Friday, October 5, 2012

A 'peck' of woodpeckers

Friday, October 5th, we started from Turlock and headed for Yosemite. We were following a report of Sooty Grouse in Mariposa Grove. I was feeling funky from the dust and altitude so we walked on the tram road. Up above the Bachelor and the three Graces, there was a dirt road off to the right of the tram road. We spent a couple of hours along a couple of hundred yards there.

First, we saw some White-Headed Woodpeckers, then Hairy, then Williamson's Sapsuckers, then a Red-Breasted Sapsucker 661, then Pileated Woodpeckers, then, after hearing them yacking, Northern Flickers, and John went a little further to where there was vigorous tapping that speeded up, and saw a Black-Backed Woodpecker against the sun. John got pictures of all but the Black-Backed! Some pics are great, some only recognizable. That's SEVEN woodpecker species in one location!

So what if we didn't see a Sooty Grouse! Maybe John will get it near Eureka where John Vanderpoel did last year.

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