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Last week Paul Brewer saw this Osprey with a cabezon in its talons. It's always thrilling when the Ospreys return.

The nest Rick and I have watched through our spotting scope for more than 20 years is once again occupied. This Osprey is flying north so maybe it is one of the mated pair we are fortunate to see - Paul lives in Gualala and our place is north a few miles, in Anchor Bay.

Thanks to Paul for allowing me to share his photo with  you here. To see much more of Paul's nature photography, here is the link: https://paulbrewer.smugmug.com/

It's a beautiful sunny day here, with some breezes. High in the low 70's. There is a fog bank over the ocean, so some areas could be in fog...like Point Arena, perhaps.

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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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Baby Blue Eyes, Nemophila menziesii,  are one of my favorite wildflowers. They grow on sunny bluffs. Seeta Chaganti had her friend, Mary Heibel, take her to Manchester State Park to show her the bloom.

Baby blue eyes are native to California, Oregon and Baja California. They are excellent for pollinators!
Thanks to Seeta for allowing me to share her photos with you here.
It was unbelievably warm here today, 81 degrees. Isn't it March? The warmth has encouraged California Tortoiseshell butterflies to appear in large numbers. Maybe an irruption year? I will report back!

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Rozanne Rapozo is an excellent photographer and I feel privileged to be able to share her work with you. Around 3 a.m. Tuesday, March 3, a total lunar eclipse was seen from the Mendonoma coast.

A lunar eclipse occurs when a full Moon moves into the Earth's shadow and the Moon turns a deep reddish-orange or “blood red". This happens because Earth's atmosphere filters out all the blue light and refracts the longer red wavelengths into the shadow. This effectively projects all the world's sunrises and sunsets onto the Moon, giving us a blood red Moon.

What a sight!

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

Today is breezy and sunny!

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Several weeks ago Diane Hichwa saw this beautiful sight from her The Sea Ranch home.

Quite an amazing sunset!

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

Rain report: Yesterday's storm was a deluge. It didn't relent for many hours. At Rick's and my place in Anchor Bay we received a total of 7.32 inches from the storm that began on Monday evening and rained continuously through Tuesday. That's a truckload of rain! Season to date is 45.33 inches. We now have warm, dry weather predicted through the rest of this week.

***Bonus sighting: this afternoon, Wednesday, I saw an Osprey on the nest we've watched for over twenty years. The male returns first and I saw him poking at the remnants of the nest. It's very exciting to see this Osprey return today!