Natural History Wanderings

The Yosemite National Park Facebook page reports:

The snow stake here at Tuolumne Meadows reads 0 inches, ……There is patchy snow below 9,000 feet on all aspects except south, and the best coverage remains above 9,500 feet on north aspects.. The Tioga Road within Yosemite National Park is a patchwork of bare pavement and snow drifts, which is not conducive to good ski travel.
Wildlife: Blackbirds are back in Tuolumne Meadows: red-winged, Brewer’s, and the parasitic brown-headed. Rosy finches were busily feeding off dead bugs and or seeds deposited on top of the snow in the alpine. Lastly, the violet-green swallows were performing their acrobatic flight as they passed over the lofty heights of False White Mountain. The black bears are waking up and they are hungry, so visitors are reminded to use proper food storage while in the wilderness.