Official Bird & Nature Post

SteveT

Phil Edwards status
Apr 11, 2005
5,867
2,411
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Went back to Coarsegold to stay at our friend's cabin for Turkey Day and paid Yosemite another visit.
Yosemite Falls was cranking after a good dump of snow a couple of weeks ago.
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Ran across this little guy on our hike
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Chocki

Phil Edwards status
Feb 18, 2007
6,354
6,736
113
Planet Earth
Speaking of birds, finally saw a Golden Eagle today. Was driving along some power lines that birds of prey post up on frequently and saw what I first thought were two crows fucking around in the air but one was huge. Then I decided one was a crow and the giant one was a turkey vulture. Got a better view before I drove past and it looked just like this so I’m going with Eagle. Its wingspan was very impressive
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Mr Doof

Duke status
Jan 23, 2002
24,860
7,755
113
San Francisco, CA
This morning, 12/16/2022, step outside of the garage at dawn to check the winds and I look up and see vibrant white, with tinge of blue, clouds in the star filled sky (well, star filled for urban area).

Noctilucent clouds?!

Looks like it to me, but are they 'fake' as being formed due to a rocket launch or USAF aerial maneuvers of some sort? Haven't checked for rocket launches yet nor had time to look up any sky watcher sites yet.

Anyway, took a few photos with the pocket camera as dawn was starting to brighten things up and reduce the amazing contrast of these clouds against the black sky. And of course, the best shot was the one that I tried with 'night portrait mode' that used flash rather than 5-10-15 second exposures with no flash.....sigh. I think it is possible to still pick up the slight bluish tinge towards the upper left side of the photo on the larger image (if you click on the image).




PS
Small clean surf....a two-fer kinda day and not even 10 AM yet!


Edit;
There was a rocket launch early this morning from Vandenburg, so these "clouds" are probably from this launch.

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