Eric photographed two dear deer - fawns in this case - looking at him.

I wonder what these fawns are thinking!

Thanks to Eric for allowing me to share his photo with you here.

Lots of cool, moist fog recently. Sometimes it clears in the afternoon. Here on the Mendonoma Coast August is known as Fogust.

These small Sierran Treefrogs are good at hiding in plain sight. They can change color from green (the most common color) to tan or brown. In this case the treefrog needed to be green to match the cactus he/she was hiding in at Richey Wasserman's garden.

Here John Sheafe photographed one of these frogs changing color.

I love these tiny treefrogs. In the spring, the male has a very big voice!

Thanks to Richey and John for allowing me to share their photos with you here.

Foggy this morning, sunny this afternoon though fog is covering the ocean. Nice and cool in the mid-60's.

These are two great photos by Craig Tooley. The parent is approaching the nest hole in the first one with the chick's mouth open wide. In the second photo the parent puts an insect in that wide open mouth!

Thanks to Craig for allowing me to share his photo with you here. To see much more of Craig's nature photography, here is his website: http://ruffimage.com

I had a nest of these beautiful swallows in a nesting box. I miss the sight and sounds of them!

It was foggy this morning but the fog has pulled back this afternoon, temps in the low 70's. Looks like a very nice weekend ahead!

Tamir Scheinok was overlooking the Gualala River when he saw this big Bald Eagle lift off. Her talons are scraping the surface of the water.

I believe this is the female Gualala Bald eagle as she has some dark feathers on her head. Most mature Bald Eagles are completely white-headed, as is her mate.

Thanks to Tamir for allowing me to share his photo with you here. Tamir is the Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer of Further Reach. Further Reach brings high speed internet to the Mendonoma Coast...and beyond. To learn more, here is their website: https://furtherreach.net

Another toasty day with light breezes. Highway One reopened late last night at Timber Cover (closed for two days because of a scary fire).

Gail Jackson photographed a yellow-faced bumblebee flying out of a California poppy blossom. Yellow pollen is coating the face and legs of this pollinator, nearly matching the patch of bright yellow hair on her head. If you look closely, you can see several grains of pollen drifting down from the bee. And she sports an orange pollen basket, called a corbicula, on her hind legs.

You can see much more of Gail's wonderful nature photography at her Instagram account: https://www.instagram.com/gailyimages/

Thanks to Gail for allowing me to share her photo with you here.

It's toasty warm here today. The smoke from the fire at Salt Point State Park/Timber Cove is south of us so it's a beautiful blue-sky breezy warm day here!

With its paws covering its eyes and nose, it looks like this Harbor Seal is hiding or is shy. Or maybe the seal just had an itch!

The abundance of Harbor Seals off the Mendonoma Coast is such a good sign. When they are doing well, the entire ecosystem does well.

Thanks to Sara for allowing me to share her sweet photo with you here.

It's sunny and warm today, though there is a big fogbank lurking over the ocean. It's suppose to get a little warmer over the next few days.

The clouds that drifted up from monsoonal moisture to our south brought glorious sunrises and sunsets over the weekend, a week ago. Grace O’Malley wrote, “You know how winter sunsets are the best ever? Well, on Saturday night we were dining at our friends’ house just down the coast from us in Timber Cove, and the skyscape colors in the gloaming hour after sunset were so simply spectacular that the cloud reflections turned the ocean pink.”

Sometimes you just can't believe your eyes! Just magnificent...

Thanks to Grace for allowing me to share her photo with you here.

The weather today is...well, changeable. It's down 20 degrees from yesterday, in the low 60's with intermittent sprinkles.

This big boy was staring at Kevin Evans and Kevin titled the photo, "Oh Deer! Anybody home?" That's quite an impressive set of antlers this Black-tailed Buck has.

The velvet is a membrane that nourishes the growing bones (antlers). Bucks will typically lose the velvet by the end of August and beginning of September. They've got to be ready for the rut!

Thanks to Kevin for allowing me to share his photo with you here.

We've had a mini-heatwave but it is breaking today. Fog, our good friend, is expected to return, perhaps tomorrow morning.

Brown pelicans dive for a fish beak first, which is quite a sight to see. Rozanne Rapozo recently photographed one the moment before the Brown Pelican entered the ocean.

If you look on the left, you will see the splash of where another Brown Pelican had entered the water. There was obviously plenty of anchovies or other favorite food in the waters off the Mendonoma Coast!

Thanks to Rozanne for allowing me to share her photo with you here.

It's been a spectacular day here today - no fog, gentle breeze and mild temps.

Gary Prochazka found an Ochre sea star in an unusual position. He wrote, “[Here’s a sea star playing] peekaboo from Walk On Beach at a recent low tide.” I’ve never seen a star in this position. Then it struck me – this star only has four arms.

I sent Gary’s photo to intertidal expert Bob Van Syoc. He wrote, “Very cool photo. Yes looks like a healthy four armed star!  Unusual and I would guess that it did lose an arm and healed but has not yet regenerated the lost arm. Love the infinity symbol!”

I also sent Gary's photo to Jennnifer Stock NOAA. She's the Education and Outreach Coordinator at Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuary. She forwarded Gary's photos to several experts there. I heard back from Julieta Gomez. She looked at Gary’s photo and wrote, “Sometimes they lose an arm and it just doesn't regrow or sometimes two grow instead. I've noticed it more in bat stars than ochre stars though, so this is a unique find!”

Here's what an ochre star usually looks like. This photo was taken by Allen Vinson. Ochre stars come in various colors!

Gary went back a week or so later and the unusual star was gone. It could well reappear so check your spots at low tide events.

Thanks to Gary and Allen for allowing me to share their photos with you here.

There's a big fog bank over the ocean and it's keeping it nice and cool here in Anchor Bay!

Ospreys are also busy catching fish for their offspring. Ron Bolander wrote, “I went to Walk On Beach [on Sea Ranch] to see if there were any shorebirds.  Aside from a few gulls, I saw this osprey actively searching and diving. His dives were interesting as, a few times,  he would pull up only a few feet from the surf. Twice, he dove into the water, but, missed his catch. Then, success!"

"He caught a beautiful striped surfperch. As the osprey flew away with its meal, the sun brought out the beautiful colors of the fish.”

Ospreys dive talons first into the water, attempting to snatch a fish. When successful, they maneuver the fish head first to give them an aerodynamic position.

Thanks to Ron for allowing me to share his photos with you here. To see much more of Ron's excellent photography, here is the link to his flickr account: https://www.flickr.com/photos/27154511@N04/

Drippy fog this morning has given way to blue skies. It's breezy this afternoon too.

Peter Baye found several beautiful native wildflowers in bloom along the Gualala River recently. He wrote, “The tiny flowers of wild heliotrope are appearing on gray-green mounds of plants that regenerate from eroded roots in cobble-gravel bars each year. Some have beautiful contrasting darker purple centers. They also grow on the coast around some sandy lagoon shores and bluff seeps, but completely prostrate."

And one of the more uncommon riparian plants on the Gualala River is in bloom: wild licorice, Glycyrrhiza. It also follows stream orchids along bedrock and boulder banks upstream, in a few places. It has a sweet root, but no anise ‘licorice’ candy scent.”

Thanks to Peter for allowing me to share his photos with you here.

It was foggy this morning but the sun broke through this afternoon. Temps in the low 60's. Lots of visitors to the coast this holiday weekend!

Happy Independence Day to those of us in the United States!

A walk along the Gualala River is certain to bring you great sightings and joy. Ron Bolander had discovered a group of willow trees, we think Sitka willows, that red-breasted sapsuckers were drilling holes – called wells – in the bark to get the sap. Other creatures then use these wells to feed, so the sapsuckers are important for the ecosystem. Ron invited Shari Goforth and me to take a hike with him on Saturday to see the show.

While walking on the cobbles by the river, we saw a tiny Sierran treefrog, normally colored emerald green, which was colored tan to match the stones. It was so well camouflaged that we kept losing sight of it.

When we came to the willow trees, we watched from a distance as a red-breasted sapsucker appeared, the male. Some minutes later the female arrived. Ron told us there must be a nest nearby. When the sapsuckers were gone, other birds moved in to feast, including Anna’s and Allen’s hummingbirds. A Wilson’s warbler stopped by, perhaps eating insects in the sap. Then several beautiful butterflies appeared, a satyr comma and a mourning cloak, and fed. It was quite wonderful to see.

The next day, Sunday, Ron returned to the same place and found two red-breasted sapsuckers on the willow trees, but this time one was a fledgling, perhaps just out of the nest!

A bonus photo from Shari of one of the adults flying straight at her.

Thanks to Ron and Shari for allowing me to share their photos with you here.

Quite foggy here today, but sunny up on the ridge. Temps in the 60's. With those heat domes in the eastern part of the US and in Europe, we're not going to complain about the cooling fog.

Ben wrote, “I saw at least two Humpback Whales a ways out. They were feeding, swimming in circles, possibly bubble netting a bait ball. I was able to catch them by following the birds.”

There’s a good clue here – follow the birds. Brown Pelicans, Gulls and other birds will often be at the seafood buffet where the whales are feeding.

Thanks to Ben for allowing me to share his photos with you here.

It's sunny today but very windy! No spotting whales this afternoon - the ocean is full of white caps!

Michael Reinhart recently got this great photo of a Spotted Towhee singing.

Can you hear it? Maybe this will help. Here's a link to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Spotted_Towhee/sounds

Here's what Cornell says about this bird's call: "It lasts about 1.5 seconds. The song starts with one or two (up to eight) short introductory notes and then a fast trill that can sound like a taut rubber band being plucked, or a piece of paper stuck into a fan. Some Spotted Towhee songs have just the trill phrase only."

Thanks to Mike for allowing me to share his photo with you here.

It's warm and breezy today, with a big fog bank lurking over the ocean. Yes, we did have an earthquake on Wednesday morning. It was fairly mild here - two seconds of shaking. No damage except to our nerves!

Can you hear it?

Last Saturday, young Oly Perket saw fire in the blue sky. She wrote, “This was taken when Mom [Madeline Percet] and I were driving to Sebastopol.”

Oly photographed a beautiful atmospheric phenomenon called a circumhorizontal arc. They are often called fire rainbows, except they aren’t actual rainbows.  They are ice halos created when sunlight passes through high-altitude cirrus clouds.

Thanks to Oly for allowing me to share her photo with you here.

Foggy morning, sunny afternoon with temps in the 60's. It's the last day of spring!

Kelly McLaughlin wrote, “I was heading south to Anchor Bay when I caught a glimpse of what I thought might be an eagle. So I turned the car around to go back and look…hoping I wouldn’t scare it off. I was impressed that it stuck around and then I realized it was eating!  This regal bird was dining on the west side of Highway One, about midway between Iverson and Signal Port Creek Rd.”

I think this might be the female Bald Eagle from the Gualala River area, and it looks like she caught a Cormorant for her meal.

Thanks to Kelly for allowing me to share her photos with you here.

We're having a foggy day here on the Mendonoma Coast.

There is an old Bottle Brush Tree at one of the houses at Mill Bend and hummingbirds love to feed on its nectar. Recently Rozanne Rapozo photographed one.

And here's another photo taken by Rozanne, where the Allen's is checking out a possible blossom.

To hear the calls of this hummingbird, here is a link to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Allens_Hummingbird/sounds

Thanks to Rozanne for allowing me to share her photos with you here.

It's downright hot this afternoon - well, hot for the Mendonoma Coast! It's reached into the 80's at Rick's and my place in Anchor Bay.

Michael Coustier wrote, "I recently did an impromptu bird walk with Karen Wilkinson and others around Sea Ranch looking for some nesting birds. We managed to find a nesting Western Gull, Black Oystercatcher, Cliff Swallows and Pelagic Cormorants.  We even had a special visitor from a Bald Eagle."

Thanks to Michael for allowing me to share his photo with you here.

It's been cloudy today, after a beautiful and sunny day on Sunday. There is a chance of rain tonight. June rain would be a blessing.

This is the time of year we usually see the first cute Gray Fox kits. Michael Tilles has a wood storage box that foxes have use before. Once again, he and his wife Janelle Streich are blessed with a Gray Fox family at their Sea Ranch place. Michael got this photo of the two kits that had been nursing.

There will be a photo of one of the kits in the Independent Coast Observer Community News this coming Friday. What? You do have a subscription? You could rectify that at the ICO's website: https://www.mendonoma.com/memberships.html

Thanks to Michael for allowing me to share his photo with you here.

Foggy at the coastline, sunny on the ridge - a mild spring day on the Mendonoma Coast!