Tag Archives: Bodega Bay

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We are having an irruption of CA Tortoise Shell Butterflies. They do have similar colors of Monarchs, but they are much smaller. Shari Goforth got this photo of one of the dozens in my courtyard yesterday.

They were being seen in vast numbers yesterday, Saturday, down in Bodega Bay and in Jenner. Cynthia Schreiner wrote to me last night: "Many people in Bodega Bay saw thousands of butterflies  today, colored/looked like Monarchs, flying south? For an hour maybe two they were everywhere,  not milling around  but quite intent on going south.  So cool, they just didn't alight to get a Pic."

Mating for these butterflies, Nymphalis californica, takes place from March to May, when they emerge from their winter hibernation once the weather warms up.

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

And warm up it has! Another toasty day with no wind here on the beautiful Mendonoma Coast.

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Jackie Sones spotted this sand dollar washed up on the beach, with unusual Barnacles on it.

sand-dollar-with-rare-barnacles-paraconcavus-pacificus-by-jackie-sonesJackie has been finding a few sand dollars on beaches in Bodega Bay with red and white barnacles on them. With the help of barnacle experts Bill Newman and Bob Van Syoc, the barnacles were identified as Paraconcavus pacificus, a rare sighting of barnacles usually seen south of Monterey. Jackie thinks Manchester Beach has potential as a possible place to see them.

Jackie has a wonderful blog post showing how these barnacles were identified and you can read it at this link: http://bodegahead.blogspot.com/2016/09/unexpected-plate-appearance.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheNaturalHistoryOfBodegaHead+%28The+Natural+History+of+Bodega+Head%29

Thanks to Jackie for allowing me to share her photo with you here. Doug Forsell found a sand dollar with barnacles this past week at Manchester Beach and we are waiting for Bob Van Syoc to take a look at it. I will report back!

Absolutely stunning day here on the Mendonoma coast. It feels like a gift.

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Pelicans, Brown and White, are so graceful in the air, but not always so graceful when then come in for a water landing. Ron LeValley photographed this White Pelican near Bodega Bay. I wonder if the Marbled Godwits in the foreground were worried.

American White Pelican coming in for a landing, watched by Marbled Godwits by Ron LeValley

This photo deserves a caption! Thanks to Ron LeValley for allowing me to share it with you. To see much more of Ron's nature photography, here is his website: http://levalleyphoto.com/home/

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Carolyn André took a series of photos of the crashing waves and big surf we experienced here on the Mendonoma Coast yesterday, Thanksgiving Day. The booming waves sent mist into the air, which then floated over Highway 1.

I took the photo below just north of Bodega Bay yesterday afternoon. It was quite a show for our ride back home, after celebrating Thanksgiving a day early with family.

When the Pacific Ocean is this rough you can hear it several miles away. It's best to keep your distance, that's for sure.

Thanks to Carolyn for allowing me to share her photos with you here.

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American White Pelicans, big white birds with black on the undersides of their wings, were seen at Bodgea Bay. Carolyn André had her camera and took this photo.

I sent Carolyn's photo to Richard Kuehn and he wrote, “Those are indeed American White Pelicans in the center with Double-crested Cormorants in the front near the river. We’ve had quite a few Double-crested Cormorants on Gualala Point Island recently, as they leave their primarily inland breeding locales and come to the coast in the Fall and Winter. And if you look in the upper left of the pelicans, there are a fair number of Terns.”

White Pelicans breed inland and it's always nice to see the first groups return to the Coast. They eat mainly fish. They don't plunge dive from the air like the Brown Pelicans; they dip their heads under the water to scoop up fish.

To hear the call of a White Pelican, here's the link to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology: http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/american_white_pelican/sounds

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