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A Coast Gartersnake with blue eyes? That’s what Karen Wilkinson recently saw. She wrote, “I was able to snap a quick photo of this snake whose eyes looked a little strange.” Karen found this information on the web. "Garter snakes with blue-ish eyes are undergoing the shedding process, where the old skin, including the one covering their eyes, is being shed. This process causes the eye to appear cloudy blue due to fluid buildup between the old and new skin layers. The blue-ish eyes are a normal part of this process and indicate the snake is about to shed its skin.”

I sent Karen’s photo to herpetologist Gary Nafis and he concurred. He wrote, “The picture is a good illustration of why snake keepers call a snake that's going to shed ‘in blue.’ They get a bit cranky then because they can't see well.”

Thanks to Karen for allowing me to share her photo with you here! And you can learn so much from Gary's website: https://californiaherps.com/

It was drippy foggy this morning, but it pulled back over the Pacific Ocean this afternoon. Temps are very mild, around 60 degrees. No wind!

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Greg Talamini wrote, “Friday sunset colors from Robinson Reef Drive in Gualala. The setting sun cleared a large fogbank just before setting over Fish Rocks.”

Just lovely! Thanks to Greg for allowing me to share his photo with you here.

Today was clear. Quite breezy on the immediate coast, and toasty warm away from the coast.

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Loch Michie was out with his camera and he photographed four adult Brown Pelicans flying northward.

You can tell they are adults by the white heads. Juveniles have brown heads.

The Brown Pelicans are disbursing northward so the fish they live on will be abundant.

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

It was foggy this morning, but it pulled back over the ocean. It then got nice and toasty, in the high 70's. That probably sounds heavenly to those of you under that heat dome. I hope that heat dome breaks down ASAP.

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My neighbors, the Guinn Family, have three beautiful Sugarsticks, Allotropa virgata, blooming now. These wildflowers are also called Candysticks.

Sugarsticks obtain their nutrients through a symbiotic relationship with a fungus, primarily the Matsutake mushroom. Matsutakes are known to appear in the area of this Sugarstick. 

It's the gift that keeps on giving - a unique and stunning wildflower in the spring and very early summer, and delicious edible mushrooms in the late fall and early winter!

 

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A Gray Fox mother decided one of the active barns at the B Bryan Preserve in Point Arena was an ideal spot for her new family. Judy Mello wrote, “We have a ‘herd’ of Fox kits. Mom decided that a safe place to den was in our Sable Antelope barn. I think there are five kits that I hope will make this their forever home to eat the Gophers!” When I questioned Judy about the Sable Antelope being in the barn at the same time with the Gray Fox family, she wrote, “Yep!  They share the barn and each pretty much ignores each other.” That’s truly amazing. Cassidy Spooner, one of the animal care specialists at the Preserve, got a very cute photo of one of the kits.

Judy took several photos and shared them with me.

Pretty darn cute, don't you think?!

Thanks to Cassidy and Judy for allowing me to share their photos with you here. To learn more about the fabulous B Bryan Preserve in Point Arena, here is their website: https://www.bbryanpreserve.com/

It's sunny and mild with strong winds! Don't bother styling your hair if you are on the coast today.