You could hear it before you saw it. Something noisy in the air was headed up the Mendonoma Coast.
I rushed outside with my camera and found this - the Goodyear Blimp.
It is the Spirit of America headed to Arcata, CA. Here's a link to the schedule of this blimp: http://www.goodyearblimp.com/news-and-events/schedule.html The schedule shows it will fly to Portland, Oregon next.
A fun and different sighting for you today!
Dragonflies and damselflies are fascinating insects. Darrell Paige wrote, “It is obvious that spring has arrived with the continual traffic of Dragonflies cycling up and down North Fork Fuller Creek. There are a variety of colors: bright orange, blue, blue/black, stripped, and the yellow/black stripped Pacific Spiketail.
“One Pacific Spiketail decided to take a break and have a little quiet time on Lee Tate’s fingers, which provided me with the opportunity to snap a photo and see the intricate detail of the wings before it decided rest time was over and went back to cycling up and down the creek.”
I have never seen a Dragonfly, a living jewel, rest on someone’s fingers. That’s an amazing sighting. Thanks to Paige for allowing me to share his photo with you here.
River Otters live in and by Mendonoma rivers and creeks. Steve Coffey-Smith recently spotted three River Otters in the ocean.
One place you might see River Otters is near the lagoon of the Gualala River. They cannot abide pollution so the fact that they are here is a good indication of the health of our waterways.
Though they look cute, they are feisty creatures. The female raises her pups; the male is only around for mating. One of my favorite photos was taken by Nan Brichetto of a River Otter sleeping on a beach.
Thanks to Steve and Nan for allowing me to share their photos with you here.
This fire rainbow, or more properly, a circumhorizontal arc, appeared and several coastal residents got a photo of it. Donna Woodbury photographed it from Anchor Bay Beach. In Donna's second photo the fire rainbow is at the bottom and a portion of the halo around the sun appears. A halo can often predict rain.
Connie King capture it from The Sea Ranch.
Peggy Berryhill only had her phone camera but she captured it too. She said the colors were much more vibrant that what her photo shows.
And lastly Christina Chapman got this photo, which also shows the halo around the sun.
A circumhorizontal arc occurs when the sun is refracted through ice crystals.
Thanks to Donna, Connie, Peggy, and Christina for allowing me to share their photos with you here.
Paul Brewer trained his camera on several mother-calf pairs. He saw a calf breach multiple times.
Paul has observed that the calves seem much more likely to breach when the ocean is roiled up by wind. Interesting!
Thanks to Paul for allowing me to share his photos with you here. To see much more of Paul's nature photography, here is his website: http://www.capturingnatureswonders.com/