On a trip back up Highway One last week, the moon, in all its autumnal glory, was just making an appearance over the ridge near the Jenner Grade in Sonoma County. It was dusk when Rick pulled over so I could take this photo. Yes, the rest of our drive home was in the dark but the beautiful moon was a silent companion.
Close to the banks of Quinliven Creek on our Anchor Bay property, a group of colorful wild mushrooms caught our eye. They turned out to be the edible Red-capped Butter Boletes, Boletus regius. Another wonderful gift in the forest. Thank you, Mother Nature!
On Thursday the Pacific Ocean was putting on a show. Just look at the photo David Wayne Floyd took at Anchor Bay Beach.
Rozann Grunig captured this dramatic photo of a Great Blue Heron perched on a rock during the wild surf. Storms to our north can cause high surf on the Mendonoma Coast in November. The heron sure looks like it is hunkered down!
To see a lovely photo by Marianne Rittenhouse of a Great Blue Heron at the moment it takes wing, and to learn more about Great Blue Herons, click on this link: http://www.mendonomasightings.com/2011/09/30/great-blue-heron-photographed-just-as-it-takes-flight-a-lovely-photograph-by-marianne-rittenhouse/
Craig Tooley recently photographed a lovely Song Sparrow. They are found across the United States but those in the Pacific Northwest look a bit different from their Eastern counterparts. It fills the air with its lilting song.
To hear the Song Sparrow's call, here's a link to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology: http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Song_sparrow/sounds
Thanks to Craig for allowing me to show his photo here. To see more of Craig's work, here's a link to his web site: http://web.me.com/theruffians1