Sightings

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Peter Baye wrote, "Here are some photos of a beautiful flowering shrub that isn't too common in Mendonom - canyon gooseberry, Ribes menziesii. It has incredible tiny fushsia-like flowers, dark maroon to pink or white.

This bush is from The Conservation Fund's Buckeye Forest, on Fuller Creek. Not many records of them up here, most of them quite old."

Fuller Creek is a tributary of the Gualala River. I personally have never seen this flowering bush. It's quite lovely. To learn more about the Conservation Fund, here is a link to their website: https://www.conservationfund.org/projects/gualala-river-forest

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

Another sunny, warm day here today. Hints of rain coming in for the weekend.

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Michelle Rossich was celebrating her birthday by taking a walk on the Lands. This beautiful Great Blue Heron took flight quite close to her, a real gift.

Michelle found more gifts in the tide pools. First a beautiful Sea Anemone.

And a healthy Ochre Sea Star.

Birthday gifts courtesy of Mother Nature!

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

Sunny, breezy, so-not-winter, here today. Perhaps some rain by the weekend...we hope!

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Roxanne Holmes was enjoying the recent warm weather by visiting Shell Beach on The Sea Ranch. She found this sandcastle nestled into the rocky bluff edge. Pretty sweet!

I imagine it would be easy to miss this if you weren't paying attention.

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

Cloudy, cold and VERY windy today. It would sure be nice if some raindrops fell. We have had zero rain for the entire month of February, which is worrisome.

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Yep, he's still hanging around the hamlet of Elk. The big male Roosevelt Elk can sometimes be seen from Highway One. Ken Bailey recently photographed him.

He looks healthy with that big rack! Hope he finds a female of his species one of these days.

Thanks to Ken for allowing me to share his photo with you here. To see Ken's underwater photography, here is his website: http://www.seadreams.org/

Unbelievably warm here today for February - 76 degrees this afternoon. It's hard to really enjoy this dry spell when we know we need rain.

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Many of us are enjoying watching the mated pair of Bald Eagles at the Gualala River. Eric Zetterholm witnessed an interesting encounter which featured the female Bald Eagle. He wrote, “I took a walk out to the Gualala Point Beach Wednesday morning and found very large numbers of different Gulls there. A few were chasing a fish head as it was pushed and pulled by the waves. I managed to grab it without getting too wet and took a few photos before I left it for the Gulls." Not a pretty sight, I know! We think it's the head of a Steelhead.

Eric continues, “When I had walked a few hundred yards up the beach, I got sight of a Bald Eagle coming at me from down the beach. She passed me very quickly and swiftly snatched up the fish head, carrying it off to the river."

"I decided to make the long hike back up the beach, up the pathway, over the hill, down the trail, and back up the river. The eagle was still enjoying the fish as I walked down river and I was able to get fairly close to her while keeping out of her view.”

Lots going on alongside the Gualala River and the Pacific Ocean!

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

Sunny, breezy, cooler day today!