White-headed Woodpecker at the Mariposa Sequoia Grove in Yosemite. And Bears.

It's been a slow week for blogging, but a busy week where everything else is concerned. I've got plenty of bird backlogs, so I will start trying to catch up. Today's feathered friend is a White-headed Woodpecker (Picoides albolarvatus) who was busy exploring the forest at the Mariposa Sequoia Grove in Yosemite National Park. We were visiting the park on Sunday after I scored the single remaining campsite in Yosemite Valley (a lucky moment where someone canceled). We spent a few hours in the grove, listening to a large number of birds and enjoying the peaceful scene.

When we left the grove and started down the highway, we saw a touron traffic jam up ahead. A mother bear and cub had just crossed the road and were doing their thing in the forest, and of course everyone had to stop and take pictures. Including me, of course. I did have the good sense to find a safe parking spot, but I could be judged on the fact that I was standing on the edge of the highway with a steep drop on one side, a bear on the other, and traffic driving by. But, by golly, it was bears!

P.S.: Lest you think I was being totally too close to the bears, they were 150-200 feet up the hill from me being good and doing bear stuff. I have a very nice zoom on the camera.

White-headed Woodpecker: A Western American Endemic

The White-headed Woodpecker (Picoides albolarvatus) is endemic to western North America, found in conifer forests from the Canadian border almost to the Mexican border. I read that it is not particularly common, which probably explains why I've only seen it three times (then again, I'm not that observant either). And each time the pictures turned out somewhat fuzzy. But they get a little bit better each time. My latest catch was in Yosemite Valley in Cooks Meadow by Sentinel Bridge.

It was late in the evening and I wasn't really on the lookout for birds because of the poor lighting conditions, but once I saw this female, it was unmistakeable.  I had to at least try for the photographs, and while not perfect, they are the best I've taken so far.

A beautiful bird!

Source: Audubon Society