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This is the time of year we usually see the first cute Gray Fox kits. Michael Tilles has a wood storage box that foxes have use before. Once again, he and his wife Janelle Streich are blessed with a Gray Fox family at their Sea Ranch place. Michael got this photo of the two kits that had been nursing.

There will be a photo of one of the kits in the Independent Coast Observer Community News this coming Friday. What? You do have a subscription? You could rectify that at the ICO's website: https://www.mendonoma.com/memberships.html

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

Foggy at the coastline, sunny on the ridge - a mild spring day on the Mendonoma Coast!

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Artemis Robison has a good eye, as she spotted this small Anna's Hummingbird nest. The mother makes her nest out of lichen and spiderwebs, among other things, which allows the nest to expand as the chicks grow. Artemis got this photo of the three chicks.

I checked back with Artemis to see if they had fledged and she confirmed it. From the hatch of their eggs, it takes an average of 20 days until they fledge.

Anna's Hummingbirds are year round residents of the Mendonoma Coast!

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

Very little wind today and lots of blue sky. Temps in the mid-70's at Rick's and my place in Anchor Bay.

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Chas Higgins found a hummingbird that rarely is seen here. Could it have veered from its migratory path? He wrote, “I caught this hummingbird making a quick visit to my garden on the meadow at the north end of Sea Ranch"

"It wasn’t until this morning when I uploaded it to my laptop that I realized it wasn’t one of the Anna’s that usually visit us. I sent it to Diane who shared it with Tim Bray and they agree that it’s a Black-chinned hummingbird, not often seen on our coast. I hope the paper can reproduce the purple in the gorget that marks it as a Black-chinned.”

I meant to share this earlier but better late...well, you know!

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

Sunny and windy and cool here on the coast today!

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A few weeks ago Craig Tooley photographed this sight of Cliff Swallows working on their new nests.

They fly several thousand miles to get here and then they immediately get to work building or rebuilding their nests of mud. By now the nests are complete and nesting is taking place. Soon hungry mouths will appear at the nest opening!

Cliff Swallows like to build nests together in a colony. They eat many insects every day!

Thanks to Craig for allowing me to share his photo with you here. To see much more of Craig's photography, here is his website: http://www.ruffimage.com

Today has been lovely. Warm on the ridge, breezy near the ocean, fog in some places - a beautiful late spring day on the Mendonoma Coast.

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Two weeks ago was a great time for seeing Humpback Whales off the Mendonoma Coast.

Scott and Tree Mercer didn't have any sightings of mother/calf gray whales that week, but they were compensated with humpback sightings. Tree wrote, “Despite some challenging wind and fog conditions, humpback whales continue to be seen along our coast. This week, Scott and I documented 40 sightings  of humpbacks seen at the Point Arena Lighthouse peninsula, Saunders Reef, and at Gerstle Cove. Seven additional humpbacks were seen by Shari Goforth at Ollie’s Straight, Gualala Point Island and off the beach at Gualala Point Regional Park. Many of these humpbacks displayed full and half breaching, tail lobbing, and taking long dives most likely to feed on anchovies.

We have also observed two foraging gray whales swimming both north and south along the peninsula at the Lighthouse. We continue to search for gray whale mothers with their calves which typically can be seen throughout the month of May and even into early June.”

Sara Bogard got a nice photo of a humpback whale tail lobbing while doing her weekly survey of harbor seals off the Point Arena Lighthouse peninsula and surrounding areas.

She spotted 128 harbor seals of which 38 were pups.

Thanks to Sara for allowing me to share her photo with you here and thanks to the Mercers for their report.

Sunny and warm today, but there's a storm coming in tonight - hard to believe!