Nancy Padgett noticed her cat, Oscar, watching something very intently through the window. This is what Oscar was looking at - two baby Skunks hurrying along.
The two young ones traveled up the road and then disappeared.
Thanks to Nancy for allowing me to share her photo with you today.
Steve Wilcox was the lucky person who had a pair of Western Bluebirds build a nest in his birdhouse. Here are the parents, with the male on the left.
Here the father brings a tasty bug to his offspring.
And finally Steve got a photo of the newly fledged chick
Western Bluebirds are thrushes. When they aren't breeding they like to travel in flocks, being very social birds! To hear their calls, here is a link to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Western_Bluebird/sounds
Thanks to Steve for allowing me to share his photos with you here.
Mike Nelson trained his camera on the Point Arena Lighthouse as the sun was setting.
And then Mike photographed it in the after-glow of the setting sun.
Beautiful photos of one of the most visited places on the Mendonoma Coast.
Thanks to Mike for allowing me to share his photos with you here. To learn more about the Lighthouse, here's their website: http://pointarenalighthouse.com/
Despite all the valid reasons to deny the Dogwood timber harvest plan, the logging in the floodplain of the Gualala River, CAL-FIRE has just approved it. The logging plan starts at the boundary of Gualala Point Regional Park Campground and then goes up river for more than five miles. The solid red in the photo below shows Dogwood. The red with yellow is "Apple," a recently approved THP.
There will be a Community Protest Rally at Gualala Point Regional Park on Saturday July 16, from 11 am to noon. Sonoma County Parks has waived the entrance fee for this event. Enter the park on the west side of Highway One. Just after the pay station, is a parking area called the Salal parking area. We will congregate there, beginning at 10:30 am.
At 11 we will walk down the path in the meadow, which passes by the Serge, totems, and then to the parking area which overlooks the Gualala River Lagoon.
Mike Shoys recently photographed some of Dogwood. You will see mature Redwood trees marked in blue for logging.
The new owners of this land, some 29,000 acres, should not be allowed to log in the floodplain of the river. These 400+ acres are a part of the Gualala River's ecosystem.This area was logged nearly a hundred years ago. It shouldn't have been logged then and it shouldn't be logged now.
We urge the Burch family to sell these 400+ acres to Sonoma County Regional Parks where the land would be added to the existing park, giving our community, and those who visit our area, a river park to cherish.
Thanks to Mike for allowing me to share his photos with you here. To learn much more about Dogwood, here is the link to the Friends of the Gualala River's website: http://gualalariver.org/
You will read on FoGR's website that a "Notice of Intent to Sue" has been filed by FoGR and Forest Unlimited. They will need donations for this necessary legal action. Here is Forest Unlimited's website: http://forestunlimited.org/about-us/mission/
Hope to see some of you at the protest rally on Saturday!
It seems to have been a good year for Pale Swallowtail butterflies, as there has been numerous sightings of them. Andi Kahn recently sent in this photo of one.
It looks like its feeding on a butterfly bush. Another butterfly seen recently is California Sister. Gail Eddy took this photo several years ago, but I saw several just yesterday.
Thanks to Andi and Gail for allowing me to share their photos with you here.