Author Archives: Jeanne Jackson

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Dara Otwell wrote, “These were at Bowling Ball Beach Monday, 17 March.”

When I wrote back, I told Dara I had never seen so many washed up - her photos showed thousands of these animals - and she responded, “I’ve never seen so many either. It was wild; as with Nature, it changes constantly as the beach was back to normal the next day.”  

Carl Shapiro found a newly washed up Velella at Black Point Beach. It still had its vibrant blue color.

You can see the "sail" on top of this animal. About half of Velella velellas have sails tilted one direction, and the other half have it tilted in the opposite direction. This way, when the spring winds blow, half of them get blown further out to sea, while the unfortunate ones get washed up on the beach. Other creatures will eat them, and the tide will take some of them back into the ocean to be a part of the food chain.

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Once in a great while, you might see another color on the edges of a green flash. Kate Bloch captured some blue in a recent green flash.

Seeing a green flash is said to bring good luck! I wonder what seeing some blue brings - double good luck? Sounds good!

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

Beautiful weather here today, close to 70 degrees and just a little breeze. There were several hundred people at today's protest in Gualala. We might have gotten a bit sunburned!

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Shouqin Huo wrote, "The songs of the white-crowned sparrows have imprinted on me during my very first visit to the Mendonoma coast and over the years I have learned to associate the their songs with the area. I was happy to find this one in my garden singing without interruption while I moved close enough for a portrait"

"Of course, it took off when I got too close."

To hear the song of a White-crowned Sparrow, here is the link to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's website: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/White-crowned_Sparrow/sounds

It's almost always the male doing the singing. Nice calls, Mr. W-c Sparrow!

Great photos! Thanks to Shouqin for allowing me to share his photos with you here.

The storms have left us with puffy clouds, lots of delicious sun, and some wind. Rain totals season to date - 60.93 inches! 50 inches is a nice, wet season, so we're doing great.

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Michael Reinhart found this very small wren and took this great photo.

This is what the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's website has to say about these birds, which I have near me in Anchor Bay:

"Pacific Wrens are tiny brown wrens with a song much larger than themselves. One researcher deemed them a “pinnacle of song complexity.” This tinkling, bubbly songster is more often heard than seen within the dark understory of old-growth evergreen forests where they live. When Pacific Wrens sing they hold their tail upright and their entire body shakes with sound. They move like mice through the forest understory, hopping along logs and upturned roots."

To hear their tinkling song, you can listen at this link: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Pacific_Wren/sounds

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

We've had a cold, tumultuous storm which appears to be nearly over. It's a wait-five-minutes kind of day - sunny for a bit, and then hey! it's hailing! Starting tomorrow, Wednesday, we are expected to have dry, warmer weather through the weekend. Rain report: 60.75 inches season to date! Rivers and seasonal creeks are roaring now.

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Kathye Hitt's camera captured this healthy-looking Mountain Lion late last month. She wrote, "I thought you might be interested in this video of a mountain lion that was caught on our exterior camera at about 3:30am. We live right on the bluff and were surprised to find that we had been visited in the night by such a magnificent creature."

Thanks to Kathye for allowing me to share her video with you here.

It was raining this  morning, Sunday, and the total rain for the season zoomed past 60 inches. 50 inches is a normal, wet winter for our place in Anchor Bay. More rain coming in tonight!