Sightings

• 1 Comment

•

I love flickers and see them often alongside the road where I live in Anchor Bay, near a neighbor's spring box. These woodpeckers feed mostly on the ground as they eat ants,  beetles, and other insects. Paul Brewer caught a male Northern Flicker in flight, a beautiful sight to behold.

To hear the call of this bird, here is a link to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Northern_Flicker/sounds

Thanks to Paul for allowing me to share his photo with you here. To see much more of Paul's nature photography, here is the link to his website: http://www.capturingnatureswonders.com/

It's clear and sunny today, with a quiet ocean. That means great visibility for spotting Gray Whales on their northward migration.

•

Paul Anderson photographed this sight at the Point Arena Pier, a large dumping of round balls of hail, looking just like an inch or so of hail. This is nearly sea level!

A few days later, some of us were gifted with the sight of a beautiful rainbow. This one's pot of gold is resting on Fish Rocks off Anchor Bay. I took this photo.

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

We are waiting for another big storm, another river of rain event. At least it is warmer so no snow/hail should fall. Batten down the hatches!

• 1 Comment

•

Another river of rain event hit California and while much of the brunt of the storm was to our south, we still received a lot of rain. Here is a look at the Gualala River on Wednesday March 8, before the river of rain event. Kind of peaceful looking, wouldn't you agree?

The river is emptying by a horizontal channel, something is does occasionally but not often. There is a huge snag caught on the sandbar. A friend told me it looked like a big teeter-totter.

Thursday a big storm hit, bringing copious rain to the watershed of the Gualala River. On Friday afternoon I took these two photos of the raging river.

Much of the sandbar is underwater and I'm betting some of it has been washed away. That big snag is still on the sandbar though. We'll see if it remains or if it is finally swept to sea.

We have more rain headed our way beginning tonight. Monday especially is forecast to be heavy rain with another river of rain event. What a winter!

•

Amy Ruegg spotted these Stream Violets in riotous bloom.

And delicate Calypso Orchid.

The wildflowers know spring is coming! Thanks to Amy for allowing me to share her photos with you here.

Sunny one moment, then driving rain and hail the next. It actually hailed so much in Point Arena last night, that it looked like snow, even at the Point Arena Pier. I'll be sharing some of those photos soon.

•

Peggy Berryhill tried to tell me she had a snowy Owl in her garden. Snowy Owls are white and are found in the Arctic. But a stone owl with snow on it - yes, Peggy had a snowy Owl.

Craig Tooley photographed an American Robin in the snow. The robin didn't seem to mind it.

Michael Reinhart photographed a Snowy Plover at Doran Beach, Sonoma County. Okay, the bird isn't in snow, but I had to include it because of its  name!

Thanks to Peggy, Craig and Michael for allowing me to share their photos with you here.

It was very cold Monday morning and it sleeted a bit at Rick's and my place in Anchor Bay. At higher elevations it snowed again overnight. After morning showers, the sun appeared and passing clouds made for interesting sky-watching.