As I mentioned yesterday, the sandbar has once again closed the Gualala River off to the Pacific Ocean. This creates ideal kayaking conditions. Karen Tracy recently took to the water and she saw many beautiful sightings.
It looks idyllic, doesn't it?! As Karen meandered up the river, she came across at Great Blue Heron perched on a branch.
And a Western Pond Turtle sunning itself on a log - a wonderful sighting!
Thanks to Karen for allowing me to share her photos with you here.
We have had some beautiful sunsets over the past several days and one green flash that Rick and I saw. It was quick but glowed a beautiful emerald-green. Karen Tracy recently photographed a sunset at Cook's Beach, the very popular public access just north of Gualala.
To learn more about our new public access spots, here is the link to the Redwood Coast Land Conservancy: http://www.rc-lc.org/ The fine people at RCLC are doing such wonderful work to bring us access to these beautiful places where we can see a sunset like this one.
Thanks to Karen for allowing me to share her photo with you here.
On a recent mushroom forage with Rozann Grunig, Karen Tracy and Rick, we discovered Black Trumpets just emerging.
They are hard to spot, aren't they? They look like black holes on the forest floor. This delicious edible mushroom is also called Horn of Plenty, Black Chanterelle and Trumpet of Death. Their Latin name makes me laugh, as it sounds like a spell Harry Potter might use - Craterellus cornucopioides.
We left these mushrooms to grow more. We did find many Candy Caps and Hedgehog mushrooms and one beautiful Matsutke to fill our baskets. Thanks to Rozann for allowing me to share her photo with you here.
Karen Tracy and a friend were walking on the bluffs recently when they came across this beautiful Elegant Sheep Moth, Hemileuca eglanterina. It is a Silk Moth and a California native. This moth only appears in the summer and is a rare sighting.
With its pink wings highlighted in black and its yellow body, this is one beautiful moth. No surprise, this California native feeds on native plants, which include Ceanothus and California Coffee-Berry.
Thanks to Karen for allowing me to share her photo with you here. To see another photo of this moth showing two mating, here is the link: http://www.mendonomasightings.com/2011/10/16/elegant-sheepmoth-a-beautiful-and-rare-moth-photographed-by-patricia-mcbratney/
The Mendonoma Coast has been enveloped in fog the past two days. It quiets down the sound of the barking Sea Lions on Fish Rocks. Karen Tracy photographed the early morning fog drifting up below her home in Anchor Bay.
Thanks to Karen for allowing me to share her photo with you here.
To see a photo of another beautiful sunrise, here's the link: http://www.mendonomasightings.com/2011/12/24/beautiful-sunrise-photographed-by-coastal-photographer-craig-tooley/