If you look really hard you might find an anteater roaming around Yosemite Valley. Of course they are shy creatures and tend to cling to the edges of the cliffs where they can hide under the nearest tall trees. I had to chase this one out in the open and he refused to show me all of his body. But he kept rolling this rock under his foot. My guess is he was crushing black ants and then snorting them up with his long snout. I think his snout might be a bit clumsy if he was kissing an aardvark...but it would be great for other things , like sniffing out a squirrel in a squirrel hole. Or getting into a crack in a rock. Or ferreting out honey or acorns stored in a hollow tree. Keep your eyes open. This is a good time of the year to be watching for the anteaters. The big black ants and spiders are everywhere, well they are not flying, but they are all over the paths especially at night when you can not see them because when it is dark in Yosemite Valley it is so dark everything looks like a tar baby. Spiders do not fly, but they do drop out of the trees onto your shoulders or your hair...this is a freaky sensation when you are walking around through the forest and you start to itch and you feel a set of 8 feet running across your arm. Have your camera ready so you can show your pictures to your friends and family on any where on the Internet of the Yosemite Valley Anteater.
Here is another Yosemite Valley favorite...a nut eating squirrel. Most squirrel do not stand in the path on a tree branch to chew on a nut. but this guy is brave and has been waiting for someone to come along and take his picture. He posed for a good 5 minutes so I could get the perfect shot. I liked the other one I took where he was balancing on one foot and juggling three nuts at the same time. That was way cool, but I do not have a high speed shutter so I missed the action and all I got is a blurr of nuts hitting the squirrel on top of his head as he was falling off the branch. it was a Kodak moment!
You have heard of mushrooms. Well this is one of Yosemite Valley's largest to date. It had a baby mushroom next to it the day before this one popped out of the ground, but we would assume some critter got more hungry than i got happy with my camera. This is like looking at Alice in Wonderland...wow Alice your own private toadstool!
A piece of this and you would have many rock climbers not ever wanna come home. I had a picture of a purple one and one that was golden colored...truly an event.
These guys are a band called Ravens of The Valley. They run a very clean act and clean up after themselves whenever they play, which is often. They are very popular and have regular groupies and shows. Their music is more on the classical side in particular when they lay on a good string. they will entertain for hours and the pay requirement is just a bit of whatever you wanna give them.They are already fat so do not take the handout seriously! The little bird needs more nourishment. The larger ravens decided to take matters into their own hands.
