Monthly Archives: December 2022

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We are receiving a lot of rain today. This morning there was 1.6 inches in our rain gauge, 15.50 inches season to date. And it's raining this afternoon as I type this. During a previous storm, Grace O'Malley photographed the beautiful sight of an approaching storm.

Grace also photographed storm clouds approaching the mouth of the Russian River at Jenner.

There are mushrooms popping up in many places. Matsutakes are still appearing. Here I am a few days ago with a nice haul of these choice, edible mushrooms. Rozann Grunig took the photo.

Thanks to Grace and Rozann for allowing me to share their photos with you here.

Rain, intermittent sunshine, gusts of wind...it's a wait-five-minutes kind of day!

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Wednesday, Dec. 7th, was a beautiful, clear day with nary a white cap on the ocean. That morning, at low tide, the Gualala River breached the big sandbar at the far north end. Teresa and Rick Denniston had been watching the scene from their home, Serendipity, overlooking the river and ocean. On Tuesday, the river rose to the middle of the sandbar and then receded a bit. On Wednesday morning, the full-to-the-brim river would have its way.

With more rain headed our way, the river should stay open for a while. Steelhead that were trapped in luxury in the river during the summer and autumn months were swept into the next phase of their lives, life in the ocean. Other Steelhead will be arriving to enter the river to spawn. It's not surprising the one of the Bald Eagles was seen, probably hoping for an easy fish dinner.

Harbor Seals and CA Sea Lions also pay attention to this yearly event!

We are fortunate to be able to watch the Gualala River so easily. It's an important part of the fascinating Mendonoma Coast!

Thanks to Teresa for allowing me to share her photos with you here. Serendipity can be rented. You can learn more at this link: https://www.coastinghome.com/rns/vacation-rental/gualala/ca/serendipity  I just looked at the photos on their website, and I saw my book, Mendonoma Sightings Throughout the Year, on their table. Nice!

It's raining today with a big storm coming in Friday night into Saturday. I found Matsutake  mushrooms this morning and many other mushrooms are up now.

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Eric Zetterholm was the first to photograph this nearly-white Red-shouldered Hawk, seen on The Sea Ranch.

We weren't sure what kind of hawk this was, but hawk expert Larry Broderick ID'd it for us. Here's another photo of this unusual hawk, taken by Eric.

Rozanne Rapozo located the hawk a few days later and got these photos.

So, you can see this hawk is not an albino as he/she does have some color. But this bird is mostly white on the back!

Thanks to Eric and Rozanne for allowing me to share their photos with you here.

We had a wild storm overnight - .55 inches in our gauge. There was lightning and thunder which shook the house! More rain coming in this evening, for which we are grateful.

 

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John Wall’s dog, Dash, points out nature sightings. A few weeks ago, Dash found a Vole.

John wrote, “Everyone has seen a Vole hole, but not that many have seen a whole Vole! Dash wanted to share this sighting with you since he spotted one of our little friends sunning himself along our way. And we told the Vole, ‘Bud, you’re gonna be lunch for a heron or something if you stay out here like this!’ So we gently herded him back into his hole!” Voles are small rodents and are related to lemmings and hamsters. They are sometimes called meadow mice.

And wouldn't you know it, a few days later John photographed a Great Blue Heron with a Vole in its beak. I wonder if it was the same Vole!

And here on a recent sunny day, Dash is contemplating the cosmos...and the Pacific Ocean. What a dog!

Thanks to John for allowing me to share his photos with you here.

Rain is predicted for tonight, and some dark clouds passed by earlier. But this afternoon the sun broke through, temps in the low 50's. Humpback Whales were seen off Point Arena this morning, six or seven!

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I love seeing these beautiful birds. Great Blue Herons are year round residents of the Mendonoma Coast. Perry Hoffman recently photographed one on the bluffs at the Point Arena-Stornetta Lands.

What a lovely photo!

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

We had a vigorous storm come in overnight. There was 1.9 inches of rain in my gauge, and now we've had 10.7 inches season to date! It's cold today, in the low 40's. Lots of clouds dancing across the sky with intermittent sunshine - absolutely stunning!