Picoides albolarvatus

I sit here asking myself, how can one possibly forgo the blipping of a rare bird in Yosemite Valley, one that I've never even blipped before??

Well, the Western Kingbird is already on the BlipBigYear list and this one isn't. Damn you, The List, for making blip decisions so mentally exhausting....

I came across three Western Kingbirds in Stoneman Meadow today, an excellent surprise. The species does breed in the Sierra Nevada, but very rarely above 3,000 feet, and is only seen up to 5,000 feet during fall migration. Which means the three I spotted today must be visiting for Memorial Day weekend, along with about half the western world.

Traffic through the park was gridlocked by noon today--the National Park Service puts no cap on the number of cars that can enter the park, and this weekend always sees way more vehicles than the park can hold. A coworker of mine who commutes in from outside Yosemite spent 4 hours in her car to travel 40 miles to our restaurant. It's a very contentious issue. Profit takes priority over pollution without a vehicle cap, and most people who come spend the majority of their day searching for parking and battling crowds on the trails and in the stores. It will definitely be a relief when this holiday weekend is over.

Happily for me though, very few people are here for the birds, so I've continued to have the forests to myself. Apart from the exciting kingbird sightings, I got very close to a Western Wood-Pewee (whose call sounds like a whistle being blown at a soccer game) and this here White-Headed Woodpecker.

This woodpecker sticks to the far western mountain ranges of the U.S. and Canada. It's the only woodpecker with a solid black body and white face. This male has been making grub-rounds on the trees adjacent to Stoneman Meadow the last few days...me thinks he is collecting them for wee ones. Males and females share in nesting duties; the male incubates the chicks overnight and then forages throughout the day for their food. It's a common woodpecker at mid-elevation in Yosemite, one which I come across practically every day.