Tag Archives: Amy Ruegg

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Another unusual plant appeared recently, one I have never seen before. It's Pyrola aphylla and has a rather silly common name of Leafless Wintergreen. It's blooming on the forest floor now. Craig Tooley came by several weeks ago and photographed the plants, which were just barely beginning to bloom. Craig's close-up of the bottom of the cluster shows several new shoots coming up and extremely small leaves.

More recently Mary Sue Ittner and Amy Ruegg, along with others, came over to see them too. You can see by Mary Sue's photo that most of the blossoms have opened  up.

And here's Amy's closeup of the beautiful flowers. Pyrola aphylla are perennial herbs and native to California.

For me, the amazing thing is, I've never seen them on Rick's and my land before, and we've been here over 27 years. What a welcome surprise!

Thanks to Craig, Mary Sue, and Amy for allowing me to share their photos with you here.

Another foggy, cool day near the coast!

 

 

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Coast Lilies, Lilium maritimum, are having a wonderful bloom this year. Mary Sue Ittner enjoyed seeing one with a Bumblebee sleeping inside of it.

This particular flower is pale compared to others seen. Here are Coast Lilies as photographed by Beth Roland, blooming on the Gualala Ridge.

And Amy Ruegg photographed these beauties on The Sea Ranch.

They are taller than usual this year, possible due to the ample rains after several years of drought. The wildflowers seem to be celebrating by blooming as big and bountiful as they can.

Thanks to Mary Sue, Beth and Amy for allowing me to share their photos with you here.

The fog was cool and drippy this morning, as fog is wont to be. But it has pulled back and warm weather has poured in. It should be sunny for the holiday weekend here on the Mendonoma Coast.

 

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Amy Ruegg found a mass of golden eggs of an unusual fish at an low tide.

She wrote, “What a beautiful morning and a nice minus tide at Pebble Beach! There were lots of the usual culprits like Bat Stars, Purple Urchins, Abalone, Anemones and Chitons. This, however, was a pretty surprise. INaturalist says they are the eggs of the Plainfin midshipman, which would be exciting enough, but when googling this species, I find out they have three sexes! Female, male I and male II.”

Amy also learned this batrachoid toadfish is bioluminescent and they make a humming sound that nearby humans can hear. Amazing!

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

It's a glorious day on the Mendonoma Coast - sunny and in the low 70s with no wind!

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Witches Teeth are also called Bi-colored Lotus. They are quite small so you have to look closely to see them. One petal is yellow – the poor witch’s tooth – and the others are white to pink. Amy Ruegg recently photographed some.

They are found in moist areas. They are thought to be the host plant of a butterfly that may be extinct. It’s the Lotis Blue Butterfly, with only an inch wingspan and it hasn’t been seen for thirty years. It was native to the Mendocino coast, but this butterfly was seen in Sonoma and Marin years ago. I read that conservationists believe there may be some still here in remote areas of Mendocino county. Wouldn’t it be something of one of us spotted this butterfly? When you find Witches Teeth, keep watch for this small blue butterfly. To see a photo of it, here is a link to the Essig Museum of Entomology, University of California, Berkeley. https://essig.berkeley.edu/endangered/endangered_plebloti/

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

It is sunny with a gentle breeze. Maybe some rain late tomorrow? We’ll see!

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Last Sunday was a mixed bag, weather-wise. But butterflies had a sunny window to get out and find some sweet nectar. Amy found several different kinds of butterflies.

First up is one we don't see very often, a Two-banded Skipper.

And one of our most common butterflies, Gray or Grey Buckeye. It's been recently renamed - previously it was called a Common Buckeye.

Then another rarer one, an Echo Azure.

And finally the bright Mylitta Crescent.

Quite a nice bunch of butterfly sightings by Amy! Thanks to Amy for allowing me to share her photos with you here.

Sunny and breezy today. Our weather forecast changed and more rain is headed our way by Thursday afternoon.