Tag Archives: Gualala River

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Perry Hoffman found Red-breasted Sapsuckers at the Gualala River.

They are striking birds. Sapsuckers got their name because they drill rows of shallow indentations, called sapwells, in shrubs and trees. When these indentations fill with sap, the woodpecker laps it up with its tongue. Sapsuckers have an important part to play in Nature, because many insects, birds, and mammals use the sapwells for nourishment.

Red-breasted Sapsuckers have quite a few calls. You can listen to them at this link to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Red-breasted_Sapsucker/sounds They also can be heard drumming with their large and sturdy beak.

Thanks to Perry for allowing me to share his photos with you here. To see much more of Perry's nature photography, here is the link to his website: https://magentaraven.com/

The weather is sublime now - temps in the mid 70s and a gently breeze. Come to the coast!

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Sara Bogard was near the Point Arena Lighthouse Peninsula when she saw this Bald Eagle come in for a landing. Some kind of duck is in the water behind the big eagle.

Eric Zetterholm recently photographed a Bald Eagle at the Gualala River.

It's so wonderful that Bald Eagles have returned to the Mendonoma Coast!

Thanks to Sara and Eric for allowing me to share their photos with you here.

Sunny and cool today, with more rain coming in overnight.

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Eric Zetterholm spotted this Osprey taking a bath in the Gualala River. It's good to see Ospreys returning to our coast where they choose to nest.

Another returning bird was seen on St. Patrick's Day, Friday the 17th. Mel Smith spotted a Violet-green Swallow at his place in Point Arena. Surely spring is close! What? Tomorrow, you say?!? Nice!

It's raining here today. It started during the night, raining hard. When I read my gauge in the morning, there was a half inch. That brings my season to date total to 57.40 inches. I consider 50 inches a "normal" rain year at Rick's and my place in Anchor Bay.

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Another river of rain event hit California and while much of the brunt of the storm was to our south, we still received a lot of rain. Here is a look at the Gualala River on Wednesday March 8, before the river of rain event. Kind of peaceful looking, wouldn't you agree?

The river is emptying by a horizontal channel, something is does occasionally but not often. There is a huge snag caught on the sandbar. A friend told me it looked like a big teeter-totter.

Thursday a big storm hit, bringing copious rain to the watershed of the Gualala River. On Friday afternoon I took these two photos of the raging river.

Much of the sandbar is underwater and I'm betting some of it has been washed away. That big snag is still on the sandbar though. We'll see if it remains or if it is finally swept to sea.

We have more rain headed our way beginning tonight. Monday especially is forecast to be heavy rain with another river of rain event. What a winter!

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All the storms have brought a great deal of rain to the creeks and rivers of the Mendonoma Coast. When the Gualala River opened this autumn with the first rains, it breached the sandbar at the far north end. But after the recent rains, take a look at the new opening of the river. Rick Denniston photographed it for us to see.

When I zoom in on the right side of the sand spit, there are the two Bald Eagles, standing very close to each other, perhaps looking for a Lamprey, one of their favorite meals.

Thanks to Rick for allowing me to share his photos with you here. The Gualala River is always changing, always fascinating, and so worthy of protecting.

Yesterday's storm has blown through. I received 0.80 inches from the last storm. We had hail and downpours and brilliant sunshine between. It was a wait-five-minutes kind of day! Today is sunny and warmer. And that is the forecast for the rest of this week!