Close to the banks of Quinliven Creek on our Anchor Bay property, a group of colorful wild mushrooms caught our eye. They turned out to be the edible Red-capped Butter Boletes, Boletus regius. Another wonderful gift in the forest. Thank you, Mother Nature!
On Thursday the Pacific Ocean was putting on a show. Just look at the photo David Wayne Floyd took at Anchor Bay Beach.
Rozann Grunig captured this dramatic photo of a Great Blue Heron perched on a rock during the wild surf. Storms to our north can cause high surf on the Mendonoma Coast in November. The heron sure looks like it is hunkered down!
To see a lovely photo by Marianne Rittenhouse of a Great Blue Heron at the moment it takes wing, and to learn more about Great Blue Herons, click on this link: http://www.mendonomasightings.com/2011/09/30/great-blue-heron-photographed-just-as-it-takes-flight-a-lovely-photograph-by-marianne-rittenhouse/
Craig Tooley recently photographed a lovely Song Sparrow. They are found across the United States but those in the Pacific Northwest look a bit different from their Eastern counterparts. It fills the air with its lilting song.
To hear the Song Sparrow's call, here's a link to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology: http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Song_sparrow/sounds
Thanks to Craig for allowing me to show his photo here. To see more of Craig's work, here's a link to his web site: http://web.me.com/theruffians1
White Matsutakes are beginning to pop. Rick and I found several recently on a neighbor's property in Anchor Bay in Mendocino County. Lucky for us they have given us permission to mushroom there! Here's a photo of Rick picking a perfect Matsutake.
Here is a link to see what the Matsutakes looked like at this spot several weeks ago:
http://www.mendonomasightings.com/2011/11/01/the-first-matsutakes-are-peeking-up-from-the-duff-in-mendocino-county/