•

Gail Jackson photographed a yellow-faced bumblebee flying out of a California poppy blossom. Yellow pollen is coating the face and legs of this pollinator, nearly matching the patch of bright yellow hair on her head. If you look closely, you can see several grains of pollen drifting down from the bee. And she sports an orange pollen basket, called a corbicula, on her hind legs.

You can see much more of Gail's wonderful nature photography at her Instagram account: https://www.instagram.com/gailyimages/

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

It's toasty warm here today. The smoke from the fire at Salt Point State Park/Timber Cove is south of us so it's a beautiful blue-sky breezy warm day here!

•

With its paws covering its eyes and nose, it looks like this Harbor Seal is hiding or is shy. Or maybe the seal just had an itch!

The abundance of Harbor Seals off the Mendonoma Coast is such a good sign. When they are doing well, the entire ecosystem does well.

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

It's sunny and warm today, though there is a big fogbank lurking over the ocean. It's suppose to get a little warmer over the next few days.

•

The clouds that drifted up from monsoonal moisture to our south brought glorious sunrises and sunsets over the weekend, a week ago. Grace O’Malley wrote, “You know how winter sunsets are the best ever? Well, on Saturday night we were dining at our friends’ house just down the coast from us in Timber Cove, and the skyscape colors in the gloaming hour after sunset were so simply spectacular that the cloud reflections turned the ocean pink.”

Sometimes you just can't believe your eyes! Just magnificent...

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

The weather today is...well, changeable. It's down 20 degrees from yesterday, in the low 60's with intermittent sprinkles.

•

This big boy was staring at Kevin Evans and Kevin titled the photo, "Oh Deer! Anybody home?" That's quite an impressive set of antlers this Black-tailed Buck has.

The velvet is a membrane that nourishes the growing bones (antlers). Bucks will typically lose the velvet by the end of August and beginning of September. They've got to be ready for the rut!

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

We've had a mini-heatwave but it is breaking today. Fog, our good friend, is expected to return, perhaps tomorrow morning.

•

Brown pelicans dive for a fish beak first, which is quite a sight to see. Rozanne Rapozo recently photographed one the moment before the Brown Pelican entered the ocean.

If you look on the left, you will see the splash of where another Brown Pelican had entered the water. There was obviously plenty of anchovies or other favorite food in the waters off the Mendonoma Coast!

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

It's been a spectacular day here today - no fog, gentle breeze and mild temps.