Karen Wilkinson found a White-tailed Kite hunting for its meal. She photographed the beautiful bird at the moment he/she spots a rodent.
Success! The kite has its meal while perched on a tree.
Thanks to Karen for allowing me to share her photos with you here.
We have a group of sub-adult Gray Whales who have stayed along our coast rather than migrating to the Bering Sea. This has been happening for several years now. It's exciting to see and it's heartening to know there is enough feed for them here. Karen Wilkinson recently photographed a young Gray Whale.
You can tell it's a young gray by the stubby head. And, if we had something to compare it with, you'd see the length of the young whale is less than an adult.
Thanks to Karen for allowing me to share her photo with you here.
We had our first rain in nearly six months yesterday and the night before. It felt so wonderful to hear and see it. This morning the damp forest smelled so good. We have another storm predicted for Monday night. Could mushrooms be far behind?!?
It's exciting to see Bottlenose Dolphins off the Mendonoma coast! They have been expanding their territory northward over the past few years. Karen Wilkinson found a pod of these dolphins quite close in at Smuggler's Cove off The Sea Ranch in mid-August. She took many, many photos, which were shared with Bill Keener of Golden Gate Cetacean Research.
Bill wrote, “I was positively able to ID three individuals. First, I was able to confirm that the female we call Sakura has a new calf. She had calves before in Monterey Bay, then about five years ago she had a calf off San Francisco, and now this is her new calf.
“You can tell that the calf is about a month old because of the vertical pale stripes on its body – those are called ‘fetal folds’ which are stretch marks due to the curled-up position the calf had while in the uterus.” Bill said the marks last a couple of months before they fade away.
Bill was pleased to see Karen had photographed Bliss, an older female. Bill wrote, “Bliss is one of the oldest dolphins in [our records.] She was first seen in San Diego in 1982! She is likely in her mid-40s or 50 years old now. Glad she is still going strong!”
The other Bottlenose Dolphin Bill was able to ID was a male named Shiloh. Neither Sakura or Shiloh had been spotted further north than Bodega Bay until now. They were seen years ago in Monterey Bay, but the past six or seven years they have been seen in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Karen also photographed an unknown adult Bottlenose Dolphin and she has a calf with her, which you can see in the photo above. Bill wrote, “As for the unidentified dolphin, now begins a longer process of trying to figure out if it has been seen before in another part of California. It’s fairly uncommon for us to see a totally brand-new adult animal before. But it can happen.”
Here are a few more photos Karen took that day.
And here is a map Karen drew of her sighting at Smuggler's Cove.
Thanks to Karen for allowing me to share her photos with you here.
We are having an oh-so-lovely day this Sunday. It would be a good day to spot...bottlenose dolphins!
Karen Wilkinson recently photographed a Harbor Seal eating an Octopus.
The Harbor Seal looks pretty happy about it too!
Here is one of my favorite photos of Harbor Seals, which was taken by Siegfried Matull some years ago. These two came up under kelp - and they look like they are wearing crowns of seaweed.
Thanks to Karen and Siegfried for allowing me to share their photos with you here.
Another beautiful day here on the Mendonoma coast. Even Point Arena, notoriously foggy during the summer months, is seeing nothing but sunshine!
Karen Wilkinson noticed this Black Oystercatcher taking a vigorous bath.
It was a VERY thorough bath as you can see below.
Karen said it made her laugh to see this. It makes me smile to see her photos!
Thanks to Karen for allowing me to share her photos with you here.