Tag Archives: male

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It's not unheard of to have an Elephant Seal here, but it doesn't happen too often. And when one appears, it's always on the beach, the sand. But not this big fellow. Traci Segelstrom wrote, “Here’s ‘Gus’ the Elephant Seal at Anchor Bay Campground.  He has completely stolen my heart. Who even knew Elephant Seals had eyebrows?!”

Paula Stillman also photographed him. She wrote, “This Elephant Seal picked campsite 33 to chill and relax for awhile. Apparently he’s a regular around here.”

Last week Mark Vanderwoude also found the big Elephant Seal in residence. He wrote this fun story.

“I was at the Anchor Bay Campground this morning and it appears that Mr. Elephant Seal has commandeered Spaces 32 and 33 without a reservation, and has no intention of paying. He isn't very friendly and the staff has no intention of inviting him to leave any time soon. Seeing is believing when campers with reservations are told of his disregard for their reservations, they now understand why ... he's huge!”

Mark also pointed out the many scars on this Elephant Seal’s back.

While resting on the beach, or favored campsite, Elephant Seals fast, living off their blubber. Dogs will need to be kept on leashes while this big fellow is in residence.

Thanks to Traci, Paula and Mark for allowing me to share their photos with you here.

A wait-five-minutes kind of day. Showers, sunshine, downpours, wind, roiling clouds - the Mendonoma Coast has a little bit of it all today. Nearly two inches of rain from the storms.

 

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Craig Tooley has been out in Nature, training his camera on a beautiful male Northern Flicker.

Northern Flickers are woodpeckers. They are often seen on the ground as they eat ants and beetles. They use their beaks to dig the insects up. Craig's photos shows the orange-red color on the flicker's wings. If you were in the eastern part of the US, the flicker's wings would show yellow. So the flickers here are Red-shafted Northern Flickers. The red feathers on this flicker's face show us he is a male.

To hear the calls of these woodpeckers, here is a link to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Northern_Flicker/sounds

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

It's beautiful here on the Mendonoma Coast today. Sunny, mild with a gentle breeze - nice!

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I love seeing Northern Flickers. I often see them coming to neighbors' springs to get water. Craig Tooley recently photographed a male Flicker.

The red "whiskers" tells us this is a male and is the Red-shafted form of Flickers, the ones found here in the west. Their call is distinctive and you can hear it at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology site at this link: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Northern_Flicker/sounds

Northern Flickers use their big beaks to dig in the ground, unearthing ants and beetles, their preferred food.

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

Another sunny, unseasonably warm day. Really, it's quite lovely but it's just not right for February. But what else can we do but enjoy the warm breezes and bright blue sky?! News flash! Scott and Tree Mercer saw the first NORTH-bound Gray Whale on Monday, Feb. 7th, just about on schedule. The first to head back to the Arctic are the newly pregnant females. They need to get to their feeding grounds as fast as possible. Gray Whales are arriving to the birthing lagoons off Baja California not. So, yes, the grays are coming and going!

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I recently showed you a video of an adult Mountain Lion, a female, and her two offspring. Now we have a sighting of an adult male. Mike Dinning wrote, “This was Sunday morning at 1:56 am, 15 feet outside the backdoor [of my house] in Point Arena, the vicinity of Ten Mile Road and Schooner Gulch. I was surprised that the Mountain Lion stood there long enough for me to take a picture.”

I sent Mike’s photo to Mountain Lion expert Quinton Martins asking if he thought Mike’s photo showed a male.  Quinton wrote, “What a beauty!!! Yes, it looks like a  male. Stunning.”

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

Sunny and breezy on the Mendonoma Coast today.

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Michael Reinhart trained his camera on a beautiful male Anna's Hummingbird. As the sunlight shone on the little bird, the iridescent colors were revealed.

Mike also photographed a male Allen's Hummingbird, the feisty cousin of the Anna's.

Allen's Hummingbirds numbers are in decline, whereas the Anna's seem to be thriving.

Thanks to Mike for giving us these close-up views of these vibrant hummers.

A beautiful, sunny day on the Mendonoma coast today. Windy on the bluffs with lots of white caps on the ocean. Mary Heibel met me at the Point Arena Lighthouse gates and showed me a wildflower I hadn't seen before, Wallflowers. More on them in another post!