The 24th was spent mainly travelling from Glen Ellen to Yosemite National Park. The journey took around 4 hours, however this wasn't all bad as we drove through some excellent habitats. As we were getting in the cars to leave the bungalow in Glen Ellen, Anna's Hummingbirds were zapping around the canopy of the trees, there were also some Northern Rough-Winged Swallows sat on the wire. We set off, the first habitat we went through were huge fields full of grasses and cattle. We also drove through the biggest windfarm in the world (just north of San Francisco), a sight to behold. In this area were lots of Turkey Vultures. When driving over the Sacramento river a Ring-Billed Gull flew by. Once driving back through the fields we picked up a group of Hawks. These were Swainson's Hawks on passage, a great lifer. Then just a few minutes later, whilst driving over a small river a Forster's Tern flew by, another lifer. We carried on driving and stopped at a small place called Copperopolis, where strangely the town square (by the highway) is quite away from the residential area. Here the only bird we saw was a Hummingbird species but we didn't manage to get a good look at it. The next stop off was just before Yosemite itself at the Stanislaus National Forest Vista (viewpoint): Rim of the World. Unfortunately this area had fallen victim to fire and many of the trees were burnt. We stopped here taking in the view for a few minutes, a Golden Eagle gracefully soared up effortlessly out of the valley on a thermal. We then carried on into Yosemite. Many Ravens flew overhead. Once in Yosemite it was still a half hour drive before we got to the house. We stopped off at an amazing viewpoint that overlooked Yosemite Valley and Half-Dome Mountain. We finally arrived at the house late afternoon so couldn't manage too much birding before dark. There were however lots of Steller's Jays.
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| Stanislaus National Forest Vista |
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| View to Half-Dome |
Day 8 (25th August)
On day 8 of the trip we set out to go for a long walk through Yosemite. We got to the very busy Yosemite Village where we saw two Dark-Eyed Juncos of the Slaty-Backed variety. We got onto the park and ride style bus system and headed for Happy Isles where the walk we wished to go on started. We set off on the Vernal Fall loop. The walk there was extremely hard work because although we were thousands of feet up it was still very hot. On the way towards the falls Les and I picked out some Swifts. On close inspection they had white scattered about them. These were White-Throated Swifts on the move. Over the course of the day we saw quite a few very high flying parties of them. Other than the occasional Raven and Steller's Jay the area was incredibly birdless although there were plenty of California Ground Squirrels. The views were spectacular though so there was nothing to complain about! Later that evening we all went on two guided walks, a bear walk and a bat walk. Unfortunately we didn't see any bears but we did hear loads of bats using detectors (the tour guide's and Les and Shirley's detectors).
Day 9 (26th August)
On the 26th we went to Glacier Points. On the way there we stopped off at the side of the road to look into a meadow in the hope of seeing birds but also Black Bears. There were no Bears but there were lots of birds. The flock mainly comprised of Yellow-Rumped Warblers of various ages. However in amongst them was a few Mountain Chickadees, (Slate-Coloured) Dark-Eyed Juncos, a Yellow Warbler and a Western Tanager. This was a fantastic little flock to stumble upon. We then went up to the Glacier Point viewpoint where a Red-Breasted Nuthatch and a White-Throated Swift flew over. The views were absolutely amazing and you could clearly see how the area had been carved out by Glaciers. We all decided to go and have lunch on a nearby trail which is less walked than most of the others. There was evidence of Black Bears all around us (footprints, scratches, broken into logs, etc) but we still didn't manage to find a Black Bear. We did however see a Brown Creeper and a Northern Flicker as well as an American Red Squirrel which dropped nuts onto the path around us, we also saw Yellow Pine Chipmunks. Yosemite is a grand place that I would highly recommend to anyone.
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| Steller's Jay |
On the 26th we went to Glacier Points. On the way there we stopped off at the side of the road to look into a meadow in the hope of seeing birds but also Black Bears. There were no Bears but there were lots of birds. The flock mainly comprised of Yellow-Rumped Warblers of various ages. However in amongst them was a few Mountain Chickadees, (Slate-Coloured) Dark-Eyed Juncos, a Yellow Warbler and a Western Tanager. This was a fantastic little flock to stumble upon. We then went up to the Glacier Point viewpoint where a Red-Breasted Nuthatch and a White-Throated Swift flew over. The views were absolutely amazing and you could clearly see how the area had been carved out by Glaciers. We all decided to go and have lunch on a nearby trail which is less walked than most of the others. There was evidence of Black Bears all around us (footprints, scratches, broken into logs, etc) but we still didn't manage to find a Black Bear. We did however see a Brown Creeper and a Northern Flicker as well as an American Red Squirrel which dropped nuts onto the path around us, we also saw Yellow Pine Chipmunks. Yosemite is a grand place that I would highly recommend to anyone.
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| Yosemite Valley |
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| Mountain Chickadee |
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| Yellow-Rumped Warbler |
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| Meadow |
On the 9th the mammal trip list looked like this - California Sea Lion, Harbour Seal, Harbour Porpoise, Rat, Grey Squirrel, California Ground Squirrel, Elephant Seal, Thule Elk, White-Tailed Deer, River Otter, Douglas's Ground Squirrel, Bush Tailed Woodrat, Yellow Pine Chipmunk
On the 9th day the trip (bird) list looked like this-
Feral Pigeon Great Blue Heron Pelagic Cormorant
House Sparrow Collared Dove Black Turnstone
Raven Starling House Finch
Western Gull Willet Snowy Egret
Brown Pelican Pigeon Guillemot Barn Swallow
Surf Scoter Caspian Tern Marbled Godwit
Brewer's Blackbird Heerman's Gull Elegant Tern
American Crow Black-Crowned Night-Heron Long-Billed Curlew
Great Egret Purple Finch Semipalmated Plover
Double-Crested Cormorant Anna's Hummingbird Turkey Vulture
American Goldfinch Killdeer Cooper's Hawk
Canada Goose Red-Tailed Hawk White-Faced Ibis
Lesser Goldfinch California Gull Brown-Headed Cowbird
Bald Eagle American Kestrel Acorn Woodpecker
Red-Shouldered Hawk Vaux's Swift Oak Titmouse
American Robin Wild Turkey Pacific-Slope Flycatcher
Hairy Woodpecker Steller's Jay Western Scrub-Jay
Belted Kingfisher California Towhee Western Wood-Pewee
Wilson's Warbler Olive-Sided Flycatcher Northern Flicker
Mourning Dove Northern Mockingbird Northern Rough-Winged Swallow
Western Bluebird Red-Winged Blackbird American White Pelican
Sharp-Shinned Hawk Greater Yellowlegs American Avocet
Loggerhead Shrike Black-Necked Stilt Western Sandpiper
Dunlin American Coot Canvasback
Least Sandpiper Northern Harrier White-Tailed Kite
Bushtit Yellow Warbler Golden Eagle
Lesser Yellowlegs Short-Billed Dowitcher Baird's Sandpiper
California Quail Brown Creeper Spotted Towhee
Pacific Diver Western Grebe Townsend's Warbler
Rock Wren Arctic Skua Ring-Billed Gull
Swainson's Hawk Forster's Tern Dark-Eyed Junco
White-Throated Swift Yellow-Rumped Warbler Mountain Chickadee
Western Tanager Red-Breasted Nuthatch
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