Sightings

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Suzy Worsham’s critter camera showed a big Black Bear checking out items at her place on Iversen Road several weeks ago. She wrote, “We had a visitor at our back door last night! The last time this happened was when it was also a low producing Huckleberry season back in 2022. We had so many Huckleberries last year and this year there are none.”

 

Here's is the video: Black Bear visit by Suzy Worsham

There are very few Huckleberries, and they are smaller than usual, and quite sparse. You can lift a branch where last year there might have been 50 or 60 fat berries. This year you are lucky to find one berry. There was an early heatwave that may have affected the berries, and/or the plants are taking a year off after one of the most fabulous huckleberry years ever – 2023.

Thanks to Suzy for allowing me to share her video with you here. Lions, and tigers, and...

Very foggy at the coast. Gualala was socked in for most of the day, but Anchor Bay was living up to its banana belt designation and was in sun. Sunny on the ridge, and quite mild.

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Michael Reinhart was out photographing nature when he noticed this Harbor Seal surface near some kelp.

The Harbor Seal seems to be looking right at Mike! Harbor Seals are year round residents of the Mendonoma Coast.

Sara Bogard has been studying the Harbor Seals off the Point Arena Lighthouse Peninsula and adjoining Point Arena-Stornetta Lands. She will be giving a presentation entitled “Seals Beside Us” at the Point Arena Lighthouse, September 21st from 4-5pm. That's this Saturday! Cost is $5.00.

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

Very foggy close to the bluffs, but sunny up on the ridge. Cool temps, 60's.

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Craig Tooley was photographing at the Gualala River when he spotted this Great Blue Heron on a snag. Yes, it was foggy that morning!

Great Blue Herons are year round residents of the Mendonoma Coast!

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

Lots of fog this morning, pulling back in the afternoon. Cool temps, low 60's. No wind. Beautiful fall colors beginning to appear.

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Kris Kilgore wrote, "This is a video from my Ring camera.  This crazy woodpecker is fascinated with the camera.  If you play the video, please be sure to listen too.  At the end he lets out a very Woody The Woodpecker cry."

Here's a still photo I took from Kris' video.

And here is the video: Male Acorn Woodpecker and a Ring Camera courtesy of Kris Kilgore

The sound this male Acorn Woodpecker makes at the end of the recording sounds like a whole bunch of frustration to me. Perhaps he is seeing his reflection in the camera lens and wants to chase away the handsome fellow looking back at him!

Thanks to Kris for allowing me to share her video here.

Kind of a crazy weather day today - this morning huge dark clouds appeared, threatening rain but not delivering much at all. Then in the early afternoon, the marine layer moved in. Now, as I write this around 4 pm, the fog is much diminished and has pulled back, leaving us with abundant sunshine.

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I had never heard of this insect until Michele sent her sighting in. She wrote, "I kept getting fooled by what I thought were little Western Toadlets, but I knew they would be much bigger now. These toadish creatures hopped like a toad, swam like a toad, but much faster and smaller. It wasn't until I zoomed into one of my photos that I realized it was an INSECT not a toad. It's called the Big-eyed Toad Bug.

It's colored like a toad, but the size of my pinky fingernail and I have small hands. It even has big eyes on its head just like a toad. They eat insects. I suppose if something thought it was a toad and had sampled a toad before with unpleasant results, it would avoid it. They eat other insects and they swim. They are really cool!”

To see some other photos of this insect, here is a link to iNaturalist: https://www.inaturalist.org/guide_taxa/370350

Their genus name is Gelastocoris oculatus and it means laughable bug or ridiculous bug.

Thanks to Michele for allowing me to share her photo with you here, and for introducing me to this bug!

It was sunny this morning but with quite a bit of wind. Clouds have moved in and the wind has increased. It feels like we might get some rain!