Sightings

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Robert and Nancy Scarola were fortunate to have several fawns born at their Sea Ranch property. Here is a recent photo of two fawns that were born earlier this year. They have lost their spots. They also seem to be posing just for Robert.

Below is a photo of these two fawns just after they were born. They love to play with each other.

Black-tailed Deer are a wonderful part of the landscape that is the Mendonoma Coast.

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

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Tom Landecker was flying over Gualala when he saw this sight. He turned his airplane around so he could get this photo.

You can see the sun was about a half hour or so from setting. The tops of the trees are draped with individual clouds of fog. Quite an amazing sight.

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

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Ron took a boat out of Noyo Harbor. He and the others on board got to see Humpbacks and a few Blue Whales.

Here you see the behemouth spouting.

And below you can see its mottled back. Ron tells me you can identify individual Blue Whales by the patterns on its back. 

Here is the Blue Whale's very small dorsal fin.

And here's a photo of a Blue Whale's tail. 

You won't see Blue Whales come out of the water much. They don't - probably can't - breach like Humpbacks or Gray Whales as they are so huge. They are extremely endangered as they try to recover from intense whaling of years past.

A reference book I enjoy is "Whales and other Marine Mammals of California and Baja" by Tamara Eder. She writes that at birth a Blue Whale weighs about 2.5 tons and is 23 feet long. An adult can weigh up to 200 tons (181,000 kg) and be up to 110 feet (34 m) long.

I was told some years ago that if you see an island in the ocean where there wasn't one before, you've just seen a Blue Whale.

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

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A few weeks ago the Moon and Venus were side by side in the sky. I took these photos from our deck in Anchor Bay. A lone fishing boat was still plying the waters.

A peaceful, beautiful moment in time here on the Mendonoma Coast.

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Though this photo wasn't taken off the Mendonoma Coast, we do see Humpbacks this time of year. Jan de Vries was traveling in Panama a few weeks ago when he took this photo. It's such a wonderful photo that I couldn't resist sharing here with you.

We have a storm front approaching the Coast, the first rain we have seen in three months. Our rains usually don't begin until October. As we've had a very dry year, we are welcoming this storm!

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