Tag Archives: Annapolis

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Mylitta Butterflies, Phyciodes mylitta, are small and colored orange, blank and with white edges. I am seeing one or two every day at my place in Anchor Bay. But Laura Baker topped me big-time with her sighting many of these elegant butterflies on a flowering bush at her place in Annapolis.

Here's a close-up for you to see, taken by Craig Tooley.

Life gets a little better when a butterfly comes your way! Thanks to Laura and Craig for allowing me to share their photos with you here.

It was foggy this morning, but the fog had pulled waaay back. That yellow thing...oh, yes, I remember!...the sun has appeared.

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Laura Baker wrote, “Here's a photo of a Barred Owl I snapped today up here in Annapolis.  It's peeking behind a strand of Usnea lichen.  I have to admit having mixed feelings about seeing it.  On the one hand, it's a beautiful, powerful bird.  But as you probably know, the Barred Owls are driving out our local and less aggressive Northern Spotted Owls.”

This beautiful owl used to be an owl of the eastern part of the United States but in the 20th century it started to migrate towards the Pacific Northwest. For better or worse, the Barred Owl is here. These owls fly noiselessly so it's often difficult to spot them.

For comparison, here's a Northern Spotted Owl, photographed some years ago by Craig Tooley.

Thank to Laura and Craig for allowing me to share their photos with you here.

No fog today and temps are very warm when you get away from the ocean!

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Laura Baker wrote, "I was out looking under logs up here in Annapolis and had a wonderful experience. I found a Speckled Black Salamander, a first for me. Later in the day I found a Wandering Salamander, also a first.”

Here's Speckled Black Salamander, Anedies flauvipunctatus. Its Scientific name sounds like an incantation from Harry Potter!

And here is the Wandering Salamander, Aneides vacrans.

Here's a look at this salamander's long, squared-off toes.

These are climbing salamanders and have prehensile tails. Wandering Salamanders often are found high in the canopy of old-growth trees, where they can live for the entire lives. The Gualala River watershed is the southernmost limit of their range.

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

We received .25 inches of rain yesterday, the first in over a month. We have more in our forecast. Today I can see showers out on the horizon and the Pacific Ocean has big swells.

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Lewis Lubin and Laura Baker have an old orchard on their Annapolis property.  Lewis wrote, “During breakfast last Sunday, we saw our neighbor looking for his breakfast of apples and pears from our Annapolis homesite. We all saw each other and respected our boundaries.”

That's a pretty good-sized bear! Here's a couple of favorite photos of a Black Bear eating huckleberries, taken by Jon Shiu.

ooo, lots of huckleberries for the hungry bear! This is a good year for our wild blueberries. Huckleberries are prized by many creatures including migrating birds, Deer, Black Bears...and me!

Thanks to Lewis and Jon for allowing me to share their photos with you here.

On such a high fire danger day, when many neighbors inland have had their power turned off, here on the Mendonoma Coast it is cool and breezy. There is rain in the extended forecast - we just need to get through the next couple of days. Fingers crossed!

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Will Ericson had a rare sighting of a California Dogface Butterfly near Annapolis.

He wrote, “They had been hilltopping on the mountain and pollinating almost exclusively purple-colored flowers. I almost never see them.” Hilltopping, also spelled hill-topping, is a mate location behavior where the males fly up to the top of a hill to try an attract a female.

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

It's a lovely day today on the Mendonoma Coast.