Storms bring big waves, and it's interesting to watch how wildlife deals with them. These Cormorants seem to be watching the waves. Cindy Morey took this evocative photo.

Thanks to Cindy for allowing me to share her photo with you here. You can see a collection of her photos at the Coastal Highway Artists Collective Gallery in Point Arena, as well as a few at the Point Arena Lighthouse.

We  had a vigorous storm during the night, bringing 0.92 inches. 55.53 season to date - a nice, fat, wet rainy season!

Calypso Orchids are having a wonderful bloom this winter/spring. Peter Baye photographed this normal-colored Calypso Orchid.

And then he found this atypically-colored Calypso Orchid.

I've never seen one like the one here! In a recent Mendonoma Sightings column, I wrote - with Peter's great help - about why you should never pick one:

Please don’t pick native wildflowers. Let’s take the Calypso Orchid, for example. Such beautiful flowers to find in undisturbed forests. The slim stem is only three to four inches high, the pink flower is exquisite but quite small, and a single leaf rests on the forest duff. These native orchids need a fungus in the soil to thrive, which makes transplanting them nearly impossible. They are like finding a gift in the forest.

If you pick one or more for your own enjoyment, you might have a day or two before they wither. In the forest, they will bloom for several weeks. It’s what happens after their bloom that is extremely important. I asked Botanist Peter Baye to explain. He wrote, “Each plucked, plundered Calypso Orchid bloom potentially produces a seed capsule with many thousands of viable dust-like seed. Each capsule could spread whole new colonies of this species that is still struggling to recover after over a century of excessive logging and soil disturbance. [Picking them] represents decades and generations of potential Calypso Orchid populations sacrificed for a few days of private ornament and fragrance. Calypso Orchids don't have reproductive success every year. They rely on rare good bloom years like this one, and rare luck of escaping herbivores and flower-pickers.”

Thanks to Peter for allowing me to share his photos with  you here and for explaining why we should never pick one of these exquisite orchids.

Cooler with storm clouds moving in. Rain is in our forecast for Friday night and Saturday. The Calypso Orchids should love it!

Here's a critter you don't see every day - a Long-tailed Weasel. Mike Petrich and Karen Wilkinson found this fellow or gal on the Sonoma Coast recently.

These weasels are awfully cute, but they are fierce hunters! I did a feature article for the Press Democrat on them which you can read at this link: https://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/lifestyle/cute-cunning-long-tailed-weasels-thrive-in-sonoma-county/

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

Another spectacular, warm day on the Mendonoma Coast. The weather people say it's going to be 20 degrees cooler tomorrow with rain coming in late Friday night into Saturday. April showers...

No totality here - just a wedge missing from the sun. Still, it's exciting to witness. Barry Weiss took this photo at 11:15 am.

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

ah, today the weather was so nice. Low 70's, gentle breeze - a Mendonoma Coast delight!

Cooks Beach is a treasure - a pocket beach just north of Gualala. Jann Littleton photographed the sunset there recently.

Cooks Beach is brought to us by the Redwood Coast Land Conservancy. To learn more, here is their website: https://www.rclc.org/

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

It was chilly again this morning but the sun was bright and warm.