Monthly Archives: September 2018

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After a hiatus of several years, Red Sea Urchins have once again been harvested and brought to the Point Arena Pier. Michael Alexander photographed the first ones destined for sushi chefs here and in Japan that feature uni, the gonads of Red Sea Urchins.

It's not easy to harvest them. A diver will work with a partner on a boat, and stay underwater for several hours at a time collecting them. It's hard work!

These are not to be confused with the Purple Sea Urchins that have proliferated in recent years due to the Sea Stars contracting a wasting disease - Sea Stars prey on Sea Urchins. The purples, unchecked, have eaten much of the kelp, causing some Abalones to starve. Here's what they look like, photographed by Jon Loveless.

Sea Stars have recovered this year and we hope balance will return to the inter-tidal zone.

Thanks to Michael and Jon for allowing me to share their photos with  you here. We are having another lovely, warm day on the Mendonoma coast.

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Rusty Babcock was visiting her brother, Tom Reidenbach, in Irish Beach several weeks ago. Tom wrote, "[Here is] the feisty [Belted] Kingfisher that scolds every visitor to Pomo Lake in Irish Beach. He/she usually never sits still long enough to get a picture."Look at that fancy hair-do! Belted Kingfishers perch on a branch near water, such as Pomo Lake, and dives head first into the water for fish, frogs, and other aquatic prey. To hear their twittering call, here is a link to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Belted_Kingfisher/sounds

Thanks to Rusty for allowing me to share her photo with you here, and to Tom who forward it to me.

Rick and I took a walk with our golden retriever, Duffy, on the Point Arena/Stornetta Lands this morning. There was no wind and it was quite mild. Lots of happy visitors to the Lands, including us. On the road to the Lighthouse, and then on the Lands, we saw a Red-tailed Hawk perched on a telephone pole, a small group of Killdear, several whales, possibly Gray Whales, on the surface of the ocean, two groups of Brown Pelicans flying north, Cormorants and Gulls. What a great day for sightings of our natural world!

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Shirley Mitchell has a Rattlesnake Plantain, Goodyera oblongifolia, on her land. She was lucky that the Deer didn't eat it, as they do the few similar plants we have on our land. It recently was in full bloom.

This tiny orchid is hard to photograph! Shirley photographed it several weeks ago, before the small white flowers opened up.

If you look at the leaves, you will see why this plant got its common name.

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

We are having warm to hot weather on the Mendonoma coast today.

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Such a beautiful hawk! Paul Brewer spotted this young Red-shouldered Hawk in late August.

Paul said the fledgling had been trying to hunt, but wasn't very good at it. I'm sure hunger improved this hawk's hunting ability.

Paul got another look recently at what we presume is the same young Red-shouldered Hawk. The first photo below had me laughing. It's not often you see a bird with its head tilted back, looking behind its body!

Red-shouldered Hawk are year-round residents of the Mendonoma coast. Thanks to Paul for allowing me to share his photos with you here. To see much more of Paul's nature photography, here is the link to his website: http://www.capturingnatureswonders.com/

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It's exciting to see Bottlenose Dolphins off the Mendonoma coast! They have been expanding their territory northward over the past few years. Karen Wilkinson found a pod of these dolphins quite close in at Smuggler's Cove off The Sea Ranch in mid-August. She took many,  many photos, which were shared with Bill Keener of Golden Gate Cetacean Research.

Bill wrote, “I was positively able to ID three individuals. First, I was able to confirm that the female we call Sakura has a new calf. She had calves before in Monterey Bay, then about five years ago she had a calf off San Francisco, and now this is her new calf.

“You can tell that the calf is about a month old because of the vertical pale stripes on its body – those are called ‘fetal folds’ which are stretch marks due to the curled-up position the calf had while in the uterus.” Bill said the marks last a couple of months before they fade away.

Bill was pleased to see Karen had photographed Bliss, an older female. Bill wrote, “Bliss is one of the oldest dolphins in [our records.] She was first seen in San Diego in 1982! She is likely in her mid-40s or 50 years old now. Glad she is still going strong!”

The other Bottlenose Dolphin Bill was able to ID was a male named Shiloh. Neither Sakura or Shiloh had been spotted further north than Bodega Bay until now. They were seen years ago in Monterey Bay, but the past six or seven years they have been seen in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Karen also photographed an unknown adult Bottlenose Dolphin and she has a calf with her, which you can see in the photo above. Bill wrote, “As for the unidentified dolphin, now begins a longer process of trying to figure out if it has been seen before in another part of California. It’s fairly uncommon for us to see a totally brand-new adult animal before. But it can happen.”

Here are a few more photos Karen took that day.

And here is a map Karen drew of her sighting at Smuggler's Cove.

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

We are having an oh-so-lovely day this Sunday. It would be a good day to spot...bottlenose dolphins!