Tag Archives: Gualala Point Island

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You might have a chance to see a spectacle at Gualala Point Island this weekend. Common Murres, seabirds, nest on the island. When the chicks are ready to fledge, they have to take a leap of faith off the island and into the water where their fathers wait, calling up to them with encouragement. As of Friday, July 31st, the chicks were still on the island but they could fledge at any time now.

Sara Bogard was at the Point Arena Lighthouse bluffs when she saw a Common Murre chick in the water following its father, so this chick fledged earlier than the ones on GPI.

Once the chicks are in the water with dad, the mother birds are free from child rearing, something other bird mothers must be jealous of!

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

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Carolyn Carnell shared this photo of the big island sitting off the north end of The Sea Ranch, Gualala Point Island. It was very crowded that day!

Carolyn Carnell wrote, “This photo was taken while doing a drone survey to check on the Common Murres nests on the [west] side of Gualala Point Island. To our surprises it was covered with 112 Brown Pelicans, with many also in the water along with Common Murres having a feeding frenzy.”

Also on the island were Brandt's Cormorants and Western Gulls. Let's face it, GPI is a popular place to hang out! The Brown Pelicans were most likely resting before continuing their northward migration. As I've shown you in a previous post, the juveniles are now strong enough to be passing by the Mendonoma coast.

There was a lot of bait fish in the ocean which caused multiple feeding frenzies last week, a good sign of the health of the ocean.

Here's one of my favorite photos of GPI as big waves crash into it during a high surf event, taken by Richard Kuehn.

Thanks to Carolyn and Rich for allowing me to share their photos with you here.

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On May 9th, John Wall caught the magic!  He photographed a fogbow stretching over Gualala Point Island. We had fog with very high water content. Normally fogbows are completely white, but this one had a little hint of color.

Gary Curtis also photographed a fogbow that day, and his shows even more color.

These were both taken from The Sea Ranch. But fogbows were seen that day off Gualala and off Anchor Bay. Yes, I saw one that day too. It's rare to see a fogbow, so we are always excited about seeing one.

Thanks to John and Gary for allowing me to share their photos with you here.

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Tom Eckles was at Gualala Point Regional Park when he saw this beautiful scene.

We had high surf warnings, bringing big waves. The island in the middle is Gualala Point Island, an important rookery for seabirds.

The surf was high enough to flow over the sandbar and into the Gualala River. That, combined with last week's rain, has really filled up the lagoon. Kayaking this weekend could be epic! Our local kayak company is Adventure Rents. http://www.adventurerents.com/

Thanks to Tom for allowing me to share his photo with you here. To see much more of Tom's photography, you can view them here: https://www.flickr.com/people/eckles/

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Pam Ryan was observing Gualala Point Island when she saw this Common Murre coming in for a landing.

The top of the rocky island looks pretty crowded! Common Murre's look like small penguins, as they walk around upright.

Here's a photo Craig Tooley took of Murres along with Cormorants on the island. I love the two Murres with their chests together in the back.

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