A cinnamon sow has a nice pair of cubs of two different colors at Crane Flat. The family stopped a lot of traffic while they were grazing on new grass in the wet meadows there. Sad to think that so many bears are hit by cars each year; please drive with the wildlife in mind when you're in the park.
The Valley's dogwoods are maybe 90% emerged at this point; stormy weather today and yesterday further stalls their full brilliance. Cool, cloudy conditions dropped the river level down from 3000 to less than 2000 cfs at Pohono Bridge, below average for this date. But all the meadows are wet, some trails on the Valley floor have challenging creek crossings. There was a small quantity of frazil ice flowing this morning in Yosemite Creek and Ribbon Creek.
Juncos were back to winter flock behavior this morning. Chickadees were still observed in pairs, but no singing was heard. Tanagers and orioles were subdued by the cold. Snow coated the Valley rim this morning, but temperatures should be back up to the mid-70's by the end of the week.
i often have seen bears at crane flat in may. this is such a wonderful month to be in yosemite.
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