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!

Artemis Robison has a good eye, as he spotted this small Anna's Hummingbird nest. The mother makes her nest out of lichen and spiderwebs, among other things, which allows the nest to expand as the chicks grow. Artemis got this photo of the three chicks.

I checked back with Artemis to see if they had fledged and he confirmed it. From the hatch of their eggs, it takes an average of 20 days until they fledge.

Anna's Hummingbirds are year round residents of the Mendonoma Coast!

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

Very little wind today and lots of blue sky. Temps in the mid-70's at Rick's and my place in Anchor Bay.

Chas Higgins found a hummingbird that rarely is seen here. Could it have veered from its migratory path? He wrote, “I caught this hummingbird making a quick visit to my garden on the meadow at the north end of Sea Ranch"

"It wasn’t until this morning when I uploaded it to my laptop that I realized it wasn’t one of the Anna’s that usually visit us. I sent it to Diane who shared it with Tim Bray and they agree that it’s a Black-chinned hummingbird, not often seen on our coast. I hope the paper can reproduce the purple in the gorget that marks it as a Black-chinned.”

I meant to share this earlier but better late...well, you know!

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

Sunny and windy and cool here on the coast today!

A few weeks ago Craig Tooley photographed this sight of Cliff Swallows working on their new nests.

They fly several thousand miles to get here and then they immediately get to work building or rebuilding their nests of mud. By now the nests are complete and nesting is taking place. Soon hungry mouths will appear at the nest opening!

Cliff Swallows like to build nests together in a colony. They eat many insects every day!

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

Today has been lovely. Warm on the ridge, breezy near the ocean, fog in some places - a beautiful late spring day on the Mendonoma Coast.

Two weeks ago was a great time for seeing Humpback Whales off the Mendonoma Coast.

Scott and Tree Mercer didn't have any sightings of mother/calf gray whales that week, but they were compensated with humpback sightings. Tree wrote, “Despite some challenging wind and fog conditions, humpback whales continue to be seen along our coast. This week, Scott and I documented 40 sightings  of humpbacks seen at the Point Arena Lighthouse peninsula, Saunders Reef, and at Gerstle Cove. Seven additional humpbacks were seen by Shari Goforth at Ollie’s Straight, Gualala Point Island and off the beach at Gualala Point Regional Park. Many of these humpbacks displayed full and half breaching, tail lobbing, and taking long dives most likely to feed on anchovies.

We have also observed two foraging gray whales swimming both north and south along the peninsula at the Lighthouse. We continue to search for gray whale mothers with their calves which typically can be seen throughout the month of May and even into early June.”

Sara Bogard got a nice photo of a humpback whale tail lobbing while doing her weekly survey of harbor seals off the Point Arena Lighthouse peninsula and surrounding areas.

She spotted 128 harbor seals of which 38 were pups.

Thanks to Sara for allowing me to share her photo with you here and thanks to the Mercers for their report.

Sunny and warm today, but there's a storm coming in tonight - hard to believe!

Terry Pfardresher found something we don’t see very often in her garden in Gualala. She wrote, “Any idea who this character is? Wings are too large for a bumblebee.” It’s a Snowberry Clearwing, Hemaris diffinis, a member of the Sphinx family.

Naturalist Laura Baker identified the diurnal moth. She wrote, “When the adults emerge (eclose), they have scales on their wings, but with a few shudders, the scales fall off, leaving the wings transparent and the moth resembling a bumblebee. Caterpillars feed mainly on snowberry and honeysuckle while adults nectar on a variety of plants.”

Mother Nature is simply amazing!

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

It's cool and windy, with clouds scudding by. It actually looks like we could get some sprinkles!

Kate Bloch has been able to watch and photograph several Harbor Seal births on beaches off The Sea Ranch. She also got this cute photo of a pup taking her first swim.

The little pup was sticking close to mom!

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

It's foggy and cool on the Mendonoma Coast today!

There was a feeling of magic in this night sky. On the night of May 18, the Moon and Venus had a celestial meetup, a conjunction. Jupiter seemed to be watching from higher up in the sky. The Moon and Venus in the sky made them appear close together, despite being millions of miles apart in space.

Mel Smith photographed this beautiful sight from his  home in Point Arena.

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

Yesterday it was very warm. Today temps are in the low 70's with just a little breeze. Heaven!

Marla Skibbins watched as a mated pair of Common Ravens preened each other near her home on The Sea Ranch. Then, one Raven took the other Raven's beak in his/her mouth!

I learned this is called a raven’s kiss or beak-fencing. It is a display of affection, pair bonding, and social bonding. This gentle behavior happens between life-long partners.

Marla was watching Raven love...sweet!

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

Wind, wind and more wind. It's sunny but the wind is pretty unrelenting. The ocean looks like a boiling pot of water with all the white caps. It would be nearly impossible to spot whales with this wind.

Harbor seals continue to be born off the Mendonoma Coast. Sara Bogard watched as this Harbor Seal mother encouraged her pup to climb a pretty steep rock.

I can almost hear the mom saying, "You can do it!"

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

It was foggy this morning, but the afternoon was sunny and breezy. Temps in the low 70's, really a beautiful day!

Sometimes you can hardly believe your eyes. Greg Talamini photographed this beautiful sight from his home in Gualala!

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

Bonus sighting: Lots of Humpback Whales have been seen swimming north.

Additional bonus sightings can be had at the Gualala Arts Center. Today was opening day for Meadow as Muse, curated by Karen Wilkinson. It's fantastic! Here's a link to learn more about it: https://gualalaarts.org/2026/05/meadow-as-muse/

Absolutely stunning day here today, with a nice breeze.

It was Brad Lovesy that apparently saw the first fawn of this year.

He wrote, “It was Thursday the April 16th in the  afternoon in back of the Sea Ranch center. I manage the offices and storage units. I was working in the back and the fawn came out of the tall grass and ran right up to me.”

Brad stopped to look for the fawn’s mother assuming the newborn was left on its own.  Suddenly she appeared and realized what was happening.  She escorted her fawn away—all the while cautiously eyeing Brad.

Since then two more fawns have been reported to me. This little one could have been earlier than most. We usually see the first fawns around Mother's Day and that's not until this coming Sunday.

Thanks to Brad for allowing me to share his photos with you here. The photo of the little fawn is so darn cute!

We had some wet weather yesterday but only 0.02 inches at Rick's and my place. 49.92 season to date. Today has been cloudy and on the cool side. The sunset could be amazing tonight!

Harbor seal moms give birth on rocky beaches on the Mendonoma Coast. If you have a long lens on your camera, like Kate Bloch and Rozanne Rapozo, you can safely get some great photos. I love these two of the mother and her newborn bonding. The first photo is by Rozanne.

And the second photo was taken by Kate. In each photo the pup is bonding with his/her mother. They learn each other's scent and vocalizations. It's very sweet to see.

Thanks to Kate and Rozanne for allowing me to share their photos with you here.

It's been mostly cloudy today with temps in the high 50's. Lots of wildflowers appearing now!

Earlier this week, on Monday to be exact, the Mendonoma Coast was treated to a beautiful sunset. In Point Arena, Mel Smith captured some of the magic.

Some of us call the sunbeams through the clouds God's rays.

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

It's a lovely spring day here today, temps in the low 70's!

Michelle Gill took this lovely photo of a waterfall near Bowling Ball Beach after last week's rains.

I think it looks like a painting!

Here's the story on the Sea Otter sighting seen and videoed by Stephany Wilkes.

Sunday evening, March 29th,  Stephany and Ian Wilkes were taking a walk on the bluffs at The Sea Ranch. And they saw something in the water and they thought, “Could it be a sea otter?” Stephany wrote, “I know, I know, ‘It's almost certainly a river otter’ is what we say up here. And that's what Ian and I thought too, until we pretty quickly didn't. I took several videos tonight along the bluff between Helm and Solstice, between 5:23 and 5:37PM. We were running to keep up with it - it was really trucking! You could see its white whiskers in the sunset light, and it dove for several minutes, and was swimming with food on its belly (banging away and eating.) It covered a lot of distance and did not come anywhere very close to shore. What do you think?! Could it be a historic glimpse? I am hoping you'll know who else to ask!”

I sent the videos to various folks, including Jan Roletto of NOAA. Jan wrote, “Yes, it looks to me like a sea otter in the first and fourth videos. I see a shorter tail, round hind flippers, and while on its back, it's trying to break something open by pounding it with a rock.” Jan put me in touch with Colleen Young, a sea otter specialist with California Department of Fish and Wildlife. She wrote, “Thank you so much for forwarding these great videos! This is definitely a sea otter! We will add this to our database of sea otter sightings outside their established geographic range. Thanks again for looping me in!”

sea otter off Sea Ranch 2026-03-29 by Stephany Wilkes

Sea Otter by Stephany Wilkes

Sea Otter off TSR by Stephany Wilkes

Sea otters were abundant off our coast until they were hunted nearly into extinction by the 1880’s. While I know abalone enthusiasts and fisher people might disagree that this is a great sighting, sea otters are important to the ecology of the ocean. They voraciously eat purple urchins, thus protecting the kelp forests. It’s estimated that the ecosystems where sea otters live are 40% more productive, supporting a wide variety of marine life, from seabirds to whales.

Thanks to Michelle for allowing me to share her photo with you here and thanks to Stephany for allowing me to share her videos with you here!

If you can't view the videos, send me an email and I'll email a few to you.

It's cloudy and cold today with no wind.

Carol Escajeda noticed this cloud formation and said it looks like a pelican to her. Do you agree?

I can see it!

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

We thought it was going to rain today but no! Lots of sunshine though clouds are beginning to roll in. At Rick's and my place in Anchor Bay, we had 1.38 inches last night, 1.93 inches from the two days, 49.83 season to date. 50 inches is a nice, wet season!

Ben Angwin was at Gualala Point Regional Park when the fog started to roll in. He had a unique view of a fogbow, one over land rather than the ocean.

Ben said his camera could "see" it better than his eyes. I've noticed this too and it's helped me see them with the naked eyes!

Lots of rain has been hitting the Mendonoma Coast. I have 1.65 inches in my gauge since it started late yesterday, which brings my total to 49.55 inches. 50 inches is a "normal" wet winter. We are definitely going to hit 50 inches as it's currently raining and more rain is headed our way...with some thunderclouds. Yikes!

Gabriel Aguilar wrote, “Look what I found in the Manchester and Elk area.” Gabriel got several photographs of the big elk. And he only had antlers on one side of his head.

I learned these elks lose their antlers in late winter or early spring. And typically they do not shed together. They can shed minutes, hours or even days apart. He has probably already shed it by now and will begin growing out new, impressive antlers. Maybe this will be the year he finds several females, called cows, for his harem.

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

Cool and windy day today with lots of sunshine!

Michael Coustier was watching the action as the Western Gull managed to snag an Ochre Sea Star for his/her meal.

Michael  wrote, “Walking the Gualala Point Regional Park, I saw this Western gull wedged between a couple of rocks.  It looked...odd.  I waited for a moment for him to pop up and saw he was carrying this sea star. I watched him struggle to ingest the sea star for many minutes - it was pretty comical watching him attempt various positions to get the sea star to go down.”

I guess we'll have to file this one under the title, "Where there's a will, there's a way!"

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

We've had some downpours here today and have received over an inch of rain. I'll report totals with my next post!

Bill Budge had his camera at the ready when one of the migrating gray whales breached. He wrote, “I got this photo of a gray whale breaching from our deck. He/she was probably just off Cooks Beach.”

We've seen the first mother/calf pairs. Yesterday, Tuesday, Shari Goforth found a pair just north of Gualala. In the first photo, the mother whale blows three times. In the second photo you can see a calf pressed up to its mom and giving a smaller, solo blow.

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

Another calm, beautiful day today.