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.

Lynn Bailey sent along a motion detector video from March 4 at the Villa del Mar main dumpster. This is in Gualala. It showed a mountain lion strolling through, a gray fox hurrying along, two more mountain lions, followed by a raccoon. The raccoon headed straight for the dumpster.

Here's a photo of a healthy-looking Mountain Lion taken by Susan Sandoval for you to see.

Here is the lone Mountain Lion:

Next is the Gray Fox:

Then two Mountain Lions:

And lastly the Raccoon:

That's a busy place! Thanks to Lynn for allowing me to share his videos with you here. the photo of the Mountain Lion was taken in a previous year by Susan Sandoval. The Sandovals and Lynn Bailey live fairly close to one another!

It's a spectacular day here today. Sunny and warm. Happy Easter and Happy Passover to those who celebrate them!

Here is a Calypso Orchid which was photographed by Eddie Reiter. These flowers are so tiny, it's amazing we see them. But the splash or pink/purple amongst the greens and browns may very well catch your eye.

Chris Pechal found a rare white Calypso Orchid, which is a treat to see.

Karen Wilkinson found one of her favorite wildflowers, a Checker Lily.

Many more wildflowers are blooming now as we are having an early bloom.

Thanks to Eddie, Chis and Karen for allowing me to share their photos with you here.

It's sunny and warm here today, with no wind. There is a chance of rain in a few days. I hope so!

Flying over bluffs and the Pacific Ocean, Aleutian Cackling Geese have been streaming northward in very large flocks.  Eric Zetterholm photographed this sight on The Sea Ranch.

Michael Coustier got a closer look.

Shari Goforth got this video as the geese passed Gualala Point Island.

Aleutian Cackling Geese headed north by Shari Goforth

To hear their "cackling" calls, here is the link to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology"

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Cackling_Goose/sounds

Thanks to Eric, Michael and Shari for allowing me to share their photos and video with you here.

It's sunny and warm here today with no wind.

There was an appealing nesting box as this male violet-green swallow and female Western bluebird were each trying to check it out. Craig Tooley photographed the kerfluffle.  No blows were exchanged, in fact nary a feather was displaced. Who won out? That is yet to be determined. Craig will be watching!

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

It was hot again yesterday, Friday. Wind picked up overnight and it was very windy this morning. Now the wind has died down and we have another warm day.

Clear weather then moved in and two weeks ago Sunday looked to perfect for a pelagic trip out of Noyo harbor on the Kraken to look for seabirds and gray whales. Shari Goforth was ready her camera. She wrote, “With the break in the rain, sun and calm seas prevailed. Noyo Pelagics, on short notice, came up with enough people to take a half-day trip offshore to the Noyo Canyon. The water was perfect for the trip; the seas were calm, the air was cool with almost no wind, and the skies overcast.

“We were in the middle of the gray whale migration and were hoping to photo document gray whales for identification database. Within the first half hour, we spotted a breaching whale several miles toward the horizon. From then on, we began to see gray whale blows (forceful exhales creating a mist) and stayed the permitted legal distance of 100 yards away from them. We were surprised by humpbacks! It’s not the usual time of year to see humpbacks.

“The captain put the boat in idle (stopped the propeller) to avoid any potential propeller injuries in case we were approached by a curious whale, and we had several curious humpbacks surface near the boat. They don’t have to be very close to know that they have been feeding; their exhales smell strongly like fermented Brussel sprouts! Throughout the day, we photographed many humpback whales breaching, slapping their 15 foot-long front flippers on the water, and thrashing their tails, however, we were only able to get a few views of the underside of the humpbacks’ flukes, the view needed for ID. We had more success with the gray whales and have eight photos of individuals to submit for ID.” Shari and others submit their photos to http://Happywhale.com.

Noyo Pelagics is a collaboration between Mendocino Coast Audubon, The Noyo Center for Marine Science, and Anchor Charter Boats (the Kraken), based at Noyo Harbor, Fort Bragg. The trips are open to the public, check the website: http://www.noyopelagics.com for all day and half-day trips, or call for shorter whale watching trips.

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

Toasty warm here today with no wind - unbelievable weather for March.

Last week Paul Brewer saw this Osprey with a cabezon in its talons. It's always thrilling when the Ospreys return.

The nest Rick and I have watched through our spotting scope for more than 20 years is once again occupied. This Osprey is flying north so maybe it is one of the mated pair we are fortunate to see - Paul lives in Gualala and our place is north a few miles, in Anchor Bay.

Thanks to Paul for allowing me to share his photo with  you here. To see much more of Paul's nature photography, here is the link: https://paulbrewer.smugmug.com/

It's a beautiful sunny day here, with some breezes. High in the low 70's. There is a fog bank over the ocean, so some areas could be in fog...like Point Arena, perhaps.

We are having an irruption of CA Tortoise Shell Butterflies. They do have similar colors of Monarchs, but they are much smaller. Shari Goforth got this photo of one of the dozens in my courtyard yesterday.

They were being seen in vast numbers yesterday, Saturday, down in Bodega Bay and in Jenner. Cynthia Schreiner wrote to me last night: "Many people in Bodega Bay saw thousands of butterflies  today, colored/looked like Monarchs, flying south? For an hour maybe two they were everywhere,  not milling around  but quite intent on going south.  So cool, they just didn't alight to get a Pic."

Mating for these butterflies, Nymphalis californica, takes place from March to May, when they emerge from their winter hibernation once the weather warms up.

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

And warm up it has! Another toasty day with no wind here on the beautiful Mendonoma Coast.

Baby Blue Eyes, Nemophila menziesii,  are one of my favorite wildflowers. They grow on sunny bluffs. Seeta Chaganti had her friend, Mary Heibel, take her to Manchester State Park to show her the bloom.

Rozanne Rapozo is an excellent photographer and I feel privileged to be able to share her work with you. Around 3 a.m. Tuesday, March 3, a total lunar eclipse was seen from the Mendonoma coast.

A lunar eclipse occurs when a full Moon moves into the Earth's shadow and the Moon turns a deep reddish-orange or “blood red". This happens because Earth's atmosphere filters out all the blue light and refracts the longer red wavelengths into the shadow. This effectively projects all the world's sunrises and sunsets onto the Moon, giving us a blood red Moon.

What a sight!

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

Today is breezy and sunny!

Several weeks ago Diane Hichwa saw this beautiful sight from her The Sea Ranch home.

Quite an amazing sunset!

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

Rain report: Yesterday's storm was a deluge. It didn't relent for many hours. At Rick's and my place in Anchor Bay we received a total of 7.32 inches from the storm that began on Monday evening and rained continuously through Tuesday. That's a truckload of rain! Season to date is 45.33 inches. We now have warm, dry weather predicted through the rest of this week.

***Bonus sighting: this afternoon, Wednesday, I saw an Osprey on the nest we've watched for over twenty years. The male returns first and I saw him poking at the remnants of the nest. It's very exciting to see this Osprey return today!

Catherine Miller saw this beautiful sight from her home on the ridge south of Point Arena.

So beautiful! Thanks to Catherine for allowing me to share her photo with you here.

We are being inundated with rain today. It's pouring! It looks like the eye of the storm is coming right over us here on the Mendonoma coast. Since this morning around 7:30 we have received 3.58 inches and it's still raining hard as I write this at 4:25 pm. And we received 2.42 last night. I am nearing 45 inches season to date. 50 inches is a nice rain year.

Nancy Feehan found a very early Calypso orchid near Timber Cove.

And Karen Wilkinson found Shooting stars at Salt Point State Park.

Mirka Knaster found the first Douglas iris in bloom.

I love seeing the wildflowers arrive. It's like greeting old friends. Thanks to Nancy, Karen and Mirka for allowing me to share their photos with you here.

It's been very cold - 35 degrees this morning - and rainy, though we did have a dry spell during much of the day. It's raining again now. Tomorrow, Friday, is predicted to be dry as is early Saturday. Then more rain comes in! 36.02 inches so far season to date.

A friend of Ron Bolander told  him about this thrasher at his property on the ridge behind Anchor Bay. These relatives of mockingbirds are not usually seen close to the coast - they are birds of chaparral. But the friend told Ron this bird had been here for months.

Ron played me a recording of this bird's song and it is quite unique. You can hear it at this link at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/California_Thrasher/sounds  Like mockingbirds, thrashers also mimic other bird calls.

I'll be looking and listening for this bird...once the storms are behind us.

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

It's a-storming today! And it's cold enough for hail. I just took a photo of a lurking storm cloud offshore - yikes!

Lisa wrote up her experience beautifully.

“On a bucolic walk along the Sea Ranch bluffs, suffused with the mid-winter bliss that comes from unexpectedly warm, sunny weather, I strode south along the bluffs, taking in the smells, sounds, and feel of the sun on my skin. A random glance left stopped me in my tracks as my eyes fell directly on a bobcat curled in the grass, also basking in the warmth, eyes at half-mast in pleasure…and probably monitoring my presence for potential threat. I stood for a minute and spoke to it in a low voice, hoping the vibration of my presence and my appreciation for sharing the day and the moment with it would convey. It never moved a hair, though we were only, at most, 20 feet apart; just gazed back at me through narrowed eyes in that distinctly feline manner that always leaves one wondering what exactly they're thinking…

“I'm always gratified by these close encounters with our wild fauna brethren. They reinforce my belief that sympathetic vibrational magnetism is at work in the world, drawing to us those who are attuned to the same energy and outlook we are. We're connected in invisible ways, in ‘mysterious’ ways that don't need to be figured out…simply acknowledged and accepted, gratefully.”

I know what Lisa means about being connected. I had an encounter with a deer in a meadow that was magical. I’ll never forget it.

Magical encounters and more, specialties of the beautiful Mendonoma Coast.  Thanks to Lisa for allowing me to share her photo with you here.

It's a total washout today, Sunday! Since this morning, nearly THREE inches of the wet stuff.

Three mountain lions, I'm thinking a mother with her two grown offspring, were videoed by motion detection cameras last week, right in Gualala. One sighting was on the east side of Highway One and the other was on the west side. Michael Coustier wrote, “Thought you might get a kick out of seeing the kitties that were outside our house earlier this week.”

This is the time of year for the two younger cougars to leave their mother, and establish their own territory. We’ve been seeing that happening in the Bay Area recently.

I was impressed with the quality of the video Michael sent in. He sent me a link that told me it was a Tapo 2K Outdoor Pan/Tilt Wireless Floodlight Security Camera - Battery Power with Solar, 360º AI Motion Tracking. Here is the link to Michael's video:

The cougars sure seem comfortable in this area! And they would have crossed Highway One to reach the west side after this visit.

Thanks to Michael for allowing me to share his video and screen shot with you here.

It's been sunny today with a cool breeze - rain predicted starting tomorrow, Saturday, night. Happy Valentine's Day!

We're finally back to winter here on the Mendonoma Coast. Temps have fallen, the wind has picked up and the wet stuff arrived as promised. This is a photo I took this afternoon from Rick's and my deck in Anchor Bay.

We received a half inch of rain so far! The next two days are suppose to be dry but then a series of storms will pay their visit with rain predicted for at least five straight days beginning late Saturday.

When there is a minus tide, some of us head to the beach to see what may be revealed. Cindy Morey did just that and found an animal rarely seen. She wrote, “I found something on our Irish Beach that I had never seen before and I have no idea what kind of crab it is. The body part was a reddish color with little bumps of white. The legs were like fur with nails at the end. I thought it was a piece of succulent until I picked it up and the legs moved. Looked more like a tarantula than a crab. It was like seeing an alien.”

I sent Cindy’s photos to intertidal zone expert Bob Van Syoc. He wrote, “Ah, looks like a rhinoceros crab!  I’m not too fond of the common name, but easier to pronounce than Rhinolithodes wossnessenskii, perhaps.  Count the ‘walking’ legs.  Eight, four on each side.  It’s in the same family as King crabs, the Lithodidae.  This cryptic creature blends in with rocky rubble and sponge covered rocks.  Nice photos.”

Here is a look at the underside of this crab.

Cryptic is a good way to describe this crab that stays hidden most of the time. They live at depths of 20 to 240 feet on rocky seafloors, often hiding in deep crevices. They are common in Alaskan waters and their southern boundary is supposed to be Crescent City.

In the twenty years I've been writing my Mendonoma Sightings column, I have never received a sighting of this unusual-looking crab...until now! I did share Cindy's photos with the folks at NOAA and they were happy to learn about this.

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

It's raining her this afternoon! Yes, after over a week of sunny and warm weather, it looks like the pendulum has swung back to rainy and cooler, as it should be in winter!

We have a mated pair of Bald Eagles at the Gualala River. Michael Reinhart found this one on the northern cliff overlooking the river and the Pacific Ocean.

She just looks so darn majestic!

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

Our warm weather looks to be leaving us. The wind picked up today and there are some clouds rolling in. We're ready for more rain, that's for sure!

They are not always easy to see but Michael Reinhart has the coveted ability to have birds pose for him - or so it seems! Here's a Hermit Thrush...posing.

Just lovely! These birds love to sing in the spring and once they pair up they continue to sing to each other from a distance. To hear their beautiful songs, here is a link to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Hermit_Thrush/sounds

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

We are in another dry spell with no rain predicted for a week or so. It's warm and there is no wind - a beautiful time to be on the Mendonoma Coast.