Earlier this week, on Monday to be exact, the Mendonoma Coast was treated to a beautiful sunset. In Point Arena, Mel Smith captured some of the magic.
Some of us call the sunbeams through the clouds God's rays.
Thanks to Mel for allowing me to share his photo with you here.
It's a lovely spring day here today, temps in the low 70's!
Michelle Gill took this lovely photo of a waterfall near Bowling Ball Beach after last week's rains.
I think it looks like a painting!
Here's the story on the Sea Otter sighting seen and videoed by Stephany Wilkes.
Sunday evening, March 29th, Stephany and Ian Wilkes were taking a walk on the bluffs at The Sea Ranch. And they saw something in the water and they thought, “Could it be a sea otter?” Stephany wrote, “I know, I know, ‘It's almost certainly a river otter’ is what we say up here. And that's what Ian and I thought too, until we pretty quickly didn't. I took several videos tonight along the bluff between Helm and Solstice, between 5:23 and 5:37PM. We were running to keep up with it - it was really trucking! You could see its white whiskers in the sunset light, and it dove for several minutes, and was swimming with food on its belly (banging away and eating.) It covered a lot of distance and did not come anywhere very close to shore. What do you think?! Could it be a historic glimpse? I am hoping you'll know who else to ask!”
I sent the videos to various folks, including Jan Roletto of NOAA. Jan wrote, “Yes, it looks to me like a sea otter in the first and fourth videos. I see a shorter tail, round hind flippers, and while on its back, it's trying to break something open by pounding it with a rock.” Jan put me in touch with Colleen Young, a sea otter specialist with California Department of Fish and Wildlife. She wrote, “Thank you so much for forwarding these great videos! This is definitely a sea otter! We will add this to our database of sea otter sightings outside their established geographic range. Thanks again for looping me in!”
sea otter off Sea Ranch 2026-03-29 by Stephany Wilkes
Sea Otter off TSR by Stephany Wilkes
Sea otters were abundant off our coast until they were hunted nearly into extinction by the 1880’s. While I know abalone enthusiasts and fisher people might disagree that this is a great sighting, sea otters are important to the ecology of the ocean. They voraciously eat purple urchins, thus protecting the kelp forests. It’s estimated that the ecosystems where sea otters live are 40% more productive, supporting a wide variety of marine life, from seabirds to whales.
Thanks to Michelle for allowing me to share her photo with you here and thanks to Stephany for allowing me to share her videos with you here!
If you can't view the videos, send me an email and I'll email a few to you.
It's cloudy and cold today with no wind.
Carol Escajeda noticed this cloud formation and said it looks like a pelican to her. Do you agree?
I can see it!
Thanks to Carol for allowing me to share her photo with you here.
We thought it was going to rain today but no! Lots of sunshine though clouds are beginning to roll in. At Rick's and my place in Anchor Bay, we had 1.38 inches last night, 1.93 inches from the two days, 49.83 season to date. 50 inches is a nice, wet season!
Ben Angwin was at Gualala Point Regional Park when the fog started to roll in. He had a unique view of a fogbow, one over land rather than the ocean.
Ben said his camera could "see" it better than his eyes. I've noticed this too and it's helped me see them with the naked eyes!
Lots of rain has been hitting the Mendonoma Coast. I have 1.65 inches in my gauge since it started late yesterday, which brings my total to 49.55 inches. 50 inches is a "normal" wet winter. We are definitely going to hit 50 inches as it's currently raining and more rain is headed our way...with some thunderclouds. Yikes!
Gabriel Aguilar wrote, “Look what I found in the Manchester and Elk area.” Gabriel got several photographs of the big elk. And he only had antlers on one side of his head.
I learned these elks lose their antlers in late winter or early spring. And typically they do not shed together. They can shed minutes, hours or even days apart. He has probably already shed it by now and will begin growing out new, impressive antlers. Maybe this will be the year he finds several females, called cows, for his harem.
Thanks to Gabriel for allowing me to share his photo with you here.
Cool and windy day today with lots of sunshine!