Sightings

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Here's Rita's story:  “I glanced out and saw what I was pretty sure was this big animal across at the neighbor’s driveway (they were not at home) so I  went outside to our front yard to look across the way, and within those couple of minutes this beautiful Black Bear had come to OUR front yard and came face to face with me about 20 feet away with quite a curious look on his/her face... just like me! I am so glad I was able to capture that funny expression and wonderful moment with my iPhone.”

The Bear has soil on his/her muzzle, probably from foraging for food, and was seen on the east side of The Sea Ranch.

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

Windy again today, and clear skies. Temps are cooler today. The Mendonoma Coast is packed with visitors for the 4th of July holiday!

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Pat Whelan has Black Bears regularly visiting her Sea Ranch property. And now her cameras recorded a nice healthy-looking Mountain Lion.

This Mountain Lion was strolling along. It's their home too.

Thanks to Pat for allowing me to share this photo with you here.

ooo, the wind picked up today. Fog is over part of the ocean and beautiful wispy clouds are overhead.

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Mel Smith was out photographing a rather rare sight. He wrote, “Here is the new Moon and the planet Mercury on the 26th of June 2025.”

Mercury is often difficult to spot because it's close to the sun. It's still a little hard to spot it in Mel's photo - look to the left of the Moon. If you click on the photo, you will easily see Mercury. Mercury was relatively high in the evening sky when Mel got his photo.

Thanks to Mel for allowing me to share his photo with you here!

Foggy this morning and sunny this afternoon, temps in the high 70's.

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A Coast Gartersnake with blue eyes? That’s what Karen Wilkinson recently saw. She wrote, “I was able to snap a quick photo of this snake whose eyes looked a little strange.” Karen found this information on the web. "Garter snakes with blue-ish eyes are undergoing the shedding process, where the old skin, including the one covering their eyes, is being shed. This process causes the eye to appear cloudy blue due to fluid buildup between the old and new skin layers. The blue-ish eyes are a normal part of this process and indicate the snake is about to shed its skin.”

I sent Karen’s photo to herpetologist Gary Nafis and he concurred. He wrote, “The picture is a good illustration of why snake keepers call a snake that's going to shed ‘in blue.’ They get a bit cranky then because they can't see well.”

Thanks to Karen for allowing me to share her photo with you here! And you can learn so much from Gary's website: https://californiaherps.com/

It was drippy foggy this morning, but it pulled back over the Pacific Ocean this afternoon. Temps are very mild, around 60 degrees. No wind!

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Greg Talamini wrote, “Friday sunset colors from Robinson Reef Drive in Gualala. The setting sun cleared a large fogbank just before setting over Fish Rocks.”

Just lovely! Thanks to Greg for allowing me to share his photo with you here.

Today was clear. Quite breezy on the immediate coast, and toasty warm away from the coast.