Tag Archives: Craig Tooley

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As promised, here's the photo of a Blue Whale Craig Tooley took from an airplane last year.

And here's another Blue Whale Craig photographed several years ago.

The world's largest creature, Blue Whales are a rare sighting. They have been seen off the Mendonoma Coast this year, which is early. It signifies the abundance of food for these giants of the sea.

Thanks to Craig for allowing me to share these photos here. You can see more whale photography on Craig's web site: http://ruffimage.com/

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June is when the first Black Oystercatcher chicks are born. Haematopus bachmani is their Latin name and they are found on the Pacific Coast, from Baja to Alaska. They are a noisy bird - a Sightings contributor deemed them "chattery." They nest on rocky perches and you will see their chicks look like little rocks, giving them a measure of camouflage.

This first photo was taken by Coastal photographer, Craig Tooley. There are three chicks in the photo.

 And the photo below was taken by John Batchelder. I see only two chicks in John's photo.

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

Thanks to John and Craig for allowing me to share their photos here. To see more of Craig Tooley's wildlife photographs, here's the link to his website: http://ruffimage.com/

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Craig Tooley and Rita Peck had several days this week to enjoy a family of Gray Foxes near their home on The Sea Ranch. Frequent readers of this blog will know that Craig got some great photographs. Below is a photo of a young Fox Kit.

 And here Craig captured the mother Gray Fox nursing several of her young ones.

 And this Fox Kit decided to go for a different approach - nursing in comfort on its back!

Thanks to Craig for allowing me to share his photos here. To see more of Craig's Coast photographs, here's the link to his web site: http://ruffimage.com/

And to see several more photos of Fox Kits on this site, here are the links: http://www.mendonomasightings.com/2011/08/31/two-photos-of-gray-fox-kits-by-coastal-photographer-craig-tooley/

http://www.mendonomasightings.com/2011/06/02/gray-fox-kits-are-being-born-now-on-the-beautiful-mendonoma-coast/

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You don't often get to see a photo of one of our beaches taken from an airplane. Craig Tooley was up taking photographs for a seabird survey and he took the time to photograph Cook's Beach for us. Thanks, Craig!

To learn how to find this beautiful pocket beach, brought to us by the fine folks of the Redwood Coast Land Conservancy and other partners, here's the link: http://www.mendonomasightings.com/2012/02/12/cooks-beach-a-beautiful-pocket-beach-just-north-of-gualala/

And to see more of Craig Tooley's coastal photos, here's the link to his website: http://www.ruffimage.com/

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This wildflower is so rare and precious that the location is kept secret - even from me! I do know it is growing on private property in northern Sonoma County. But we are lucky that Massomeh Roberts photographed it so we can enjoy looking at it here.

 Last year Craig Tooley photographed the group of these Trilliums a little earlier in their development, showing the younger white blossoms.

Thanks to Craig and Massomeh for allowing me to share their photos with you here.