Sightings

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Jane Simmonds found a tagged Monarch with the numberB2838, and an email address on September 14th in her garden at Annapolis. Jane reported her sighting, writing, “There were two [Monarchs], one tagged and one untagged. They were loving the zinnias.” It was a particularly fun sighting for Jane, as it was her birthday.

tagged-monarcy-butterfly-by-jane-simmonds

Dr. David James of Washington State University wrote Jane back. He was thrilled, as he had reared this male Monarch. He told Jane the tag was extremely light and positioned near the center of gravity of the butterfly. The butterfly was released from Yakima, Washington.

Dr. James is studying the migratory routes taken by Monarchs from the Pacific Northwest. He says there are a few thousand tagged Monarchs, and he wouldn’t be surprised if others were seen here. But so far Jane's sighting is the only one of one of these tagged Monarchs.

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

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Paul Kozal photographed the second new moon in September, also called a Black Moon. Of course Paul didn't just photograph the new moon - he photographed the Milky Way, a glorious sight in the autumn skies.

black-moon-9-30-16-by-paul-kozalA nice wet storm came in last night and gave us 1.65 inches of the wet stuff at our place in Anchor Bay. More is to come. To have early rain is a blessing.

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

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Rozann Grunig took this sunset photo from her home at The Sea Ranch, and it sure looks like a beautiful golden fan. The colors of the sky and the ocean are amazing too.

sunset-looks-like-a-golden-fan-by-rozann-grunigSunset watching - and sunset photographing - are Mendonoma coast traditions!

Thanks to Rozann for allowing me to share his photo with you here. To see more of Rozann's nature photography, here is her website: http://highway1designs.com/

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Many coast residents got to see this event. Phil Wendt got this great photo at Black Point Beach off The Sea Ranch of Cumulus radiatus, or Cloud Sheets. This beautiful cloud show occurred on September 30th.

cumulus-radiatus-cloud-streets-phil-wendtPhil did some research on these clouds. He wrote:

“ Parallel lines of clouds form along the direction of the wind, and appear to converge toward the horizon due to the effects of perspective.”

Beautiful sky indeed! Thanks to Phil for allowing me to share his photo with you here. To see Phil's recent blog posts, and more about these clouds, here is his website: http://philwendt.com/

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Ron LeValley went on a pelagic trip out of Fort Bragg. He, and the others with him, did not see many birds, but they did see two Blue whales quite close to their boat. In the first photo, the whale had just spouted. And in the second photo the big whale is descending.

blue-whale-off-fort-bragg-by-ron-levalley blue-whale-came-close-to-our-boat-by-ron-levalleyTo see a Blue whale, the largest creature of them all, is incredibly exciting. Here are three photos Ron took a few years ago, also on a pelagic trip. The first shows you a blow, the second shows the Blue whale's tiny dorsal fin, and the last shows you a Blue whale's tail.

blue-whale-spout-by-ron-levalley a-blue-whales-small-dorsal-fin-by-ron-levalley blue-whales-tale-by-ron-levalleyUnless you are at the Farallon Islands/Cordell Banks, you are not likely to see more than two Blue whales at a time. They very rarely breach, like Gray whales and Humpback whales do; they are just too big.

Thanks to Ron for allowing me to share his photos with you here. To see much more of Ron's nature photography, here is his website: http://levalleyphoto.com/home/