Preview
Circa Date
circa 1887
Transcription
25
Yo [Yosemite] Birds Winter
We have a few robins left with us every winter. His winter fare is mistletoe berries chiefly. Most go away to the lowlands in Autumn when the first snows fall. They frequent the smooth glacier meadows feeding on worms & berries on the border of small lakes or the slow flowing streams found in all these alpine meadows
Huckleberry bogs prime feeding grounds in late summer. & wild cherries on way down to the lowland orchards when they find late pears & dried cherries & apples under the trees.
Then in large flocks in orchards & vineyards & are too often ruthlessly slaughtered for the table. a poor use [to put] for such a fine musical instrument [to]. Better burn pianos for firewood [for kitchen use]
(O. N. P. [Our National Parks] 236–8. Similarly)
Kingfisher
another of our winter birds & the golden winged woodpecker & the smaller [spotted] species noted for the size of his granaries & the number of its bins. They collect large quantities of acorns for winter use not heaping them together in a nest or hollow tree, but [he] drilling a separate [hole] chamber for each one in the bark or decayed wood of living or dead trunks mostly yel [yellow] pine, the thick bark answering his purpose well but many
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in dead oaks also. Some tall dead pines 100 feet long or more are plugged [filled] from top to bottom, every acorn inserted head foremost & so well fitted that they seem to have been shot in like bullets fairly imbedded. In times of scarcity the Digger Indians rob the birds by digging out these acorns but fortunately this [it] is slow & laborious stealing & only resorted to when nothing easier is available.
Owls
We always have plenty of hollow voiced owls for echoes.
Wren
Wrens are among our winter birds & the [Baltimore] Bullock’s Oriole [?] & a few brown & gray finches, & large flocks of arctic blue birds
These last form lively winter pictures in blue & white [berrying] picking among the snow laden mistletoe berries on the oaks.
Ducks
About a half dozen species of ducks winter in the valley as the river is never wholly frozen over & considerable feeding grounds are mostly available all winter long.
Among these are the mallard & beautiful wood duck, but are less abundant than formerly at being shot at so much.
Date Occurred
1871-1874
Resource Identifier
MuirReel31 Notebook11 Img016.jpg
Contributing Institution
Holt-Atherton Special Collections, University of the Pacific Library
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