Woodland Clarkia, Clarkia unguiculata, is also called Elegant Clarkia. It's a beautiful native wildflower endemic to California.
I read that bees love these wildflowers - nice to know!
Thanks to Peter for allowing me to share his photo with you here.
We had heavy fog overnight - it sounded like it was raining! But the fog pulled back in the afternoon and, sure enough, there was an ocean out there.
Peter Baye wrote, "Here are photos of the big ‘cheese wheel’ disc concretion about midway along Bowling Ball Beach’s erosion-refreshed cliffs. There is always a new view!"
"Plus, a big earthflow dropped a tree and mass of ice plant down to the shore."
"The beach is gone for now, but will probably return with months of gentle swell.” Peter wrote that the concretion disc was one of the largest he has seen, over 12 feet in diameter and only a foot thick. He described it “like a big coin.”
Bowling Ball Beach is a great place to beach comb after a storm.
Thanks to Peter for allowing me to share his photos with you here.
Wild, wet storm yesterday, Sunday. Today the wind is howling! It is to be clear weather for several days ahead.
Peter Baye was tide pooling recently when he saw this Opalescent Nudibranch.
Nudibranchs are mollusks in the class Gastropoda, which includes snails, slugs, limpets, and sea hairs. Their common name is Sea Slugs, which doesn't do justice to their beauty. John Thompson photographed a Clown Dorid Nudibranch some time ago.
And Loren Adrian photographed a Hopkin's Rose Nudibranch. This particular nudibranch was previously found to our south, but over the past several years, we've had sightings of a few off our coast.
Just a small sample of the beautiful life that lives in the ocean.
Thanks to Peter, John and Loren for allowing me to share their photos with you here.
Sunny, mild weather, though I see the fog low on the ocean. The full moon setting early this morning was quite wonderful to see. Happy Halloween!
Wood Ducks are quite shy, so Karen Wilkinson was delighted when she spotted one for a brief moment, paddling in the Gualala River. She only caught this one glimpse.
Some years ago Peter Baye photographed this pair of Wood Ducks, the female on the left.
And Kathy Bishop also had a sighting some years ago of these ducks and she got some great close-ups of the beautiful adult male, and a photo of the rather drab-looking female with her brightly-colored mate.
In the 15+ years of writing my column in the Independent Coast Observer, these are the only photos sent in over that time. So I'd say Wood Ducks are a rare sighting here!
Thanks to Karen, Peter and Kathy for allowing me to share their photos with you here.
Another foggy, cool day on the Mendonoma Coast. Hey, it must be summer!
Pat Maxwell found this Anise Swallowtail Butterfly on her appropriately-named Butterfly bush.
And Catherine Miller spotted this Pale Swallowtail Butterfly feeding on the geraniums in her garden recently.
The other swallowtail we commonly see here on the coast is a Western Tiger Swallowtail. This photo was taken some years ago by Peter Baye. This lovely butterfly is feeding on one of my favorite native wildflowers, the Leopard Lily.
Thanks to Pat, Catherine and Peter for allowing me to share their photos with you here.
Today is simply one of the most beautiful days on the Mendonoma Coast - sunny, bright with a gently breeze.