Sightings

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Mary Bennett was excited to see a fogbow recently. She wrote, “I saw this nifty fogbow, aka a white rainbow, at Sea Ranch. It’s the first one I’ve personally seen. It made my day!”

Once you've seen one, I believe, it's easier to see another. Look for one when the fog is about bluff high in the morning. I was so excited to see my first fogbow five years ago. I tried to photograph it but my camera wouldn't focus. Rick took over and manually focused the camera. The fogbow was beginning to fade, but I did get this photo.

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

We are having showers from the storm system that went through yesterday. And it's quite warm! This weekend should be stellar on the Mendonoma coast!

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Margaret Lindgren has an ideal job. She created the tour company, Unbeaten Path Tours. She loves the Mendonoma coast and gets to see nature up close and personal nearly every day. Recently she led a tour at the Point Arena-Stornetta Lands. Look at the beautiful day they had!

You can see the Lighthouse in the far distance. Margaret also photographed a colony of Brandt's Cormorants. The young ones are the brown ones.

Margaret and her tour also spotted a California Sea Lion, which she said was quite unusual for that particular spot. It was just headed into the water.

The Lands never disappoint - there is always something beautiful and/or interesting to see.

Thanks to Margaret for allowing me to share her photos with you here. To learn more about taking a tour with her - and I highly recommend it! - here is her website: https://www.unbeatenpathtours.com/

We had a nice, drenching rain last night. We received 1.85 inches at our place in Anchor Bay. So far we have received 2.40 inches of rain. Today is warm and humid! Can edible mushrooms be nearly at hand?

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We have a group of sub-adult Gray Whales who have stayed along our coast rather than migrating to the Bering Sea. This has been happening for several years now. It's exciting to see and it's heartening to know there is enough feed for them here. Karen Wilkinson recently photographed a young Gray Whale.

You can tell it's a young gray by the stubby head. And, if we had something to compare it with, you'd see the length of the young whale is less than an adult.

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

We had our first rain in nearly six months yesterday and the night before. It felt so wonderful to hear and see it. This morning the damp forest smelled so good. We have another storm predicted for Monday night. Could mushrooms be far behind?!?

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Michael Combs' dog, Ranger, found an unusual sighting. Michael wrote, "On Cooks Beach, our dog, Radar, was very excited by something he smelled in the surf near the shore. After a bit, I saw the tip of what was the wing of a dead Longnose Skate in the water. I dragged it to shore and took its picture."

"Including the tail, it was about four feet long, and was heavy, estimated 40 to 50 pounds. It wasn’t on the beach today, a good thing as it was starting to smell pretty bad.”

I had never seen one of these skates with a very long nose before. I sent Michael’s photo to MaryJane Schramm of NOAA. She wrote, “Cool find!  I believe this is a Longnose skate, Raja rhina, and they are found here, indeed. They're usually at deeper depths, but wildlife notoriously does not read the books we write about them.”

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

We are beginning to cloud up this afternoon. Some rain is predicted soon, our first in nearly six months. It is so very welcomed!

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Kathryn Arnold went tide pooling during a recent low tide. She wrote: “I had a couple of unique-to-me sightings at Shell Beach. The tide was an 0.7 and I spotted a healthy juvenile Bat Star about the size of my thumbnail resting on a seaweed-covered rock at the tideline."

“When I gently turned it over for a closer look, I discovered that is was dining on a wee Wentletrap!

"Don’t worry, I put the Bat Star and its prey back where I found them! A few moments later I came across a ten-inch long Gumboot Chiton tracing a beautiful serpentine design in the sand.”

I didn't know about Wentletraps. I learned a Wentletrap was a tiny sea snail with a beautiful white spiral shell. The word “wentletrap” is Dutch for spiral staircase. Wentletraps are also called Staircase Shells or Ladder Shells. How, I wondered, did a Sea Star dine one of these seemingly well-protected mollusks.

I learned that many Sea Stars eat Mussels and Clams, also well-protected by shells. Sea Stars surround the shell, as the little Bat Star did, and use the suckers on their feet to pull the shell apart, creating a tiny opening for them to reach their prey, using their stomach to do so. Mother Nature seems to have quite a creative streak.

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