Tag Archives: Ron LeValley

Near the Mendocino Headlands Ron LeValley spotted this leucistic Black Oystercatcher. This bird survived his or her lack of camouflage to grow from a chick to this young bird.

It's not the first time a nearly white Black Oystercatcher has been born up there. Last year Roger Adamson photographed a leucistic chick.

These anomalies appear in nature, but they always seem to catch us by surprise and bring a little wonder into our lives.

Thanks to Ron and Roger for allowing me to share their photos with you here. To see much more of Ron's nature photography, or to sign up for his daily nature blog post, here is his website: http://levalleyphoto.com/home/

Smoke from the fire in Geyserville flowed up over the coast this morning. Here's a photo I took from our deck in Anchor Bay around 8 am this morning. It kind of looks like fog, but it's smoke.

The smoke has dissipated somewhat this afternoon. I hope the fires can be brought under containment soon. It's so sad.

Gaily Jackson enjoys exploring along the Gualala River. Two weeks ago she photographed a bird that was difficult to identify, until Ron LeValley let us know it was a juvenile Black-crowned Night-Heron.

Gaily got several nice photos of this beautiful bird. The first one below shows a larger Great Blue Heron on the left side.

Then late last week, Gaily found an adult and got this photo.

It's nice to see these Night-Herons here.

Thanks to Gaily for allowing me to share her photos with you here. To see much more of her nature photography, here is the link to her website: http://gailyimages.com/

We had a very strange wind event here late yesterday afternoon. Chris McManus, the editor of the Independent Coast Observer, is researching the phenomenon and I hope to tell you more about it later this week. Today is bright sun and cool temps!

Ron LeValley photographed the leucistic Black Oystercatcher. The bird fledged from the Mendocino Headlands, and Ron found it on a nearby mussel bed.

We've seen other instances of this. Last year,  Roger Adamson photographed this leusictic Black Oystercatcher chick.

And here's a leucistic American Robin, photographed some years ago by Susan Gonzales.

And a leusictic Dark-eyed Junco, photographed by Barbara Pratt.

It's always startling to see! Thanks to Ron, Susan, Roger and Barbara for allowing me to share their photos with you here. To see much more of Ron's nature photography, here is the link to his website: http://levalleyphoto.com/home/

Sunny, mild day on the Mendonoma coast. Might be a chance to see a green flash at sunset tonight!

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It was a mystery. About three or four weeks ago Mary Heibel was hiking at the Point Arena-Stornetta Lands, near the Field Station. She found approximately 12 broken shells right near the bluff edge. She brought one to me. It’s bigger than a chicken egg, tan with gray and dark brown splotches, almost as if an artist had thrown paint at the shell. Osprey eggs comes closest in looks, but 12 eggs? There was no discernable nest according to Mary. I wondered what birds might produce a dozen eggs and an egg quite large. Wild Turkey eggs were not a match.

Diane Hichwa provided the first clue. She theorized that the spot was an eating place rather than a nesting spot. Dave Jensen suggested looking at Western Gull and Common Murre eggs as a reference. Dave suggested Common Ravens could have been egg thieves. He wrote, “They often work in pairs, one to distract and the other to snatch. Their increasing population proves the point.”

The eggs were a match for Western Gulls. Doug Forsell had more insights. He wrote, “For at least four years now a pair of Ravens have been taking the eggs from the Cormorant colonies along the cliffs and on the island near the Field Station. Last year, during the Discover the Coast event, I watched the ravens taking both Pelagic Cormorant and Western Gull eggs.”

Ravens also steal Common Murre eggs. Ron LeValley sent along a photo of a raven flying with one in its beak.

Seabirds are shy in comparison with ravens. Doug shared a video where a raven flew to a Pelagic Cormorant’s nest and pushed the nesting mother off the nest. The raven the stole the lone egg. https://youtu.be/Upw4D0OamEc

Common Ravens eat everything, including carrion. We have an overabundance of ravens here and one of the reasons is that we humans are feeding them. For the sake of the seabirds, we must stop.

Thanks to Ron for allowing me to share his photo with you. Quite a mystery tour this ended up to be. I appreciate everyone who helped solve it.

Several weeks ago, Ron LeValley captured magic by photographing a green flash at sunset.

It's so fleeting that you might  miss it if you blink! It's said to bring good luck. How about if we agree that simply looking at Ron's green  flash photo will bring us good luck? Agreed!

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

We had a two-day heat wave but the coast's natural air conditioning, fog, has returned this morning.