Fallen Sequoia - 1500 Year Old Tree Falls

Sequoia Tree Falls: These trees are so beautiful and it is hard to imagine one coming down...what an event that must of have been! The video gives you an idea of just how large these trees are in real life.




But even with one of the big trees falling, we know that the forest will recover and this will make way for a new giant to grow in its place.

I can hardly wait for my next Big Tree experience!

Found My Orb Web!

We were busy pulling all of the dead and brown things out of the garden when I spotted it! The most perfect spider web I have seen in a long time was right next to the hose reel. I actually touched it before I saw it and it startled me.


The sun was shining just right to see most of it in a photo so I ran inside and snapped a few images to share here on the blog. I called Mr. A and my husband over to take a look and we admired the preciseness of the web and we talked a bit about how it was constructed with a frame and then the web spun around and around.


I took the opportunity to see if the inside threads were sticky like we read about in the Handbook of Nature Study which led to a short video (30 seconds) to show our experiments.




Isn't that grand? I love learning new things alongside my boys....

"The radii or spokes, the guy-lines, the framework, and the center of the web are all made of inelastic silk, which does not adhere to an object that touches it. The spiral line, on the contrary, is very elastic, and adheres to any object brought in contact with it. An insect which touches one of these spirals and tries to escape become entangled in the neighboring lines and is thus held fast until the spider can reach it. If one of these elastic lines be examined with a microscope, it is a most beautiful object. There are strung upon it, like pearls, little drops of sticky fluid which render it not only elastic but adhesive." Handbook of Nature Study, page 440.

Thanks Anna Botsford Comstock for bringing such an amazing detail to our attention. We have a heightened sense of awe over something we have overlooked our entire lives. Now I can rest our web study for the season, unless a new web presents itself.

Remote Access

The Library is constantly striving to improve its help pages, downloadable tools and video tutorials. Our latest video tutorial ‘Remote access to full text databases, e-journals and e-books’ (Running time: 2 m 28 s) is now available. You can also read a transcript of the narration.

For more finding aids and ways of making the most of our Library see the ‘Using the Library Catalogues’ or Guides & Video Tutorials . You can find materials in specific subject areas (like Medicine and Art) and then see the 'tabs' for videos and related information.

We provide Wellcome Trust staff and registered readers with remote access to a wide variety of resources. There is plenty to choose from: full-text historical newspapers, databases, digitised eighteenth century books and browsable e-books. Once you have registered, take full advantage of the latest copy of Nature neuroscience, for example, at home with a nice cup of your favourite beverage.

Stunning Video: One Amazing View of Our Universe

I stumbled across this video and it is so beautiful I want to share it with you. It is very much worth the time.....you will feel refreshed.


The Mountain from TSO Photography on Vimeo.

Read more about where and how the video was taken:
Most Amazing Time Lapse Video of the Milky Way Ever Made.

Our Milkweed Study - Featuring the Pods

Showy Milkweed pod and dried flowers - Yosemite Valley 8/2011

Nature study while traveling is a gentle way to learn more about a new place, or in this case, a familiar place. Our family spends quite a bit of time at Yosemite National Park and consider it part of our big "backyard". Learning flower names, tree species, more about the mammals who live there, and how they all work together has been a layer of understanding that over time has given us much pleasure. We KNOW this place and appreciate the beauty and awesome balance found in this most special of valleys. 

As part of our milkweed study, I remembered an abundance of Showy milkweed in Yosemite Valley...whole patches in the meadows. We made a special walk along the Valley floor to observe an abundance of milkweed...it was hot in the sun but that is part of the late summer experience at Yosemite.

Here is a short video I took of some of the pods and plants.

I was wishing were not a national park so we could pick some pods to dissect....we restrained ourselves and used our eyes and camera to capture our experience instead. There is so much to learn by using your senses.

Things we found interesting to think about and research a little more:

• Insects we observed: milkweed beetle, some sort of bee/wasp
• Size of some of the pods...was it a "good" year for milkweed?
• How long until the pods burst open and shed their seeds?

Mr. B did a comparison of the milkweed seeds (images from a previous encounter and internet research), dandelion seeds (found in our backyard), and the cattail (gathered at our local patch).


We also have a small pot of milkweed on our back deck that we have been nurturing for two years. It did grow a bit better this year but still no blooms or pods. I am going to try again next year with new seeds but after reading about milkweed in the Handbook and online, we may plant them directly in the garden.


All in all, I think the new Advanced Follow-Up suggestions went rather well for this challenge.

If you would like to see another milkweed entry we did a few years ago, you can click over here:

Milkweed (Challenge #30 Weeds and Seeds)

Wyoming Road Trip Video - My Son's Creation

Want to see a teenage view of the trip?

Here is Mr. A's video: Yellowstone Trip




I told him he should make videos as a business since he is getting quite good at it. I think I watched this one about five times and I'm not tired of it yet. Something about having the photos and videos all linked together make it interesting.

Anyway, check it out....this one is only around two minutes long.

New on the website: British Medical Journal video tutorial

We recently blogged about the launch of a new section of our website: Guides and Video Tutorials - which offers introductions to our online catalogues and full-text resources.

Another video tutorial has now been added to this section: so, joining videos on how to make the most of the Library catalogue, the Archives and Manuscripts catalogue, and Wellcome Images, is a video on how to access the British Medical Journal historical archive, from 1840-2008.

The video demonstrates how to access this online archive using PubMed Central. It also shows you how to browse for specific articles when you have a citation and also find obituaries, advertisements and biannual indexes.

Image: Plate from Augustus D. Waller, Introductory address on the electromotive properties of the human heart. British Medical Journal, Volume 2 (1449), 1888, pp751-752

Frogs and Forsythia in February

We have a little creek across the street from our house and this time of year it has quite a bit of water in it. We walk past it when we walk the dog and we noticed last week that the frogs have started making their call! I pulled out my camera and took a video so we could share.

They are Pacific treefrogs....here is a link: Pseudarcris regilla

From the website:
"Despite the name, this frog is chiefly a ground-dweller, living among shrubs and grass typically near water, but occasionally it can also be found climbing high in vegetation. Its large toe pads allow it to climb easily, and cling to branches, twigs, and grass."

I also wanted to share this image with you today to encourage you to give this activity a try in your family.


We brought some twigs from our forsythia bush a few weeks ago and they are already starting to blossom out. Look at those yellow flowers....now that feels like spring!

Here is a link to some specific tips and suggestions:
Forcing Flowers

Hope you are all enjoying a little winter nature study.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom

Awe-Inspiring Video of Yosemite

I can't tell you how this video has touched me....this familiar place is my home away from home and this artist has captured the essence of Yosemite on video.

I invite you to enjoy this visual and auditory treat.

Winter in Yosemite National Park from Henry Jun Wah Lee on Vimeo.
Winter in Yosemite National Park


If you are interested, he also did one for autumn.
Autumn in Yosemite National Park

New on the website: Guides and Video Tutorials

We regularly blog about the in-person workshops on offer. These are great introductions to our online catalogues and full-text resources -- if you happen to be in London. And what about other help, such as learning how to use the various Library catalogues or knowing which database or journal to consult for your topic? If you’re working from home, be it in London or on the other side of the world, figuring out where to start with the Wellcome Library’s collections can be a bit daunting.

Getting help and getting started just got easier today with the launch of a new section of our website: Guides and Video Tutorials. You can link directly to it from the Popular links on our homepage.

This section features guidance on searching the Wellcome Library catalogues, as well as finding introductory information on the history of medicine, medical humanities and social science, and current health and biomedicine. You’ll find:

• guides to help you get started researching a broad topic
• workshop materials, such as database guides, resource lists and presentation slides
• links to subject-relevant journals and databases
• short video tutorials to show you how to make the most of the Library catalogue, Archives and Manuscripts catalogue, and Wellcome Images.

More topic-specific guides and video tutorials are in production over the next few months. At present we have three video tutorials on offer: Requesting materials from closed stores, Searching Wellcome Images, and Browsing 17th and 18th Century Medical Recipe Manuscripts in the Archives and Manuscripts catalogue.

During the eight-month development of this section we spoke to students, historians, and members of the public, in order to make it relevant and useful. But the section is still a work in progress, and we still need your input. If you have any particular topics you think we should cover in our video tutorial series, please do let us know – either by comment or by email: library@wellcome.ac.uk.

Behind the Scenes: Moving Image and Sound Collection

April finds us in the Moving Image and Sound Collection (MISC) department - the team behind the cataloguing, curation and public services related to the Wellcome Library's collection of historic and modern audio-visual material. The department is headed by Angela Saward who is supported by Ruth Blue, assistant curator. Covering both analogue and digital material, the collection includes audio-visual material from the late 19th century to the present day. This includes both archival collections (unique, historical titles) as well as contemporary content, to cater for all the needs of the history of medicine researcher.

The work the team does revolves around two main aspects: providing access to the resource for researchers, and curating the collection. Providing access can be done in a variety of ways, including the creation of catalogue records so researchers can find items; providing a viewing space so researchers can come to the Library and watch or listen to content; mounting digital content online for remote usage; and carrying out collections research on the behalf of users where necessary. Usage of the material ranges from scholarly researchers to content researchers for broadcast programs; people with a general interest in certain health topics to artists looking for content they can draw inspiration from, or include in their works.

Some of the most popular titles in the collection are the film titles War Neuroses (see the embedded clip above), Heredity in Man, and Conditioned reflexes and behavior. People may ask for information on or access to specific titles within the collection, or they may ask for titles related to subjects. For example, recently users have asked for films illustrating historical practices in psychoanalysis and sex education up to the 1940s.

The MISC team also maintain the collection, describe, assess, and add to it ("curating"). Up-to-date titles to purchase related to the history of medicine are gleaned from sources like the Radio Times and TRILT, (The Television and Radio Index for Learning and Teaching, the best source of UK television and radio broadcast data available on the web - available to FE/HE). Archival items are sought out from a range of potential sources, or accessioned as part of larger archival collections newly acquired by or newly catalogued by the Archives and Manuscripts department. One of the big challenges to curating the project, according to Angela, is "the wide range of legacy formats and players for the video content. Unlike film, video formats proliferated between the 1960s and 1980s, many of which are now obsolete." These have to be conserved and, where possible, migrated to current formats. Migration of such formats is prioritised according to how accessible (from a copyright point of view) the material is to the Library's users.

MISC's outlook as a department is largely externally-facing, and Angela supports the industry by sitting on the JISC Film and Sound Think Tank and on the panel for the Wellcome Trust Small Arts and People Award. Internally, MISC has strong connections to the Cataloguing Department and Digital Services. There is also a certain amount of cross-over with Wellcome Collection, who have highlighted a number of Wellcome Film videos on the newly revamped Wellcome Collection website.

Following the success of the Wellcome Film project (in particular the YouTube channel), MISC is now embarking on integrating new digital collections. Digitisation of 30 audio titles is currently in progress, and these will be made freely online as MP3s via the Library Catalogue. Titles include Man versus Virus, Heart Sounds and Murmurs (a 9 reel series), and Lumps in the Skin.

The other digital project is the large audio collection from One & Other - or the Fourth Plinth Project - which ran from July to October 2009 in Trafalgar Square. These are 15-30 minute recordings of interviews from all the participants, obtained by the Wellcome Library in the new year. 2,400 people participated, and each had a different reason for doing so. MISC's big challenge is to capture the essense of these "plinthers" in the catalogue records. A couple examples are now online.

Bird Week: Start of the Great Backyard Bird Count

This is our entry for the Outdoor Hour Challenge-Winter Series #7 Winter Birds.


Our official count for Friday, February 12th:
3 Western scrub jays
12 Juncos
2 Spotted towhees
4 White-crowned sparrows
1 Titmouse
6 House finches
1 California towhee (unusual since we always see them in pairs except for today)
5 House sparrows
1 Anna's hummingbird
1 American robin
1 White-breasted nuthatch


The white-breasted nuthatch is my favorite little bird right now. He is so acrobatic and he creeps up and down the trunks of trees. If you follow the link to All About Birds for the nuthatch, listen to the Pacific song and that is exactly what this bird sings to me just about every time I head outdoors.

We really enjoyed our counting of birds today since the sun was out and the air was warm. We have new binoculars for this year's count and we all took a turn at scoping out the backyard feeders from the window. We were surprised to see the hummingbird, but it has not been totally unusual to see one or two at the feeder off and on all winter.

For the most part, all of these birds are permanent residents. The robin was singing so perhaps this is his home territory. We did not see our Nuttall's woodpecker that comes to our feeder just about every day which is disappointing that we can't count him in our tally. We will be counting again tomorrow so perhaps he will make an appearance then.

When were out for our walk today, Mr. A saw a red-tailed hawk. I saw two Canadian geese. They both are year round residents in our neighborhood.

Here is a short video that has our resident titmouse singing us a song from the top of a tree. He has so much sound for such a little guy. We call any titmouse "Speedy" because they are such fast little creatures.


This was a good bird day.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom

Outdoor Hour Challenge: Crop Plants-Tomato

We have come to the last of our crop plant challenges. This week we will be observing tomatoes. Since there is no section in the Handbook of Nature Study for the tomato, I found a couple of things that will help you share information with your children. You might like to read the article and watch the video in preparation for this challenge.

Excellent article on tomatoes at KidsGardening.com:
Plant of the Month: Tomato
http://www.kidsgardening.com/Dig/DigDetail.taf?ID=2073&Type=Art



Do you need a tomato tutorial? Here is a simple YouTube video to help you get started.

Here is the link:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkW1wqq7tUg

Outdoor Hour Challenge
Crop Plants #7
Tomatoes

Inside Preparation Work
1. Read pages 20-21 “Gardening and Nature Study”. This small section will remind you of the value of keeping a garden or at least a small box or container with a few plants to observe.

2. Make sure to get fresh tomatoes to observe during your follow-up time. The ideal way would be to pick them from your own garden but buying them at the grocery or at your local farmers market will work just as well. If you can, have on hand two different kinds of tomatoes to compare during your follow-up time: cherry tomato, plum tomato, beefsteak tomato, green tomato, or different heirloom varieties.

Outdoor Time 3. Make sure to spend 10-15 minutes outdoors in your backyard or a near-by park. If you have tomatoes or other crop plants growing in your garden, make sure to spend some time observing the plants, insects, birds, or other living things that visit from time to time. Collect a few leaves or flowers to put in your press and then in your nature journal. You might check on your seasonal tree to see if it has changed since your last observation.

Follow-Up Activity
4. Take a few minutes to talk about anything your child found outside that was interesting. Use the Handbook of Nature study, previous challenges, or local field guides to learn more information. Give you child a chance to express in their own words something they experienced outdoors.

5. If you have a real tomato to observe and taste, you can make a journal entry to record a sketch or thoughts about the tomato. (If you purchased the Crop Plants notebook pages, you will have a page to record your observations.)

Here are some journal ideas to get you started:
If your tomato has a stem and leaf, make sure to sketch those in your journal.
Measure the size of your tomato with a measuring tape.
Compare different tomatoes.
Cut your tomato crosswise and observe the seed pattern.
Describe the texture of the tomato skin and the inside flesh of the tomato.
Take time to observe the smell of the tomato and record your description.
Remove some seeds and compare them to other seeds you have studied during the crop plant challenges. (size, shape, location, color, texture)
Make a watercolor painting of your tomato or just its cross-section.


New for this series of challenges are custom made notebook pages for each crop plant we will study. I have designed simple to use pages that will complement each challenge and will be an easy way to start a nature journal. Each of the eight notebook pages is in full color, but they are just as great in black and white. These notebook pages can be purchased for $2.50.

SAMPLE

As usual, you can complete the challenges without the notebook pages or you can use freebies from the top tab of my blog.

16th century anatomical sheets - images and animations now online

The Library’s rare and important collection of printed anatomical sheets dating from the 16th century are now freely available online via Wellcome Images. These intriguing prints depict the human body through labelled illustrations, often using a three-dimensional 'pop-up' device of superimposed flaps, which can be raised in sequence to display the internal anatomy of the male or female figure. The fugitive sheet thus mimics the act of dissection.

They were a popular instructional aid in the 16th century and many were produced in vernacular languages which could be read by a lay audience interested in the workings of the human body. The earliest recorded sheets were printed in Strasbourg by Heinrich Vogtherr in 1538. They were probably produced in great numbers but only a very few survive today. There are 19 sheets in our collection, many in pairs of male and female figures and one set of three with a skeleton sheet. This is the largest single collection in any institution. The surviving examples represent only a fraction of a much larger number most of which are now lost for ever, but there is always the hope of fresh discoveries in unexpected places.

Images have been created showing each flap in sequence. Animated versions are also available from the catalogue records, showing the flaps raised and lowered in sequence.

Image is Interiorum corporis humani partium viva delineatio, Paris, 1539.

Outdoor Hour Challenge: Crop Plants #1-Clover

The start of a new series of Outdoor Hour Challenges has arrived. I am excited to offer seven challenges over the next two months that will be of interest to families the world over.







Here is a video to get you started. (There is no sound.)

This video will give you a good idea of what clover looks like and how bees move from one flower to the next.

Outdoor Hour Challenge
Crop Plants #1
Clover

Inside Preparation Work
1. Read in the Handbook of Nature Study pages 591-598. These pages cover three sections in the Handbook of Nature Study but are closely related. I encourage you to read all the pages even if you do not think you have the particular clover in your area. Use your highlighter to mark sections you found interesting and that at some point you want to share with your children in the follow-up activity.

You can do an internet search for each of these kinds of clover so you and your children will know what you are looking for during your Outdoor Hour time this week. I use Google Images. You may wish to preview any searches.

White Clover
Red Clover (Vermont’s State Flower)
Buffalo Clover
Crimson Clover
Rabbit Clover

Outdoor Time
2. Your outdoor time this week can be spent in your yard or at a near-by park. Look for areas of lawn or pastures that may include clover. You may find clover at the edges of trails as well so keep your eyes out as you have your outdoor time this week.

3. Another subject for your outdoor hour time could be the honeybee. The relationship between clover and honeybees is a beneficial one and if you can observe bees in the clover you have witnessed a great partnership.

4. Pollen can be a topic for your outdoor hour time if you don’t find clover or honeybees. You can review Outdoor Hour Challenge #18 if you need help knowing where to look for pollen.

Follow-Up Activity
5. After your outdoor time, make sure to discuss with your children what interested them from their nature study this week. They may be more interested in learning about something they observed and our job as parents is to help them answer their questions. Use the Handbook of Nature Study by looking up the topic in the index or the table of contents. You can also look on the Handbook of Nature Study blog and see if we have covered the topic in a previous Outdoor Hour Challenge.

In the Handbook of Nature Study, on page 593, there is a section on nodules. The nodules will be found as little “swellings” on the roots of clover. These nodules have an important job which is explained in the Handbook of Nature Study on the same page. Make sure to read this section to yourself so when you have your follow-up activity you will be prepared to talk about nodules.

5. On page 594 in the lesson, #3 suggests that you take up the clover plant and look at its roots. This would make a great addition to your nature journal. Sketch the whole clover plant and then perhaps one of the flowers.

6. On page 598 in the lesson, #5 suggests that you tie a string around a clover head that has not yet blossomed. This way you can observe the same flower over a period of several days. You could record each day’s observations in your nature journal either in words or as a sketch.

Optional activity: Find some clover honey at your grocery store and enjoy it on bread or in some herbal tea.

Optional activity: Grow clover as a cover crop in your garden. Here is a link for you to read and learn how to use your new knowledge of clover to an advantage.
How to Grow Crimson Clover as a Cover Crop
http://www.ehow.com/how_4529231_crimson-clover-as-cover-crop.html


New for this series of challenges are custom made notebook pages for each crop plant we will study. I have designed simple to use pages that will complement each challenge and will be an easy way to start a nature journal. Each of the eight notebook pages is in full color, but they are just as great in black and white. These notebook pages can be purchased for $2.50.

SAMPLE

As usual, you can complete the challenges without the notebook pages or you can use freebies from the top tab of my blog.

Square Foot Gardening-More Information

I have received so much email over the last week about my Square Foot Garden. I am so happy to see that so many of you want to give it a try. I decided that it might help to give you some direction if you are interested in learning more about this type of gardening.

I highly recommend going to your public library and checking out the book by Mel Bartholomew. It will tell you everything you need to know to get started. You can use this method year round so why not get your garden going over the summer?

Here is a video that gives you a brief overview of his methods.

If you are on email subscription, here is the link to YouTube.com.
Introduction to Square Foot Gardening

We started with three boxes and we now have five boxes. Three of the kids have their own boxes and I have two boxes of my own. It really is as easy as Mel says on the video. We are using far less water, far less seeds, and spending far less time in the garden.

We are growing: tomatoes (3 kinds), peppers (3 kinds), zucchini, winter squash, yellow squash, radishes, carrots, onions, green beans, lettuce (four kinds), herbs (basil, chives, oregano, cilantro), and spinach.

Please feel free to email me or leave a comment if you have a specific question.
Barb-Harmony Art Mom

Cornell's Video Series: Inside Birding

I just found this great series of videos offered on Cornell's Inside Birding site.

Inside Birding: Take Your Birding to a New Level

If you are working on the Outdoor Hour Challenges for birds, you must click over and watch the videos!

Topics include:
Size and Shape
Color Pattern
Behavior
Habitat

These are going to be helpful to a lot of families. Do not miss these. Make sure to bookmark the videos if you do not have time to watch them all today.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom

Cascade Falls: Getting Away From the Crowds

This weekend we took an afternoon trip to hike up to a waterfall. If you read my post about nature study in ripples, we were rippling out about an hour's drive from our house and then hiking up one mile into the Desolation Wilderness.

The challenge on this afternoon was to find a place to park. We actually had planned on hiking to a different waterfall a few miles down the road but there were no parking places. Not only were there no spaces left, but all available space alongside the narrow highway was filled. We were disappointed but determined. I love the age of cell phones. We found a place where we had cell coverage and phoned Amanda. She had opted to stay home on this particular afternoon and she was happy to look up an alternate hike for us in the area. She picked a good one and we were able to find a space at the trailhead of this hike after waiting a few minutes for someone to leave.


Here we are hiking down the trail. We were so surprised after seeing all the cars at the parking area that we did not see but a handful of people on the trail with us. Sigh, fresh air and space.


This was our goal, a series of cascading waterfalls. This part of the trail is along a steep ridge with very uneven rocks to hike up. You do not want to lose your concentration on this part of the trail.


The thing about hiking in the high country over big slabs of granite is that sometimes you have to be very observant in order to know which way to go. Someone was very helpful and left this line of rocks that pointed the way to the next section of the trail. We could hear the waterfall by this point so we knew the general direction but it was nice to have confirmation.


Success! Here we are at the top of the waterfall. Springtime is such a great time for waterfalls. My hubby and I sat on a log and just soaked in the sounds and the sights while all three of our sons scrambled and hopped and climbed up over the boulders and up the waterfall.


Here is a short video of the waterfall from where we were sitting.


This photo was accompanied by me hollering a stream of warnings.

"Don't fall in the water."
"You don't have extra shoes."
"Rocks are slippery when they are wet."
My personal favorite, "If you fall in, I'm not coming in after you."


Someone always has to go higher than someone else. No names mentioned.


Something that happens in the high country at this time of year are afternoon thundershowers. We had checked the weather before leaving for the hike and it had warned of possible thunderstorms moving in late in the afternoon. We kept our eye on the horizon as we hiked and the clouds did build up a little at one point but no storm on this afternoon.


The lichen on the rocks was so beautiful. The color really stands out on the granite.


This is a really bad photo (taken into the sun) of my boys climbing up a dead tree. This area looks as if it received quite few lightning strikes in the past because of all the single burned trees. It is very exposed and on the east side of the mountain and I really would not want to be up here during a storm. The boys enjoyed the view from up their tree and wanted me to take a photo of them.


At this elevation and at this time of year, there are not too many wildflowers. We did see this one growing in the cracks of the granite in a few places. The splash of green with the white and yellow flowers amidst all the grayness was a delight.



Here is one of the trail markers. For some reason we didn't find this one very helpful, although we knew we had not strayed too far off the trail.

We had a great afternoon and were home in time to grill some burgers. I will confess that I was not in the mood to hike on this afternoon and wanted to stay home but the boys wanted to "do something". I know they are just wanting to get out when they suggest a hike because they know that I rarely turn down an opportunity to hit the trail.

Thanks boys for encouraging me to get outside and experiencing this amazing spot so close to home.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom

Black Birds: Our Family Outdoor Hour Challenge

We have had our eyes out for black birds of all kinds. We have a short list of black birds that we observed for this week's bird challenge:
American crow
Red-winged blackbirds
Turkey vultures
Brewer's blackbirds
Ravens


The most abundant black bird we observed for this challenge was the Brewer's blackbird. Our field guide says that it has a "distinctive yellow eye". It is very easy to identify.


Here is a short video of a red-winged blackbird eating some sort of seeds washed up alongside the river. You do hear him at the end of the video.

We all decided that the turkey vulture, although it is as ugly as can be, is the best flier of the bunch. They soar and soar and soar on a good day. We often see groups of six or eight turkey vultures all gliding and soaring over our house.

Crows and ravens are the noisiest bunch of the black birds we observed. You always hear them coming before you see them. My son observed that they are also the most obviously useful birds of the bunch. When we were at Yosemite last week we saw a pair of ravens cleaning up a dead squirrel off the road....gross but useful.

Our favorite black bird we learned about this week was certainly the red-winged blackbird. We had the opportunity to see quite a few over the last week and it has quickly become a favorite bird because of its flash of red as it flies. Now that we can identify its call, we hear him more often as we hike in different areas.



We realized during our hiking adventures last week that birdsong usually fills the air as we go along. If you stop and listen, you will usually hear some sort of bird singing you a tune. We had an especially happy bird on this day. I didn't intend to capture him on this video but if you listen to the background, you will hear what we think is a Hermit thrush. (In the video you can see Half Dome, the Sierra Nevada, and Nevada Falls. We were on the Panorama Trail coming down from Glacier Point.)

We made a joint journal entry later back at Curry Village. Someone forget to bring the boys' nature journals...oops. I started the entry with the Steller's jay and Mr. B sketched the ground squirrel after that. I was trying my best to notice with each bird the color and shape of their eye. The Steller's jay has a very black eye and beak.

So that was our black birds challenge this week. We will continue to look for starlings since they do come to our yard on occasion.

Great bird week for our family.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom

Yosemite Research Trip: Waterfalls, Dogwood, and Birds

We had a family trip planned for the last few days to Yosemite National Park. A wildfire in Santa Barbara came along and changed our plans. Instead of the four of us going, three of us headed to Yosemite and one went to the coast to fight fire. This is the way fire season goes in our house....be flexible and make the most of it.

Yosemite at this time of year is all about the waterfalls. Big waterfalls. It seems as if the walls sprout water. Bridalveil, Yosemite, Ribbon, Staircase, Vernal, Nevada, and Illillouette are all going strong! The sound of water is everywhere and it gurgles and bubbles along just about every hiking trail.

Another outstanding feature of spring in Yosemite is the blooming of the dogwood. It fills the forest with its beautiful white blooms.

We had a lot of adventures in three days. One morning we got up early and jumped on our bikes and were off to watch the sunrise over Half Dome.
It was a beautiful experience and if you could hear the soundtrack in the background of this photo....you would hear birdsong and water running high in the creek from Mirror Lake down to the river.

Although getting up early wasn't necessarily their favorite idea, the boys were great once we got off on our adventure. It helped that there were quite a few other people up on the trail already as well. Most of them had big camera outfits with tripods but since we were on bikes and I don't own any fancy camera equipment, I was happy just to be there and capture a few good photos with my point and shoot.

Here is a photo of Mirror Lake....it's not hard to figure out how they came up with the name. :)


This is not your traditional birdwatching pose but it works. We also did some water observations as we sat here early in the morning. We saw some sort of larval insect in the water wiggling around and there were mosquitoes and some other winged creatures as well.


Later that morning our bike ride took us by this view. I think I took about a hundred photos of Yosemite Falls on this trip, from every angle possible. The sound of it is just incredible as it thunders over the rocks.

Oh, we did see two bear cubs at two separate locations...no mama bear but we figured she was probably close by. We just keep on going about our business and the cubs would scamper off into the woods.


Another day found us hiking in the Tuolumne Grove of giant sequoias. I have given up trying to get an entire sequoia into a photo. This is a great hike if you have an afternoon to spend under the big trees. I am working on a Squidoo lens describing some easy day hikes for families. This hike will be in it for sure.


Our last big hike of the trip was on the Panorama Trail. The road to Glacier Point was open which was a surprise so we took advantage of the afternoon to hike down towards Illilouette Falls. The view of Half Dome and Nevada Falls from this trail is breathtaking. We decided to sit on a downed tree and just take in the splendor of the moment. The photo above was our view.


We also did a little birding as we hiked on this gorgeous afternoon. There was a bird singing a beautiful song as we hiked. We spotted him and we think he was a Hermit Thrush.

Okay, so I have spent a lot of time out in the wilderness over the years but this hike gave me something to ponder over. We heard a sound. Not quite sure how to describe it. At first it sounded like drums....sort of like tribal drums.....thump, thump, thump. But not quite like a drum....it was more of a vibration. The boys thought it sounded more like when you blow air over the top of a bottle and it makes that vibrating sort of sound. We went through a list of animals it could have been but nothing seemed right. We thought about wind blowing in or over something but it was not quite what we heard either. It was not a steady sound but would come and go but always in a series of three....thrummm, thrumm, thrumm. We heard it on the same section of trail both going out and then coming back. It was sort of eerie.

EDIT TO ADD: Shannon suggested a grouse and I did a little research. Turns out there are several kinds of grouse in Yosemite. I listened to the call on WhatBird.com and it is very similar to what we heard. Here is a link:
Dusky Grouse
Doing a little more research it turns out that it probably was a Sooty grouse. The Blue grouse was split into two species: dusky and sooty. I found a list of Yosemite birds and it lists the Sooty grouse. No way to know for sure without having seen it but it sure sounds like what we heard on our hike. :)

The habitat is right on. Here is what WhatBird says, "Preferred habitats include burned areas, montane forests, slashes, and subalpine forest clearings." We were in a burned area with lots of downed trees and it was a subalpine habitat. Bingo!

So many adventures, so little blog space. :)

I may be home from Yosemite but it is a place that never leaves my heart.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom