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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!

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Bill Budge took this photo from his home at the north end of Gualala. There is a rock formation offshore that looks like a castle. Bill found a beautiful Fogbow recently, framing Castle Rock.

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

Lots of fog this morning near the ocean, but it pulled back in most places. It's been in the mid 70's at Rick's and my place in Anchor Bay this afternoon. Beautiful!

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Ron Bolander found this duo recently. It looks to me like an adult in the back, with a younger Gray Fox in the front.I wonder if they were hunting for a tasty rodent in the grassy meadow where Ron found them.

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

oh, it's a beautiful day here today - breezy and warm, with plenty of blue sky!

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Menka Sethi wrote, “A Bobcat recently sauntered through my backyard and into the abutting Mill Meadow. Wanting to share this with neighbors, I pulled out my phone camera. In a split-second, a Raven dive-bombed the Bobcat, and the Bobcat flipped upside down, landed back on four paws, and took off into the meadow. Did I imagine this? No - there on my phone was the image of a Bobcat seemingly floating above the meadow with four paws pointed toward the sky.”

A one-in-a-million photograph by The Sea Ranch's Community Manager!

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

There was an error in my previous post - it was an Allen's Hummingbird, not an Anna's. Sorry about that! Thanks to all who wrote in to correct the post.

This morning felt very autumn-like, with breezes and sun. Then this afternoon clouds have moved in, and temps are very mild, mid-60's.