A pair of Acorn Woodpeckers showed up at our feeder in Anchor Bay with three fledglings. Rick and I have been enjoying hearing and watching them. For the past two weeks the parents have been practicing tough love, pecking at the young ones and flying away when they begged for food. It looks like the tough love has paid off as the young Acorns were at our feeder this weekend.
My best to you this lovely day! Jeanne Jackson
Steve Wilcox loves to photograph Hawks. He got a great photo of a Sea Hawk, aka Osprey, with a fish in its talons and has kindly allowed me to share it here. Perhaps the Osprey was hurrying back to the nest where his lady love was waiting with hungry babies. I feel so fortunate to live where Ospreys choose to nest.
My best to you! Jeanne Jackson, Gualala
Yesterday on our afternoon walk Rick pointed out the first blooms of California Honeysuckle, Lonicera hispidula, on our property in Anchor Bay. It's also known as Pink Honeysuckle. I love this climbing shrub. So do Hummingbirds, as they visit the pink blossoms for their nectar. Sometimes I see a vine climbing a tree and the leaves and blossoms are many feet above my head. This particular vine was growing in a huckleberry bush.
Later in the summer the blooms will become brilliant orange/red berries, which are very bitter. Only the hungriest birds will eat them so they usually remain on the vine to be enjoyed by anyone passing by. The stems of this plant are hollow and they were used by Pomo Indians as smoking pipes.
It is a dazzlingly beautiful day on the Mendonoma Coast today. My best to you! Jeanne Jackson
It is a bit of a walk but, oh, is it worth it! There is a beautiful waterfall on the Stornetta Public Lands. The best way to find it is to drive down Lighthouse Road. That's the way to the Point Arena Lighthouse, another great outing. Access the Stornetta Lands off of this road and walk south. Enjoy the beautiful scenery but take a jacket as it is often windy as you will see by the photo of me. Walk for perhaps 30 minutes. You will come to a stream, walk down, cross the stream, walk up and then look back. There you will see the waterfall to your right and in the distance the gleaming white Lighthouse. What a beautiful sight - a hidden treasure for you to find on the Mendocino Coast!
One of the cutest critters on the Mendonoma Coast is a Gray Fox Kit. They are being born now in hidden away dens or, in the case of one lucky woman, underneath a deck. Kathryn Hile discovered a litter of four Fox Kits under her deck in her enclosed courtyard in The Sea Ranch. What fun Kathryn will have in the days to come, photographing these enchanting creatures. A photo of one of the Kits was published today in the Independent Coast Observer with my column Mendonoma Sightings. To see that photo go to mendonoma.com, click on on-line features and then color photos. Kathryn has kindly given me permission to share two other photos here. The first one is of the male adult Gray Fox, aka "Daddy." The second one is of one of the Kits interacting with "Daddy."
My best to you today, Jeanne Jackson, Gualala
