Sightings

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Nothing beats a bird's eye view! Craig Tooley took to the air to photograph the nesting seabirds on Gualala Point Island and Fish Rocks. He also photographed the town of Gualala, which you can see in the bottom half of the photo. You can also see the Gualala River, which is currently closed to the Pacific Ocean by its summertime sandbar.

The Gualala River is the dividing line between Mendocino County and Sonoma County. The Sea Ranch stretches along the northern Sonoma Coast at the top of Craig's photo. It's a beautiful part of the world, don't you agree?

Thanks to Craig for allowing me to share his photo with you here. To see Craig's wildlife and aerial photography, here is the link to his web site: http://ruffimage.com/

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Peter Baye was visiting friends whose deck overlooks a tributary of Fuller Creek. There he saw several large, adult Steelhead.

Steelhead are Rainbow Trout, an ocean-going fish. They are compelled to spawn in fresh water, including the reaches of the Gualala River. Native to the tributaries of the Pacific Ocean, this fish has been introduced in many other parts of the world, sometimes to negative effects. Here on the Mendonoma Coast we celebrate their appearance.

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Siegfried Matull photographed a juvenile Western Scrub Jay all "puffed up." He caught the bird molting - growing in its new feathers. For instance, the gray feathers on its head are being replaced with blue ones.

Jays completely molt once a year, an activity that takes place in times of low stress - after nesting and before migration. Other birds that have a complete molt are Chickadees, Flycatchers, Hawks, Hummingbirds, Owls, Swallows, Thrushes, Vireos and Woodpeckers. It's an amazing phenomenon, don't you think? To completely replace each and every feather, that is a lot of energy expended.

To learn more about molting and much, much more about birds, here's a link to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology: cornell lab of ornithology

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

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Young Raccoons are fun to photograph. They are inquisitive, active and photogenic. That's all Craig Tooley needs to get a great photo.

With the dark facial markings across its eyes, you can see why Raccoons are nicknamed "Masked Bandits." Raccoons are very intelligent and they are quite dexterous with their front paws. Recently a Raccoon got in a cat door of a friend. It proceeded to open each canister on her counter until it found the canister containing brown sugar. Yep, that Raccoon had a real sweet tooth and ate all the brown sugar.

Thanks to Craig for allowing me to share his cute photo. To see more of Craig's nature photography, here's his web site: http://ruffimage.com/

To see a charming photo of a Raccoon family, here is the link: http://www.mendonomasightings.com/2011/09/08/charming-photo-by-coastal-photographer-siegfried-matull-of-a-raccoon-family/

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Sue Tara was cleaning up her land in Gualala last week when this big guy crawled out from under her deck.

These big Salamanders - they can be more than a foot long - can actually vocalize. If disturbed they give a throaty call that sounds a lot like a dog bark. They start out life in the water and need unpolluted waterways to thrive. Logging is their other threat. What a unique and wonderfully bizarre creature we see once in a great while on the Mendonoma Coast!

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