Monthly Archives: October 2013

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Several King Boletes, Boletus edulis, have appeared, though we haven't had any recent rains. Irma Brandt went out recently, looking for moist soil under pine needles. This is what she found - a nice, fat King Bolete under a Bishop Pine tree.

This mushrooms usually fruits in November, when our first rains trigger their appearance. Rick and I have checked our spots and no mushrooms have appeared. It will be interesting to see what kind of wild mushroom season we have this year.

Thanks to Irma for allowing me to share her photo with you here. To see Irma with the biggest bolete I've ever seen, here is the link: http://www.mendonomasightings.com/2011/10/17/the-biggest-king-bolete-ive-ever-seen-was-found-in-the-manchester-area-a-few-days-ago/

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Humpback Whales can be seen off the Mendonoma Coast in the summer and fall, though not in great numbers. Ron LeValley went out on a boat from Noyo Harbor in Fort Bragg and came across two Humpbacks. And they came very close to the boat, obviously curious about the boat filled with people. Ron says they were spouted on several times and he had to clean his camera lens three times!

 Below is the tail of a diving Humpback.

 And below the Humpback is about to spout. I have a feeling this is one of the times Ron had to clean his camera lens.

And here is a Humpback's barnacle-encrusted tail fins.  Ron says there are two species of barnacles on this whale - the acorn barnacle, Coronula diadema, which is unique to the humpback and the rabbit-eared barnacle, Conchoderma, a kind of stalked or goose-necked barnacle that settles on Coronula.

Below you will see this Humpback Whale is taking a good look at Ron!

Thanks to Ron for allowing me to share his fabulous photos with you here. To see much more of Ron's photography, here is his website: http://www.levalleyphoto.com/home/

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Today the fog has rolled in and it is cold on the Coast. But just a few days ago it was magnificent. Carolyn André took this photo on her way back up Highway 1. It's not photoshopped, Carolyn says. And I believe her!

I took this photo of the sunrise yesterday. The nearly full moon, the Hunter's moon, has yet to set. You can see the fog draped over the trees and covering the ocean.

Thanks to Carolyn for allowing me to share her photograph with you here.

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Harbor Seals are year round residents of the Mendonoma Coast. They have endearing expressions on their faces, making you smile just to see them. Yesterday Craig Tooley was out with his camera and caught these two Harbor Seals basking in the rays of the autumn sun and catching some waves at the same time.

 Here's another photo Craig took a while ago. He titled this photo "Bad breath?"

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

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This Bobcat is quite camouflaged but Patricia Rangel managed to see it. This cat with the bobbed tail and tufted ears was spotted on the east side of Highway One on The Sea Ranch.

Here the Bobcat obviously heard something - maybe a tasty gopher?

Thanks to Patricia for allowing me to share her photos with you here.

To see a fun photo of a Bobcat in a standoff with a Buck, here's the link to Craig Tooley's photo: http://www.mendonomasightings.com/2011/11/25/young-bobcat-photographed-by-coastal-photographer-craig-tooley/