Tag Archives: Mendocino Headlands

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I had never seen this before. Brown Pelicans rest and take shelter on offshore rocks. Jon Shiu noticed hundreds, perhaps a thousand or more, in the water, together in quite a few large groups, very close to the Mendocino Headlands.

I sent Jon's photos to several ornithologists and they had never seen this either. I hope to learn more in the days ahead. It must have been a safe haven for them!

Thanks to Jon for allowing me to share his photos with you here.

Sunny and warm (70+ degrees!) today, a beautiful day on the Mendonoma Coast!

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Brown pelicans are so much fun to watch. They ride the wind currents over the bluffs and rocky islands in the ocean. Steve Woolson recently photographed these pelicans headed south.

Jon Shiu photographed many brown pelicans resting on the bluffs and rocks at the Mendocino Headlands.

Through my spotting scope, I can see a hundred of more brown pelicans resting overnight on Fish Rocks off Anchor Bay. And the Gualala River, with its big sandbar, plays host to hundreds every day recently.

They will soon head south to their breeding grounds and I will miss them until they return in the spring.

Thanks to Steve and Jon for allowing me to share their photos with you here.

Yesterday we had a storm rumbled through. 1.18 inches at Rick's and my place. 3.41 inches season to date. Today it is cool - mid 50's - with some showers. The sunset could be amazing!

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Brandt's Cormorants are nesting along the Mendonoma Coast. Jon Shiu photographed this group at the Mendocino Headlands.

From the Cornell Lab of Ornithology: “The largest cormorant on the Pacific Coast, Brandt’s Cormorant is an expert diver that can swim deeper than 200 feet in pursuit of fish and shellfish. In addition to standard cormorant black, Brandt’s sports a vivid cobalt-blue throat patch and eyes during breeding season, along with wispy white feathers on the head. This species nests and forages in the California Current, an area of rich upwelling between British Columbia, Canada, and Baja California, Mexico.”

How great to see the blue throat patch in Jon’s photo!

Thanks to Jon for allowing me to share his photo.

It’s sunny with a gentle breeze…a beautiful day on the Mendonoma coast!

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Near the Mendocino Headlands Ron LeValley spotted this leucistic Black Oystercatcher. This bird survived his or her lack of camouflage to grow from a chick to this young bird.

It's not the first time a nearly white Black Oystercatcher has been born up there. Last year Roger Adamson photographed a leucistic chick.

These anomalies appear in nature, but they always seem to catch us by surprise and bring a little wonder into our lives.

Thanks to Ron and Roger for allowing me to share their photos with you here. To see much more of Ron's nature photography, or to sign up for his daily nature blog post, here is his website: http://levalleyphoto.com/home/

Smoke from the fire in Geyserville flowed up over the coast this morning. Here's a photo I took from our deck in Anchor Bay around 8 am this morning. It kind of looks like fog, but it's smoke.

The smoke has dissipated somewhat this afternoon. I hope the fires can be brought under containment soon. It's so sad.