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.
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!
Karen Wilkinson wrote, “Have you ever really seen a flower? Walking the Gualala River to find wildflowers in bloom is a beloved pastime. Sharing it with botanical buddies is even better. The closer you look at a flower, the more exquisite they become. Take this Scarlet Monkeyflower, if you touch the stigma with the tip of your finger, it closes up. I think this is connected to the way it gets pollinated, but I'm not sure why. What I am sure about is that this flower is my new favorite.” Karen got a nice photo of an Anna’s Hummingbird coming in for nectar and another showing the stigma and anthers touching the hummer’s head.
I asked Botanist Peter Baye why the stigma, the part of the flower that receives pollen during pollination, would close. He wrote, “Had to look this one up! Fortunately there was some new research just published this year on it by Lila Fishman and colleagues at the University of Montana. Closure of the stigma lobes in monkeyflowers are interpreted as a means of maximizing cross-pollination over less advantageous self-pollination.”
Peter also wrote, after looking at Karen’s beautiful photos, “It is wonderful to see photos of observant naturalists rediscovering the Gualala River bed, and not just a stone's throw from Highway 1! It needs to be rediscovered constantly, as its never the same two consecutive years! I know people love the Russian River, but frankly, the native biological richness of the Gualala has more to offer explorers.”
Very interesting to learn about this! Thanks to Karen for allowing me to share her photos with you here.
While it is hot, hot, hot inland, a fog bank is keeping things cool along the Mendonoma Coast. Temps have been in the mid sixties. Nice!
A family of North American River Otters makes the Gualala River area their home. Rozanne Rapozo recently photographed the mother with her three offspring, called pups or kittens.
The pups will stay with their mom for about a year, or until she has another litter.
Here is a close-up of the mother.
River Otters are deemed semi-aquatic. They are equally comfortable in the water and on the land. For fun, here's a photo Catherine Miller took of River Otter prints, the prints with five claws.
Thanks to Rozanne and Catherine for allowing me to share their photos with you here.
The fog has been persistent over the ocean today, keeping temps down. No wind today, a lovely day here on the Mendonoma Coast.
Peter Baye wrote, "Here's the underwater fish-eye perspective on the Wigeongrass canopy, reaching up like a vine growing through submerged dead tree branches - which these are, mantled in green filamentous algae."
"The bubbles in the Wigeongrass are pure oxygen produced by the Wigeongrass leaves getting sunlight under water. They can actually saturate the water column with oxygen by day. May not be pretty to us, but the Gualala Roach and Steelhead juveniles love it!”
It will reach the surface in the lagoon soon. It’s not harmful; it’s beneficial. Watch for it!
Thanks to Peter for allowing me to share his photo with you here.
No wind today. There are some high clouds drifting by, and it's a nice, warm day on the Mendonoma Coast.