Life In Yosemite» My Baby Bird | Life In Yosemite

My Baby Bird

Theresa — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 06:03:06 +0000

The Cutest Baby Bird

It was the strangest thing, and has been quietly haunting me ever since it happened.

We were on our way out the door to surprise a friend on his birthday, saying goodbye to a guest who had spent the night and was now on his way to Colorado, by bicycle. Tom had taken the first load of things out to the car, when he called me, and pointed out a small baby bird, still slightly downy, hopping and cheeping on our walkway. It didn’t seem able to fly yet, and could only manage a few feet in a flutter.

That was interesting, and I thought maybe I’d go out and take a picture. I sat down on the sidewalk, and started taking pictures, and the little guy (girl?) started hopping toward me. I held still, delighted to be getting a close-up view, and trying not to frighten it away. I shouldn’t have worried about that. It hopped straight up to me, and cuddled in next to my leg. When I moved away, it followed me and settled in again. It seemed cold (in spite of the down coat?), and desperately cute.

The baby bird hopped right up to me and snuggled in for warmth.

The only explanation for this one being out on its own, that I could think of, was that he’d been kicked out of his nest by a stronger sibling or something, and left without help from his parents, hopping and peeping as it was, it was probably going to end up as a coyote snack, if it didn’t die of exposure or starvation first.

Normally, I can be fairly stoic when it comes to natural selection. In nature, sometimes even the really cute little guys get killed and eaten, but then the cute little guys rarely make a personal plea. They rarely come right up and ask for a little warmth. It had snuggled up to me. It had started a Relationship.

Crap.

I know nothing about how to care for a young bird. I didn’t know what kind of bird it was, or what it would normally eat. If we fed it, would it still learn to forage for itself eventually? Even more of an issue, we were leaving for a 3 day weekend in San Diego. We couldn’t take it with us, or care for it while it was here. so, we settled for leaving an old fleece jacket on the sidewalk with the little bird, and continued packing the car. Almost immediately, the bird settled into the jacket and I was able to pick up jacket and bird and move it to a more sheltered location. Then we left.

What kind of bird is this?

Tom wondered aloud whether we’d really done it a favor or not. Starving to death doesn’t sound like a good way to go. Maybe it would have been better for it to have been left more exposed, to die more quickly from a predator.

We’ll never know. When we got back, the little bird was gone.

I learned later, that sometimes when a young bird is first learning to fly, it spends some time hopping and flapping furtively on the ground, with the mother bird nearby, before getting itself straightened out and getting on with its life. I choose to believe that is what happened to my little bird.

Of all the birds in Yosemite, this little brown bird is my new favorite kind of bird… or would be if someone can tell me what kind of bird it is.

Backstage at Bracebridge Dinner

Theresa — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 02:13:40 +0000

Bracebridge Webmasters - Pedro Rodelas aka Chef Pierre and me

After attending Bracebridge Dinner with the marketing group last year, I was so impressed that I resolved to volunteer to be in it this year. The Bracebridge organizers are (justifiably) particular about not allowing cameras during the performance, and I wanted to take pictures!

I didn’t end up taking that many pictures after all, but I did get to participate in a wonderful experience, and met some interesting people. I had corresponded a little with Pedro before in terms of updating the websites. He’s the one who put the wonderful videos that inspired me up on their site last year, and so introduced myself to him early on, and managed to nab this quick picture.

(from left to right) Christine, Cindy (half hidden), Tom, Maria, Dave, me, John, George, Sean and Katie

As a member of the serving party, my costume was relatively simple – a belted tunic and tights, with some buckles that went on over my shoes, and a funky floppy hat with a button in it – a far cry from the beautiful dresses that the choir wears, or even the interesting and unique costumes of the Forrest Folk. But I loved being part of this small group. Tom, Maria, Christine, Katie, Cindy, Josh, Ian, and Corey, plus the litter-bearers, Dave (our guide and mentor), Kent, Sean and John. It was funny to watch the boys pull uncomfortably at their tights, or twirl in their tunics like young girls in a brand new dress. Christine taught us some of the moves to Thriller in the lobby as we waited for our cues to go in, and even though I only volunteered for the first 4 performances, I made them promise that if by some miracle Andrea agreed to let us do the Thriller dance down the aisle on Christmas evening, that they would call me up.

As Lani told me at one point, “This is live theater, you never know what is going to happen.” I don’t want to give anything away for people who haven’t been yet, but in a performance like this, where the “stage” encompasses the entire dining hall and all of the people in it, including the audience, the potential for Things To Happen is tremendous, and I thought that the actors and singers were quick on their feet, and managed to absorb even the strangest and most unexpected things into the storyline with grace and style. Lani Spicer took a beautiful series of pictures of the “littlest guest“, a ringtail cat that made it’s way up on to the stage and sometimes stole the show.

The best thing about being in the serving party (other than the people) was that we were allowed to slip into the back of the house during scenes we weren’t involved in, and watch. There are so many things going on that I missed when I attended performance last year, that I was glad to have the chance to take it in again (and again), for example, the looks that the Chef and the Housekeeper exchange, or the reaction of the Squire to the Parson.

Plus, if I haven’t mentioned it before, the music is amazing. I’m not much of an opera fan, but there is something about the power of the human voice and that kind of music that gives me goosebumps. The music buoyed me up even through the long days that started at 8 am with a full day of work before hurrying to the Dinner performance which often lasted past 10pm, and I marched around the office with parts of the refrains running through my head and lending me energy.

Next year I wonder if I can finagle a spot as a hostess. They have the lovely dresses, and get to watch even more of the performance.

McCabe Lake and Sheep Peak from Tuolumne Meadows

Theresa — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 05:24:33 +0000

Tom at the summit of Sheep Peakwith Mt. Conness in the background

What do you see if you walk the 6-ish miles into Glen Aulin, and then instead of taking the popular trail down toward Water Wheel and the Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne, you turn right along the PCT and walk in that direction for a while? The Yosemite scenery is beautiful, but it’s the lure of exploration and new places that draws me in. Tom was also excited about the peaks at the far end.

About 13 miles along the PCT, passing Glen Aulin along the way, we turned right and headed up to McCabe Lakes and hiked to the top of Sheep Peak, a mostly indescript, not quite 12K ft peak (11842 ft.), that nevertheless was a grand adventure, with a spectacular view. We took many pictures with Mt Conness in the background, and tried some panoramas with our small point and shoot. It’s hard to capture sweeping 360 views in a single frame.

The Trail

Theresa hiking the ridge to Sheep Peak

~6 miles to Glen Aulin High Sierra Camp (past Soda Springs and some great scenery along the Tuolumne River. This section is a popular trail, and there were many people hiking with us.

~7 miles before the PCT branches left, and we head right to McCabe Lakes. This section of the trail is mostly flat and winds through Lodgepole forest, and a long beautiful open meadow that made us think about the shepherds that illegally grazed their flocks here before rangers escorted them to the boundary of the park, while escorting their sheep to the opposite boundary. When we stopped for a bite to eat, we saw a lone PCT through-hiker. People stop at Glen Aulin.

Tom looking out from our breakfast spot

The trail to McCabe Lake is listed as 1.5 miles on the map, but 2 miles on the trail sign. It starts out pretty flat, but then climbs up to beautiful alpine lakes below Sheep Peak. It’s after the trail starts to climb, that you see beautiful braided streams, and cascades from the outflow.

I’m not sure how far it is from McCabe Lake to the summit of Sheep Peak. Not far, but there is a nice elevation gain of roughly 2000 feet over steep talus. After my little scare on Horse Ridge a few weeks ago, I don’t really trust my perceptions on things like this, but Tom says that it was “lots” steeper than Horse Ridge. I had been nervous about it before hand, but although I still spent a lot of time imagining the rocks above me coming loose and rolling down on me, it seemed quite manageable. Progress!

Other notes

Breakfast by the river near Glen Aulin

We stopped for the night just before getting to a beautiful ridge that would have been excellent camping. Not a long hike from water, and some relief from the ubiquitous mosquitoes. (I marked it on the map.) There were some sheltered sandy spots that would have been fantastic bivy sites, although we’d have been hard pressed to set up the Double Rainbow tarp tent there without hiking poles.

Tom saw another Pika that I didn’t see. Some people have all the luck.

On the second day, we saw exactly 0 people. Bliss.

At one point, sitting up high on Sheep Peak and looking around us, Tom turned to me and said, “Oh, this is why we like going up to high places.” It’s been too long.

Virginia Canyon looks amazing – and quiet (a theme). It’s a longer drive, but a shorter hike in from the Virigina Lakes Trail Head on the East Side. The planning wheels have been set in motion.

Alpine Gold wildflowers on Sheep Peak

Yes the mosquitoes were everywhere. Long pants, long sleeves, a head net and just a few well-placed squirts of insect repellent, kept them pretty manageable. Although I sometimes miss shorts, I love my nylon hiking shirt. Sun protection, insect protection, and I almost feel like it keeps me cooler than when my skin is baking in the sun.

On the next trip, I’m going to carry hiking poles and see how that goes. There are pluses and minuses to everything.

Sentinel Dome Evening – Grouse Creek Fire

Theresa — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 04:02:13 +0000

Sentinel Dome at Sunset

I said there would be pictures. Shauna and I returned to Sentinel Dome on Monday night to have some dinner, check out the moon and the fires. I was running late, and Shauna packed up the most amazing dinner with pasta, wine, and CHOCOLATE CAKE! We outlasted the ranger-led moonlight hike on the top of Sentinel Dome, and I enjoyed the food, the conversation and the scenery.

It’s no wonder that there are so many stories about being outdoors under a full moon. Everything about it screams magic. And then, when the food was eaten, we hiked down and checked out the Grouse Creek Fire.

Full Moon rising over the Clark Range

It’s not nearly as impressive as it had been Sunday night, and a fire-fighter that we met at one of the pull-outs said that even Sunday paled in comparison to Saturday night when he and his hotshot crew had first lit the hillside – “a little lightin’ and fightin’” was how he put it when the wind had changed direction unexpectedly. He was so proud of what they had done, and called out one of his buddies to show us a short video of the fire. He was right to be proud. We can go ahead and put that on the list of jobs that I really could never do.

Original Firecrackers - I loved the flames that were coming out of the top of the standing tree.

Although I brought a light-weight tripod with me, I didn’t end up setting it up for the pictures of the fire. Too lazy – although I sort of regret it now. Plus, it was difficult to tighten the mount enough and the camera kept drooping anyway, so it seemed like kind of a hassle. This is enough to get a feel for what we saw, but what I really wish is that we’d gotten some pictures earlier during the fire. Oh well – this is Yosemite. There will be other fires.

We didn’t pull back into the neighborhood until just before midnight. Good thing, because Tom was almost ready to go looking for me. I was bubbling with excitement from our little adventure, and all Tom wanted to do was go to bed. Poor guy. I sure am lucky.

Light in the darkness

Ostrander Backpacking Trip

Theresa — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 05:20:14 +0000

Tom among the wildflowers

We took a somewhat abbreviated backpacking trip out past Ostrander Lake June 25-27 to try out some of our new gear. The short version? We love it, and we had a great time. I also learned and re-learned a lot of stuff about backpacking. For a first trip, it was just right.

We left Thursday night around 9pm after getting off work and cooking up a yummy dinner the comfort of our own home, and hiked out to Horizon Ridge before setting up camp. In some ways I like hiking in the dark – it’s usually very quiet and peaceful. Plus, this was an out and back trip, so we got to see the scenery, and the flowers that we walked past in the dark on our way out.

The Double Rainbow Tarptent on Horizon Ridge

In the morning we finished our somewhat circuitous route to Ostrander Lake, and circled around to walk along Horse Ridge. It was a lazy day, filled with many stops and a bit of napping. We had plenty of water so we camped high with a bit of a breeze and fewer mosquitoes, filling up when we hiked down in the morning.

For more random notes about our trip, in no particular order
• Quick Oats are a good breakfast alternative for me. More convenient than regular oats, but tastier than the instant oatmeal packets. – even if you do forget the raisins that you bought especially for the occasion. We were able to cook the oats in our Orikasa bowls just by pouring boiling water over them and waiting for a while.
• The Caldera Keg performed brilliantly, but goes through alcohol faster than I had thought. For longer trips, it would be nice to have a second bottle. Also, I’m now eager to try out the Ti-Tri. Although it’s heavier and less space-efficient than the Caldera Keg, I think having the non-stick pot increases our options in a nice way, and Tom tells me that he thinks that it is more efficient than the CK, which would also help the alcohol last a little longer.
• We didn’t break out the Esbit, but we carried three blocks and the Gram Cracker stove. At just over 2 oz. it was more than worth the peace of mind when we were recalculating the amount of alcohol that we brought.

Skunky Monkeyflower - huge yellow patches of these flowers on Horizon Ridge

• Our new Double Rainbow tent rocks for fair-weather Sierra camping. I’d still like to pitch it in the yard and subject it to a bit of water from the hose to see how it would take a solid rain, though.
• My legs are at a whole new, previously inconceivable level of out-of-shape. Planning to change that.
• It was a good trip for violets. It’s always been a slight irritation that the violets that we see are yellow, instead of purple, and we were delighted to see violet violets on the Ostrander Trail – Western Dog Violets (Viola adunca). We also saw a white Macloskey’s Violet (Viola macloskeyi) in Summit Meadow where the Camas Lilies (Camassia quamash), and some kind of Shooting Stars (Dodecatheon) are blanketing the meadow in color.
• I am surprisingly afraid of talus slopes. I hadn’t expected that. But a hug and a good cry can get me over the hump.
• I was slightly too hot in the Marmot Hydrogen sleeping bag – with a thin pair of thermal pants on and a down jacket. The night before, Tom was a bit cold with the same set-up. More testing is needed.

Climbing up to Horse Ridge - notice all the lichen on the boulders. Very stable.

• Although we CAN stuff everything we need for a weekend trip into a 33L and 30L pack, we shouldn’t. They don’t carry well that way.
• The Asian Curry freeze-dried meal is actually too spicy for me and should be mixed with some couscous or something to make it palatable. Tom and I shared a single bag, and I couldn’t even finish my half. Fortunately, we weren’t out for very long, and face it, these days I can more than afford to be a little calorically deprived for a few hours. It does make me nervous about the Spicy Lousianna Red Beans and Rice meal though. Since when have freeze-dried meals gotten TOO flavorful?
• I think the somewhat raucous gray birds that were hanging out at the top of Horse Ridge were Clarks Nutcrackers. Bold, noisy, and social, they were fascinating to watch.
• Always carry a monocular/binocular. It would have come in handy so many times on this trip.

Phil the Adventure Duck swimming in Ostrander Lake	Tom on Horse Ridge. He saw a glipse of a Pika up here.
Curious Marmot who checked us out during breakfast, and left to have some breakfast of his own.	Maclosky's Violet in a Camas Lily-filled Summit Meadow on the return drive.

Fire Scenery

Theresa — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 05:46:42 +0000

Although Tom and I spent today pretty much hunkered down with house work, we did manage to take advantage of the evening hours for a quick run and some spectacular scenery. We waited until after the heat of the day passed, around 5:30, packed up quickly, picked up our neighbor and headed out for a evening trail run that took us through lush meadows filled with wildflowers, and along the rim of Yosemite Valley.

The Grouse Creek fire is burning pretty amazing right now. The plumes of smoke hang heavy over the valley, and I’ve seen some people talking online about making their trip elsewhere. Not that I blame them, but in the evening light – fires are amazing.

First, during sunset, the sun set was almost blue and purple from being filtered through the smoke. It was SO much cooler than your average sunny day sunset in the Sierra. And then, after our run – on the drive back down Glacier Point we had to pull over multiple times because the flicker of flames in the forest next to the road was absolutely breath-taking. Towers of orange embers, leaping flames in the darkness, an orange glow putting the foreground trees into silhouettes. Magic, I tell you.

Have I mentioned that the moon is almost full, too? Tuesday, I think.

And we got to see a pair of Peregrin Falcons, the young one screaming out for a food exchange.

If you’re coming to see the ‘classic views’, for sure the smoke gets in the way. But, if you keep your eyes open, there’s a special kind of beauty during burns. No pictures, because we were out for a run, but we’re going back up again tomorrow. Dinner on Sentinel Dome. Pictures.

Guilty Bear Jam Pleasure

Theresa — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 03:51:37 +0000

Mama bear and cub

If I see a bear by the side of the road, find a legal pull-out, get out of my car and watch, and then a Bear Jam forms, is that my fault?

Usually, the way bear jams or deer jams form, is that one person notices the animals. Drawn by their attention, a group begins to gather. Motorists slow down to see what they are looking at. When that something is a bear – or in this case, a momma bear and two absolutely adorable cubs – crowds form, traffic slows, and before you know it – Bear Jam.

Brother Bears

I have proven over and over, that I am EXACTLY the sort of person that stops in the middle of the road in order to get a better look at some cool animal. Tom and I came to a full halt in the middle of the road in Australia to watch an Echidna uncurl and then complete it’s wobbling deliberate journey across the road. I’ve stopped mid-drive for bear, coyotes, even a couple of road-side flowers. Sometimes, you just have to stop.

However, I do at least try to be reasonably considerate about it. I am more than aware that not everyone on the road has the same inclination to come to a complete mesmerized halt at the very same moment that I do. After all, most of the time the person that isn’t interested in the thing by the road, or actually has someplace to be, is me. Besides, coming to a complete stop in the middle of the road just around a blind corner is freaking dangerous.

Bear Family

Most recently, Tom and I were caravanning two cars back to our house when I looked over and spotted a bear. Tom had seen her too, and we pulled over in the nearest pull-out, grabbed our camera and binoculars and walked back up the street. It wasn’t long before a giant crowd formed. Some people just stopped in the road. Others, with more consideration tried, unsuccessfully, to pull mostly off the street before jumping out to take pictures.

Before long, a resigned-looking ranger appeared, trying to clear the traffic, keep half an eye on people creeping down into the meadow to take a closer look, and get the illegally parked cars off the road. I didn’t envy him his job at that moment.

The bears had probably been in the meadow for quite some time. If we hadn’t stopped, maybe no one would have noticed. Maybe the Bear Jam wouldn’t have formed at all. Although I feel a little guilty about that, we did get some nice pictures – and a chance to watch some really beautiful bears doing wild bear things.

Big Weekend

Theresa — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 05:56:10 +0000

Tom and I have just gotten back from our weekend adventures, put the groceries in the pantry and refrigerator, and wolfed a bit of the fancy artesian bread we can’t get here with extra cheese and olives. It’s been a long and very full weekend.

I took the day off on Friday for my birthday (Saturday), and Tom and I left Thursday night after work for a quick backpacking trip. We saw many things, had great adventures, and hiked out Saturday morning.

Saturday afternoon we drove into the Bay Area for a friend’s memorial service on Sunday. We talked about goal-setting, and listened to the first bit of Unaccustomed Earth on the drive. That evening, our friends who graciously opened their house to us, treated me/us to a birthday dinner at Plearn, a local Thai restaurant. Really delicious non-European food and the good company of friends is such a treat.

The service on Sunday was beautiful, and touching. The stories celebrating such a remarkable man went on and on. I’m still processing – and just remembering.

Afterwards, we picked up a bed frame at Ikea that we had been eyeing for some time, and then drove to San Jose to meet up with Tom’s family, pick up the car we’d lent, and eat some pizza at a place nearby, Amicis, that serves gluten-free, and vegan options.

Monday morning, we had brunch with yet another friend before making the long drive back to Yosemite, pausing for a bear jam along the way.

I’m back on a frequent-post kick, so expect to hear more detailed stories unfold over the next few days. I’ve had a lot to think about.

Before Work Adventure

Theresa — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 01:58:21 +0000

Leaving the car - 5am

One of the best things about living in a National Park are the random things that fall into your plate just because you’re around. I got a call Tuesday afternoon – did I know anyone that would be interested in helping out a photographer/friend by setting up a time-lapse shot and hanging around to watch over it a bit? Um. Yes. Me.

But I wanted company, so I wrangled Tom into coming with me too. (By wrangled, I mean, I asked if he would be interested, and he immediately said yes. It was not one of those long, drawn-out wrangling session.) We set the alarm for 4:15am, and arrived at the trailhead by 5am. That might seem painfully early, but I had forgotten what a pleasure it is to get up pre-dawn in anticipation of some small adventure. It’s been 5-6 long years since we were happily ticking off long Yosemite climbing routes on a regular basis, and compared to that, our 4:15 alarm was a relaxed start.

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Setting up the camera.
Yay! It's still dark.

We arrived at the trailhead just after 5am, and it was already light enough that, although we brought headlamps, we didn’t need to turn them on for the hike. The light made the hiking easy, but I started to worry that we were already too late to catch the first rays of morning, and tried to hike a little faster. To be clear – this isn’t “our” photograph. The idea, location, camera, and all the expertise belongs to the amazing photographer, Corey Rich, who was in the Valley but was elsewhere on assignment. We followed his detailed instructions on how to set up the camera, (1/500, f8.0, 20mm, focus, ISO200, every 10sec.) and then crossed our fingers. I was really hoping that we hadn’t missed the beginning light.

Tom and I shared a relieved and somewhat surprised look when we took the first image and it looked purely, substantially, and entirely black. Huh. Corey had warned us that he’d set the exposure for daylight, and that we would be able to see much more than the camera in the morning, but we still double checked that we hadn’t done something truly boneheaded, like leave the lens cap on or something. All systems seemed to be go. Given how much light we already thought there was, we decided that we weren’t going to be able to eyeball when light would start to appear on the sensor, and started taking the time-lapse images at 5:30am so we wouldn’t miss anything (sunrise was supposed to be 5:41am).

Tom and the ever-awesome Caldera Keg, in action

It was wonderful hanging out on the ledge early in the morning. Bird song filled the air, and as the camera clicked away, Tom and I settled into having a little breakfast. No need to skimp – we brought granola and yogurt and whipped out the Caldera Keg that the Neighborhood Ultralight Backpacking Guy gave us to brew up some tea.

It’s not camping – but having breakfast on a granite ledge and using a stove to brew up some hot drinks was enough to give me that same feeling of being out and away from it all. It occurs to me that this very spot is on my commute from our place in Yo West, and only about 10 minutes from the road. I could do this EVERY morning if I wanted to. Well, the breakfast part anyway, not the time-lapse images part.

Enjoying the tea, and the beautiful morning

After breakfast, Tom got a little work done, and I hung out and wrote in my journal (yes, the one that’s on paper that nobody gets to read). Watching him typing away so peacefully on his laptop, I realized that Corey had managed a cell phone conversation from this very spot the night before. If the reception gods were with us, we could actually work from this spot if we had a PC wireless card or some other system to hook our computers to cell service. Now, that would be an office situation to envy!

All that, AND we managed a short run before we had to leave. I’d made a plan to meet some friends for a morning session of photography with the Canon Photography in the Parks folks. Not a bad morning. (I did go to work, by the way, and worked an 8+ hour day too – but that all happened AFTER.)

Outdoor computing

Morning light in the Valley - the Three Brothers in the background

Canon in Yosemite

Theresa — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 18:21:16 +0000

Tom gets pointers from a Canon photographer.
The camera is one of the ones we borrowed

For the last several years, Canon Photography in the Parks has spent a couple of weeks in Yosemite. They have a stand set up right on the Yosemite Mall in front of the Visitor’s Center where you can sign up in advance to go on a 2-hour photo walk, get instruction from their staff photographers, and borrow their fancy-dance SLR cameras and lenses – for FREE. That’s exciting enough to repeat – FREE! FREE! FREE!

When you are finished with your walk, they keep track of which camera you used and therefore which chip your pictures are on, and then they send you an email later so that you can retrieve all of your images.

Tom and I have been thinking about new and improved lenses practically since we bought our new Canon XSi, and this is a great try before you buy option. The first time I visited their site, I saw the Photography Contest header and didn’t wait until the Flash loaded (on my medium speed connection, it takes a while), but their Yosemite schedule is posted there, as well as other parks that they will be visiting over the rest of the summer.