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Mike Petrich wrote, “Here are a few new pics of the piebald deer (and twin and parent). This morning I found them on the trail (they blocked our path) and I had the camera so I crouched down and snapped a few pics."

"The good news is that they seem to be healthy and active in the area.  They are very comfortable around me and my camera, which worries me a little, but so many deer in these parts are less skittish than other parts of the coast.”

This white fawn is considered a tow-head and will continue to color up. Live and prosper, white fawn...and your sibling!

It's warm away from the ocean, but very breezy.

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Last Saturday Point Arena held their fireworks show and the weather couldn't  have been better. The fog was AWOL and there was the slightest of breezes. Paul Kozal set up on the Point Arena-Stornetta Lands to get these great photos.

I do think it's time - past time, actually - to replace fireworks with laser light show or a drone show. But I can't deny the beauty of the fireworks last weekend at Point Arena.

Thanks to Paul for allowing me to share his photos with you here. To see much more of Paul's photography, here is a link to his website: https://www.paulkozal.com/ And you can visit his gallery in Gualala, Studio 391, at the Cypress Center.

It's sunny and breezy again today. Warmer weather is predicted beginning Tuesday. Beach weather, anyone?

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I wouldn't call these small wildflowers rare, but they don't bloom very often. Neighbors have a fairly large colony of them, but only one bloomed this year. In showing some of the rare wildflowers at Rick's and my place, we found a group of Little Prince's Pine blooming along a trail up from the forest floor.

They stand only a couple of inches tall and they are very easy to overlook. Native wildflowers, in many cases, are Mother Nature's way of seeing if you are paying attention!

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

It's breezy and warm, with the fog out over the ocean. I have a second clutch of Violet-green Swallows in a birdhouse under the eaves. The babies are getting very loud and I think they will be fledging soon.

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Another unusual plant appeared recently, one I have never seen before. It's Pyrola aphylla and has a rather silly common name of Leafless Wintergreen. It's blooming on the forest floor now. Craig Tooley came by several weeks ago and photographed the plants, which were just barely beginning to bloom. Craig's close-up of the bottom of the cluster shows several new shoots coming up and extremely small leaves.

More recently Mary Sue Ittner and Amy Ruegg, along with others, came over to see them too. You can see by Mary Sue's photo that most of the blossoms have opened  up.

And here's Amy's closeup of the beautiful flowers. Pyrola aphylla are perennial herbs and native to California.

For me, the amazing thing is, I've never seen them on Rick's and my land before, and we've been here over 27 years. What a welcome surprise!

Thanks to Craig, Mary Sue, and Amy for allowing me to share their photos with you here.

Another foggy, cool day near the coast!

 

 

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There is something going on underground at Rick's and my place and an adjacent neighbor in Anchor Bay. Fungi and plants are weaving their magic for some rare and unusual wildflowers. The rarest of them is the Small Ground Cone, Kopsiopsis hookeri. They are mostly dried up now, but a single one barely pushed to the surface a few weeks ago. They are known to be symbiotic with the plant Salal. The new Small Ground Cone kind of looks like a turtle emerging from the sandy soil.

Nearby there are Gnome Plants, Hemitomes congestum. They come up in different places, but in the same general area. Fungi in the area is Matsutake and Queen Boletes. This photo of a newly emerged plant was taken by Bob Rutemoeller.

And just across from the Gnome Plants, a single California Pine Foot, Pityopus californicus. This photo was taken by Craig Tooley.

I have a couple more to show you, but on another day!

Thanks to Bob and Craig for allowing me to share their photos with you here. I sure wish I had 3-D glasses that would let me look into the ground and see all the connections going on down there!

Drippy fog this morning, enough to show .001 in the rain gauge. The sun is trying to break through this afternoon. The fog has lifted and the Pacific Ocean is still there! Yay!