Tag Archives: Point Arena

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Several coast photographers got fantastic photos of the recent Northern Lights which occurred on January 19th. Mel Smith photographed this from his home in Point Arena.

Rozanne Rapozo caught this magic near her home on The Sea Ranch.

Kate Bloch used The Sea Ranch chapel to set off the lights in the sky - beautiful!

Ben Angwin's photo of the aurora, which also shows the Milky Way, will be in the Independent Coast Observer tomorrow, in my Mendonoma Sightings column.

Thanks to Mel, Rozanne and Kate for allowing me to share their wonderful photos with you here.

We had a storm yesterday which brought 0.65 inches of rain, the first rain in nearly three weeks. It was a gentle rain with not much wind - just the way we like it!

 

 

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A week ago Wednesday, a sundog appeared off Point Arena. Mel Smith captured the beauty.

Sundogs are a type of halo that appears when sunlight refracts off ice crystals in the atmosphere. These ice crystals are usually hexagonal and are often found in high-altitude cirrus clouds.

Thanks to Mel for allowing me to share his photo with you here.

ooo, it's hot at Rick's and my place today but it's perfect right on the bluffs. Bonus sighting: Humpback whales have been seen in numbers!

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A Gray Fox mother decided one of the active barns at the B Bryan Preserve in Point Arena was an ideal spot for her new family. Judy Mello wrote, “We have a ‘herd’ of Fox kits. Mom decided that a safe place to den was in our Sable Antelope barn. I think there are five kits that I hope will make this their forever home to eat the Gophers!” When I questioned Judy about the Sable Antelope being in the barn at the same time with the Gray Fox family, she wrote, “Yep!  They share the barn and each pretty much ignores each other.” That’s truly amazing. Cassidy Spooner, one of the animal care specialists at the Preserve, got a very cute photo of one of the kits.

Judy took several photos and shared them with me.

Pretty darn cute, don't you think?!

Thanks to Cassidy and Judy for allowing me to share their photos with you here. To learn more about the fabulous B Bryan Preserve in Point Arena, here is their website: https://www.bbryanpreserve.com/

It's sunny and mild with strong winds! Don't bother styling your hair if you are on the coast today.

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Karen Wilkinson heard about this beautiful bird and convinced her husband, Mike Petrich, to get a photo. Karen wrote, “Getting outside and soaking up the sunshine and calm winds was a total treat, but so was the Manchester Christmas Bird Count this [past] weekend.  I joined Rich Trissel’s team for the southern territory and had a great day out. We saw 70 species of birds in a single day.  That's a decent number for a winter's day along the Mendonoma coast.  On the walk, some of the more experienced birders were talking about a rarity that was seen in Pt Arena earlier in the week - a Harris's Sparrow.  It was a long shot, but I bribed Mike with a Zack's Milkshake if he'd join me for a little sparrow stalking expedition.  It really was a long shot…BUT… we found it!  I got my 'lifer bird' and Mike got a banana chocolate milkshake.  Win, win.”

The wayward sparrow was with a mixed flock of White-crowned Sparrows and Golden-crowned Sparrows. The flock was immediately behind the blue apartment buildings (Point Arena Village Apartments) which can be accessed off of Port Road. I have not received any more sightings of this bird for some days now.

Harris’s Sparrow is the only songbird that breeds in Canada and nowhere else in the world. In winter it is found in the south-central Great Plains, which is nowhere near Point Arena. Their populations are declining due to their vulnerability to habitat loss on the wintering and breeding grounds.

It's beautiful here today with blue skies and very little wind.

 

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On Sunday Mel Smith found this Monarch nectaring on a butterfly bush in Point Arena.

And Chris Pechal found two Monarchs at The Sea Ranch. In the photo on the left, you can tell it's a male Monarch because of the two black dots on its lower wings. He is nectaring on thistle. In the other photo, the beautiful Monarch is nectaring on Coyote Bush.

These Monarchs come to the coast to feed before their journey to their overwintering sites. They live approximately seven months, and are called the Methuselah generation. We hope to see many more Monarchs in the days ahead.

Thanks to Mel and Chris for allowing me to share their photos with you here.

Warm today - no fog at all. It's a spectacular autumn day!