Author Archives: Jeanne Jackson

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Don Krieger photographed something I’ve never seen before. He wrote, “On Saturday afternoon, as we were standing at Del Mar Point looking south, we saw the phenomena known as a Brocken Specter (look in the center of the photo.)"

A Brocken Specter, also called Brocken bow, mountain specter, or specter of the Brocken is the magnified shadow of a person cast in midair upon any type of cloud opposite a strong light source. Amazing.

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

Foggy and cool this morning, but the sun has appeared this afternoon. Still a little smoky here today.

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The last evening of August brought a beautiful full moon. It was the second full moon in the month, and thus called a Blue Moon. And it was also a Supermoon. Some of the coast’s best photographers were out to get their photos of this event. Rozanne Rapozo wrote, “ We relocated from Breakers Reach to Gualala Point Regional Park this time to photograph the last Supermoon until September of next year! The weather has been so uncooperative this year that this is the first time I’ve been out photographing at night in ages. Amazing to watch the moon rise above the ridge.” And shine through the Serge at the park!

Bill Oxford also got some great photos. He photographed the large moon framed by trees, and from the bluffs. He wrote, “I shot the Blue Moon at Shell Beach and my backyard in TSR on Wednesday. Had a great time on the bluff finding compositions until 2:00 a.m. I accidentally flushed out some sleeping Deer to their distain and my startled surprise. All good!”

You can see Bill’s series at his website, http://billoxfordphoto.com/bluemoonatthesearanch

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

It was cool and foggy this morning, but the sun is breaking through. It doesn't seem to be as smoky today. So far, I haven't smelled smoke. We actually have rain in the forecast for Monday. Wouldn't it be terrific if it rained to our north and helped put out the fires?!

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Just in time for Autumn, Monarch Butterflies are beginning to grace us with their presence. They travel here to feed before their long migration southward. Paul Brewer recently photographed several in his Gualala garden.

See the two black dots on the Monarch on the left, on his lower wings? That tells you it's a male.

These Monarchs are the Methuselah generation, the long-lived generation that makes the fall migration.

Thanks to Paul for allowing me to share his photos with you here. You can see Paul's nature photographs displayed at the Gualala Arts Dolphin Gallery. Here's the link to their website: https://gualalaarts.org/dolphin-gallery/

The day started out partly-sunny, but for the first time in weeks, smoke has drifted down from the fires in far northern California and Oregon.

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Rozanne Rapozo was down at the Gualala River when this Brown Pelican came in for a landing. As graceful as they are in the air, they can be quite clumsy when landing in the water.

And here Rozanne has photographed the gular pouch of a Brown Pelican.

The gular pouch is the flexible skin located on the pelican’s lower jaw and connected to the throat.

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

It's a beautiful day here today - a mixture of fog over the water, cool temps and sunny skies over the land.

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Nancy Gastonguay photographed this Bobcat and then wondered if perhaps she had photographed a Lynx.

Lynx aren’t found here. They are forest-dwelling cats in northern latitudes such as Montana, Maine and Minnesota, where deep snow and spruce/fir forest are common. Bobcats and Lynx are in the same genus. Here is an interesting graph showing the differences between the two.

I've never seen a Lynx, but I have seen Bobcats here on the Mendonoma Coast. The best places to see them are meadows as they hunt for rodents.

Thanks to Nancy for allowing me to share her photo with you here.

It's a beautiful calm day here on the coast today - just loverly.