Tag Archives: Karen Wilkinson

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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!

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Karen Wilkinson found a unique group of Coast Lilies. Lilium maritimum is only found in California north of San Francisco. A typical plant has as many as 13 nodding blossoms. But look what Karen discovered. She wrote, “I went to check in on Gentian on the ridge this morning and came across the most prolific Coast Lily plant I've ever seen.  21 open flowers, nine seed pods, and six buds that hadn't opened yet.” That would total 36 blossoms.

I sent Karen’s photo to botanist Peter Baye, and this was something he hadn’t seen before. He wrote, “That's not only exceptional, it's due to a deformation of the shoot tip during early flower bud development. Notice the flattening of the stem near the top? It's a fasciation. In this case, the ‘deformation’ of the shoot tip, or somatic mutation, doesn't affect the individual flowers. This is the only example of this I've ever seen in any native lily! Excellent find. Thanks! And thanks to Karen Wilkinson.”

Thanks to Karen for allowing me to share her photo with  you here, and for showing us something so unusual!

Not much fog this morning and ironically it's cooler, temps in the 60's. There are passing clouds which always adds interest to sky watching!

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Bottlenose Dolphins were seen two weeks ago, always an exciting sighting. Karen Wilkinson wrote, “Dolphins were swimming off of Black Point Beach this morning.  A few things that seemed interesting:  One had a bite mark on its side. I think one was swimming with a fish in its mouth. And they seemed to be swimming in the rip tide area.”

Karen sent her photos to Bill Keener, a Research Biologist, and Bottlenose Dolphin expert, at the Marine Mammal Center. Bill studied the photos and wrote, “I got two surprises – a regularly-seen female named Cepat had just been seen down in Monterey Bay at the very end of March, so they really do move around! And note that Cepat had some new low notches at that time in late March. Now she has moved all the way up to Sonoma, and we get to see her other side, which displays a new large linear semi-circular scar, which might be a huge bite mark. But I don't think so because I don't really see teeth marks there.

“Also, I think the other adult seen with her might be Papercut, another female in our catalog, but we have not seen that dolphin since it was at Pacifica in 2016. I wondered what happened to her.

Both these dolphins used to be well known in Monterey Bay, before they moved up north to the SF Bay Area, so I am sending all this to the Monterey Bay researcher to check this out. If he says anything interesting, I will let you know.” The third dolphin, the photo at the top here, is currently unknown to Bill.

Thanks to Karen for allowing me to share her photos with you here, and thanks to Bill for all the wonderful info on the known dolphins.

Heatwave inland is over. Foggy on the immediate coast today. Rick's and my house, at 640 feet elevation, is the fog line this afternoon - it's sunny in the courtyard, and foggy on the deck facing the ocean!

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Fogbows, sometimes called white Rainbows, can be seen in the mornings if you are lucky. Karen Wilkinson is obviously lucky! She photographed this Fogbow last week.

John Wall once photographed this beautiful fogbow.

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

There was some fog this morning but it quickly burned off. Temps this afternoon are in the low 80's, cooler right next to the coast. Lots of visitors here now, and it seems many inns and other rentals were full up for tonight. There is a fireworks display tomorrow night in Point Arena, out over the water. Sunday there is a parade, also in Point Arena.

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As Karen Wilkinson watched, this Bobcat has spotted a Brush Rabbit.

I just looked up what a Bobcat eats the most. The answer? Rabbits. From the web: Bobcats mostly eat rabbits and hares. They may also eat rodents, such as squirrels and mice, or hunt small deer, snakes, lizards and domestic animals, such as dogs, cats, sheep, goats and poultry.

People who raise chickens here have to protect them from Bobcats, and that means overhead protection too. Just look at this Bobcat climbing the tall giraffe fence at the B Bryan Preserve in Point Arena some years ago. The photo was taken by Judy Mello.

Bobcats are year round residents of the Mendonoma Coast and they are often seen in the daylight hours here.

Thanks to Karen and Judy for allowing me to share their photos with you here.

No fog and no wind. It's warm here on the coast today. Lots of visitors are here enjoying the coast too.