rafts are on the River again...early it seems...lots of Violet Green Swallows in the Meadow...clip of Raven being chased by Redwing Blackbirds...for sometime...some more flower pics with the 3x... Bulock's Oriole pic, I think...haven't downloaded pic from camera yet...nice walk...just didn't see much...cloudy cool (summertime cool) with a breeze...lots of work at the Deer House...and by the Perfect Dogwood hereabout...Tiki pipe stuff...and..I dont know what's up at the Deer House...tree trimming it looked like...go looksee tomorrow...before the walk I read the Santa Ana River book that came:
Santa Ana River Guide by Patrick Mitchell...well..most of it...finished it tonight while doing the upload...I want to say a lot about this book...but let me just put up this bit...the first time I walked out to Creek's End, and passed the Tiki Temples, I thought to myself, 'ironic, it's just like the Santa Ana River'....at the end of the Santa Ana River it a huge 'tiki' water management plant...right by the Ocean...right by the nests of the rare Tern....Least?....anyway, I'm always on the lookout for self similarities...and there at Creek's End is a circumstance in miniature of the Santa Ana's confluence with the Ocean...and it was that last stretch of River that gave me the idea of the Cement River Fauna and Flora project notion...that...and the kinda roughshod way the flood control project was instigated...Orange County was beset!....I often rode my bike from home to the Ocean...and joined a gym near the River, and joged that stretch at the end...there's no fauna and flora pics in the book, but the author has basically done the 'cement river' idea...and it was great fun to read about all the locations I know so well...yet know hardly at all...being most always in a car driving by them...it's an encouraging book insomuch it relates the many efforts of people trying to restore the Santa Ana's watershed....and make it a Natural attraction for everyone....and every critter!
Blog of the Day:
http://ocbirding.blogspot.com/

Happy Isles Ouzels

They were right by Ouzel Dome...the Ouzel Nest on the Boulder...and in all likelihood the same baby Ouzels from the nest, and now they're almost grown up...wings still a bit stubby...for certain two have survived, maybe the other two were further up or down stream...sometimes Mama Ouzel would be gone awhile...and Mama Ouzel is still just as busy as ever feeding them...I sat a long while beside the Pony Path watching them....one clip too long to post up, has Mama Ouzel flying all about...and I was able to keep up with the 20x zoom...I'll try sometime to upload it...Ouzel did a lot of 'fly catching'...and I wonder now if Ouzel is the same bird I watched catching insects in the evening in Le Conte Canyon (1986!)...I was camped by the stream right there after when one comes down from Bishop Pass...for several days...and became quite fond of the little flying bug catching birds....there were bats too...and trout...all three feasting on the bugs...certain time of evening they come out...and the bugs are big long winged things...see Ouzel pic....before and after seeing Ouzel, it was a quiet walk!...nary a pic...little flowers about..and I experimented taking their pics with the 3x...which being so small is handy for flower pics...a bit of a breeze made things difficult!...for sometime are separate blogs for just flora..and just fauna..and just the pics with the common names and scientific names...Ginnell's catalog sort of thing...anyway, very happy to see the little Ouzels...thought they all might have gone in the drink...the Dome is in a precarious place!!...sunny and cloudy...the routine of afternoon rain showers...tourist comment of the day: "saw both Bear and Bobcat last time here, and was so unhappy I didn't have my camera!"...book about the Santa Ana River watershed came...very good.. and a review for sometime!

Cottonwood, Aspen, Sentinel

There's some more Owls pics and clips to go with these!....I was able to go Tree to Tree with Owl for almost two hours last evening...fell asleep during the upload...so this report a little late...after an early morning Shuttle to Siberia for Breakfast, stop on the way back at Post Office (rotary paper cutter came), I geared up....taking the new Rail Bracket for the Scope...I figured out how to make it work with the straight scope...it came with the attachment on it for angled eyepiece scopes...just took it off...and everything fine!...I paddled over to Lower Falls...and along the Rocky Slope...through Camp 4 across the Road and into the Scorched Woods...hereabouts I can get out into Two Top Pine Meadow without crossing water....and went to the Burned Log and sat...and waitedwaited for a long time...quiet...but very pleasant...Rain Shower Clouds overhead..and cool...Violet Green Swallows came by....keep trying for flight pic...I fiddled with the scope and bracket...getting the hang of how to use it...it has a feature where one can swing the mounted camera back, and look normally through the eye piece....very use full feature for locating and focusing..and was soon to prove invaluable!!....I picked up and and walked along the water, looking for the Mallards I'd seen...and found my first Spring Mallard family...Mama and Ducklings swimming about in likely the most scenic duckpond anywhere!...came up on Deer...and made the first pic try with the didgi on the rail bracket...it has a lot of adjustments...and things to tighten...which made me think it would be awkward...but it all worked together...and with that in mind, I thought I better go looksee for Owl!...I paddled across Swinging Bridge and along the Path...Grey Squirrel close up clip...and to the Use Trail...I'd brought along the sandals so to wade across the water in the Meadow...sat down, put the sandals on, and sprayed myself all over with mosquito repellent...I'd repeat this several times in the next two hours!...I moved slow toward the Two Ponderosas...and found Mama Owl's silhouette...I took my time setting up...too much time!...as she soared down to the ground...but I kept her in sight when she came up to perch in another Tree....actually a low snag...then a Tree...which was the first set of pics and clips of too many to relate!...the new scope...and the rail bracket...have raised the level of the clips...I finally lost Mama Owl after several hunting swoop downs and ups...and continued on to the Ponderosas...planning to come back along the River..and maybe....just maybe...see the Young Owls...across from Creek's End, I glimpsed Mama...and while searching, one of the Young Owls came from somewhere and landed atop a short Snag...and perched there for a long while...and I took a good set of clips and pics...good isn't the word...it's the best critter clip I have!....I had to work a lot setting the tripod in a location to avoid the branches...and warding off the mosquitoes!...but Owl was just curious...and sleepy...and listening to Mama Owl being beset by Blue Jays...I was curious to see Mama Owl too!...and set the 3x to record while I went over to the River near the Burned Snag where all the commotion was...I took some shaky clips with the 20x...and then went back and got the digi...returned...set up...and got like...the best critter clip I have!....the one up is just part...the rest are porthole clips...but they show the dive bombing Blue Jays...they're very bold!!....to do these clips...I reached a new angle for Young Owl...and setting up I found the second Young Owl...so I had all three, Sentinel, Cottonwood and Aspen...all within view...each in their own remarkable setting...many pics and clips...finally, Mama Owl flew off away from
Blue Jays, but they followed right along to a Cottonwood out in the Meadow, where Mama Owl perched...unfortunately, behind a branch, but wonderfully, framed by Half Dome with sun setting...and the Big Puffy Double A Clouds!....pics and clips now, were...like the best critter pics and clips I have!....the light was fading, and I thought to get a clip of Sentinel Owl...with Sentinel in the Background...I worked around over to the Two Ponderosas, and was able to get a few pics...dark, blurry, but filled with Imagination...and while doing near to the last clip, one of the Young Owls flew to the Cottonwood and perched beside Mama...this clip is very low light noisy blurry...but.... it's like the best critter clip I have!!!....the evening was a Wonder....I think Owl was so active because of the cooling and darkening cloud cover....a fine walkabout evening...the other clips and pics for sometime soon....

Coyote With Ground Squirrel

Well, I was all geared up...stepped out the Door...and Coyote was trotting by and tourists clicking away with their cameras...I set the tripod down, unzipped the camera bag, unlocked the lens on the new camera, turned it on...and clickclickclick...almost as efficent as a third basement knocking down the ball and still making the play!!...by good fortune, I had the shutter set to continous...unfortunately, Coyote being far away, and in motion, softens and blurs the pics....but I like this one very much, as I can see how the light is falling over Coyote...and can make a drawing or painting...likely minus poor Squirrel!...it's very hard to make up light, and too, backrounds and poses...Fauna and Flora has become my storehouse of such things...pic is a bit grim...but not too...I'm not sure where too grim is..one knows it when one sees it!...I've kept back some grim ones....and there's one I wanted to post up with the Symmety post....when we left Hart Park, we drove over to some hills to a place called the 'anthill'...it's a strata of fossils...marine....Bakersfield was under the ocean..well...the land there!...not so long ago...at these hills, at a wide intersection of new road, waiting for new houses and new stores!...we rolled up to the stop, and right in front of the car on the asphalt, I thought I saw an expired Hawk...hit by a car and left in the road...at my urging, we pulled over at the far side of the intersection, and I walked back to looksee...and discovered a Barn Owl lying there...I took one pic...and with an old plastic bag found nearby, wrapped up Owl and went to the nearby field, and took Owl out of the bag, and gently tossed Owl out on the golden brown grasses over a barbed wire fence...the pic is a 'telling' pic...most any pic of a road killed critter is....the pic of the Coyote is 'telling' too...I have equal affection for Coyote and Ground Squirrel...and there Ground Squirrel is in the mouth of Coyote!...I'm not sure what all is 'told'...but I described the dilemma to a friend...that somtime looking close at Nature, one finds Nature looking back...and it's daunting!...my friend nodded and agreed!...I followed Coyote through the Backyard to the Creek (that odd valve is an antique I think)...and dont know which way Coyote went...but I went right, to Creek's End...it was quiet...two tourists showed up..guy with his gal from some far country..the map open in his hands...'if you go that way, you can walk along the River as it bends back to the Rooms, but you'll have to wade a bit (the diversion channel)...the water is high'...and that's the way they went!....I went back along the Creek...Butterflies at Azalea Bluff...Grosbeak at the Twin Fallen Cedars..which are going to be problematic to walk across now...one has broken in half at the far side...and there's a gap...other is okay...I sat awhile at the Swath...and the Giant Fallen Log...almost slipped off that!....it was quiet..and Coyote illusive....at the Road I turned around and back to the Cabin...bigbig thunder clap when I got there...neat when the Thunder echoes off the Walls...and daunting!...sunny hot blue, with what's been the usual thunder shower of late in the afternoon...

Sandpiper And Owls

Out aways on the walk, I heard what I thought was a Ground Squirrel piping...thought maybe it was giving warning...thought maybe Bobcat was about!...but when I found the sound, after working through thick Woods, I found the sound maker was a little Sandpiper!....pics and clips....could only capture a little bit of Sandpiper piping, but the preening is cool too....I picked up...work time approaching...and with the tripod over my shoulder, I happened to look down...and right at my feet was fresh bird plop....I rolled my eyes up to the bill of my cap, and thought, 'it couldn't be'...but on looking up...there they were...right above me!...I angled out...and took some pics and clips....at times like this, I tend to get frozen in one place, least a lot of movement about looking for better angles, might startle Owl... Owls!... I picked up...very happy!...and was walking away, and made one backward glance...and they had both straightened up, and were looking right at me...finding a clear sighting, I took some handheld pics...but no clip...I'm starting to get the hang of manual exposure and focus on the 20x....it has a little dial around the navigation control...when I got back to the Cabin, Grey Squirrel was on the roof right above my windows...pic and clip...two tourists joined in with their 3x....then one posed in front of the Cabin with Grey in background...a fortunate walkabout!.....there was Thunder and Dark Clouds over the Falls...felt a bit exposed with the metal tripod!...it has rubber feet....but I of course set it in muddy soil!....more Bear reports...one related on the Shuttle (there was an early walkabout too, but no pics) sounded like the large Bear I saw the other evening...half sunny, half cloudy, warm....the darkest clouds moved...right over head!....a heavy rain fell later for just a little while while at work...dont know where Mama Owl was...hidden from sight maybe...more likely out hunting, I'd say!..oh!...taken me awhile, but I've thought up names for them...Mama Owl has always been Sentinel Owl...the Young Owls...from left to right...Cottonwood and Aspen...

Symmetry

Pics of Woodpeckers and Blue Heron from Hart Park in Bakersfield...I was there visiting my sister and her children and grandchildren....she saw the Woodpeckers first...and much thanks...I took a half dozen pics of the Woodpeckers...and in review, this one really stands out!...there's a Lake of sorts in the Park...which straddles the Kern River...and lots of birds...I've seen post ups on the web of all the different species found in the Park....in the heat, we were only there for an hour or so...before going off to an ac movie!... pulling into the movie's parking lot, I spied big wings on the out side of the chain fence along the top of the sloped embankment covered with the typical landscaping above the freeway...ground cover and bushy trees....I was like my dog going after a rabbit...walking along the fence with the new camera at the ready...twice Hawk moved among the Trees...then off into the sky over the parking lot...and the lamps...very cool...earlier at the Park I'd seen Hawk carrying off a frog...and several other times...but couldn't get a good pic...well, the one up is cool in its way!....Duckling clip from the Park....this morning I shuttled over to the Post Office....Sandy's very nice pic of the little Blond Bear sleeping on a Pine branch came...with arms full, I hopped off the Shuttle at Lower Falls...and out to the Two Ponderosas to check for the Owls...no luck...and the mosquitoes cut short a short walk!...several Bear reports....Mama with three cubs!...and a report of Cardinal and Woodchuck...but that from a vacationer to New Jersey!...from my family, I often get reports of the Wildlife along the Kern River going through Bakersfield...there were like six big Blue Heron nests...with Herons...in a Eucalyptus out on an island in the Lake...and a flock of Canada Geese eager for bread handed out....so it's much different from the Valley, where the critters are much harder to find...but when found have their jewel like setting...I cant be in two, or three!, places at once, but if I could, I would do Fauna Flora blogs of urban Rivers like the Kern, or the Santa Ana, or San Gabriel...or the one by Oceanside with the Mission..that I cant recall at moment...it was my intention a long time ago, to do an everyday for a year study of the Santa Ana...the Cement River...but it became a 'sometime' project...talking of this at work I heard tell that they are thinking of restoring the San Gabriel...brb...well..this search brings up a lot: san gabriel river restoration....brb...San Luis Rey...the River I couldn't remember...brb...here's one about the LA River...http://lacreekfreak.wordpress.com/2009/04/10/contest-audubon-guide-to-animals-of-the-la-river/

And this from an intrepid blogger who bike rode the section of the Santa Ana I often did...and yes it does stink...but so does the Creek...and for much the same reason!...us!...anyway...the Santa Ana would be a challenge to study, but at some ancient time it may have been the loveliest off all California Rivers for wildlife...brb...oh..link to above..http://walknrollnoc.blogspot.com/2009/02/santa-ana-river-trail.html..
now..go look for Portola...brb...
quote
The expedition followed practically the route which afterwards became the Camino Real. Its fourth jornada (day's journey) brought it to thepretty valley where later was established the mission of San Luis Rey.They called it San Juan Capistrano, but that name was afterwards transferred to a mission forty miles north of this place. The command rested here, July 19th. Resuming the march on the 20th, the sierra (San Onofre), whose base they were skirting, drew so near the sea that it seemed to threaten their advance, but by keeping close to the shore,they held their way, and on the 24th they encamped on a fine stream of water running through a mesa at the foot of a sierra, whence looking across the sea, they could descry Santa Catalina Island. This was San Juan Capistrano, and here they rested on the 25th. On the 28th they reached the Santa Ana river, near the present town of that name; a violent shock of earthquake which they experienced caused them to name the river Jesus de los Temblores[19].
http://infomotions.com/etexts/gutenberg/dirs/etext04/7marc10.htm
The March of Portola...
unquote
and more...about the Earthquake..which gives one pause!...
http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/article/4113

brb...well...it's late...what I was trying to find was the several volume diary of Portola's journey that I found once on the shelves of my hometown library...the books I dont think had ever been opened, and the shelves were in the sunlight coming through tall windows, and the books going to heck...but it's fine story, how they travel from San Diego north to San Francisco....and there was a passage about the Santa Ana River...maybe it was the earthquake that lodged in my head!

sunny blue this morning in the Valley...with an afternoon thunderstorm...not so big as the one yesterday evening when I was out on the Central Valley highway!!

wiki's take on the Santa Ana..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Ana_River

oh!..and here there is a guide to the Santa Ana:
http://www.amazon.com/Santa-Ana-River-Guide-Californias/dp/0899974112
and Flora
http://www.amazon.com/Flora-Santa-Ana-River-Environs/dp/1597140503/ref=pd_sim_b_1

enough..going to town made me homesick....

Owls Can Fly

Got out early, and Shuttled over to Siberia for Breakfast....then out to Happy Isles....to visit Ouzel Dome...but they were all gone..the Nest looking forlorn......continued on the Pony Path to Mirror Lake stop...North Dome was beckoning...but I had too much gear with, so hopped on the Shuttle...and once back at the Cabin...curled up!...napped until afternoon...twoish!...ate the lunch intended for a longday hike...and set to work on the boxed up dishevelment some more...dents getting bigger...but still only a dent!....didn't mind too much being inside...outside too crowded!....once out on the evening walk, I happened on Three Mallards at Ozone Beach...preening...clip and pics...Female Merganser out on the Opposite Bank Log...sleeping..pic and clip...bit further on the Use Trail, White Headed Woodpecker busy, and nicely framed, on a large Ponderosa...clip...out on the Path along Two Top, Bluebird perched on railing post...clip...hurried when footsteps approached from behind, but too slow to get good exposed pic...from the Road, framed Deer browsing in Coop's Meadow with Falls as background...clip...another by the Path and Road railing..clip...and on reaching the Chapel, I started scanning Trees by the Merced for Owl with the binocs!...all I had with were the binocs and 20x...and tripod...made the turn and at Chapel Bridge, made one last scan...with wan hope...and...and saw something white on the Burned Snag...through the binocs, I saw and thought, 'that's a white Owl!!'...and realized it must be one of the Young Owls with new feathers....sighted in the 20x...clip...and digital zoomed in 40x!!!...I was a long way aways!...took a pic while doing clip just to document...and in reviewing tonight, I discovered I captured the second Young Owl flying up from lower down on the Snag!....I used the Trees to sneak up closer...located the Young Owls in a Cottonwood...thought the one (didn't know the second was there then!) had swooped to ground...sighted in the 2ox, and while doing clips, glanced at the Snag...'oh..there's Mama Owl'...and so got clips and pics of all Three!....clips up are the avis....the hds are knockdown, but too much to process to post up...I took some pics...and wanted to take more when Blue Jays were on the attack...but the hd clip running was so animated, I dare not stop it....for sometime, I'll extract some stills from it...the Young Owls looking all about at the Blue Jays is very cool...picked up and was quiet as could be leaving...Owls saw me, but the Young just curious, and Mama's seen me many times!..made the little loop around Bobcat Meadow...Halfdome framed by a pink sunsetsky over the High Country...Deer at the Boardwalk past the Artist's Grove....sunny hot blue...with some clouds in the evening....it wasn't my usual Half Dome trek, but a fine Memorial Day walkabout!