Tag Archives: Marilyn Green

•

Marilyn Green found this object washed up on a beach at The Sea Ranch.

Bob Van Syoc knew what it was. I found it eerily beautiful. Bob wrote, “Very beautiful indeed! This is the shed exoskeleton of a Barnacle.  Barnacles live inside a permanent calcareous shell attached to the bottom, but inside of the shell they also have a chitinous exoskeleton (like crabs and shrimp) as they are crustaceans. To grow they must shed their old exoskeleton and then form a new larger one. The shed exoskeletons float around and some wash ashore.”

So, inside the Barnacles' shell is an exoskeleton. And they outgrow it and have to shed it. Who knew? Lucky for Marilyn and me, Bob knew!

Thanks to Marilyn for her ability to spot small, unusual items and for allowing me to share her photo with you here. Also thanks to Bob for his expertise.

Cool this afternoon, with a breeze. We have rain coming in starting tomorrow night. Happy first full day of spring!

•

Karen Wilkinson found this Great Blue Heron, and he/she was apparently looking at her.

I wondered if the Heron was laughing at her. But Karen disabused my whimsy. She said she thinks the Heron was actually hacking up a feather!

Here's one of my favorite photos of a Great Blue Heron taking off, by Betsy Anderson

And here is a Great Blue Heron cloud, as photographed by Marilyn Green.

Great Blue Herons are year round residents of the Mendonoma Coast.

Thanks to Karen, Betsy and Marilyn for allowing me to share their photos with you here.

Oh boy, we're having a big, fat, wet storm. Two inches so far, and it's raining as I type this!

•

Just look at this beauty - a six-legged, small, nearly translucent Sea Star. Marilyn Green photographed it at the most recent low tide at Pebble Beach off The Sea Ranch.

Here's what intertidal zone expert, Robert Van Syoc, had to say about this Star.

"This is a very interesting star, and a rare find on our part of the coast. According to Prof. Sarah Cohen at San Francisco State University, who is an expert on this group of stars, it's a member of a ‘species complex’ of three species distinguished by differences in their DNA, but not yet easily identifiable to species-level by obvious morphological characteristics.

“Formerly, all three species were known as Leptasterias hexactis, a smallsix-armed star. Currently, Prof. Cohen considers true Leptasterias hexactis to be the most northern of the three species, ranging from Alaska south to Washington State.  The remaining two species of Leptasterias are most common further south in California, uncommonly found this far north.  So, it would appear that Marilyn has photographed a currently undescribed species of Leptasterias!  Keep your eyes open for more, please!”

As Amy Ruegg often photographs in the intertidal zone, I sent her Marilyn's photo and it turns out Amy photographed this type of Star last year, off Pebble Beach. One of its legs is mostly underneath the center of the Star. Bob agrees it's probably the same species as Marilyn's find.

Bob sent in some fascinating information about these Stars. He wrote, “Another important aspect of Leptasterias biology is that they are ‘brooders,’ that is they do not have planktonic larvae, but keep their developing offspring on ‘Mom’ until they ‘walk away’ as tiny versions of the adults.  This limits their ability to re-colonize distant areas after the Sea Star wasting disease of 2015 in our area.  Hence, the slow re-establishment of Leptasterias on our part of the coast…and our excitement at seeing them again.”

How great is this? At the next low tide, perhaps you will find one of these rare Stars.

Thanks to Marilyn and Amy for allowing me to share their photos with you here.

It's a stunning day - warm with no wind. But the forecast has it cooling off, big time! For today, I'm enjoying the sunshine and the 70 degree temps. It's not really winter today!

 

• 2 Comments

•

Marilyn Green photographed this cloud formation recently and she sees a Great Blue Heron on the top. I agree.

Here's a recent photo of an actual GBH, taken by Sara Bogard out near the Point Arena Lighthouse. Notice that the heron has a scar on his or her right wing. Sara said it looked healed up so it happened some time ago.

Great Blue Herons are year round residents of the Mendonoma Coast, and sometimes they are even seen in the clouds!

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

We've had lots more rain overnight and it's raining this afternoon as I type this post. The seasonal creek that crosses Rick's and my land is doing its best imitation of a mighty river right now.

Happy New Year to you and yours!

•

Marilyn Green noticed this gorgeous grasshopper, which was identified as a Painted Meadow Grasshopper.

Very elegant with the pink markings!

Thanks to Marilyn for allowing me to share her photo with you here.

Rare bird alert! Gail Jackson (no relation!) photographed what we think is a Parasitic Jaeger which she saw at Gualala Point Regional Park. This type of seabird is rarely seen from land. The bird was headed north. I'll share photos soon.

Our heatwave broke early this morning as billowing fog moved onto the land. As I write this on Thursday afternoon, the ocean and bluffs are shrouded with fog but we are in sun here in Anchor Bay. It's about 20 degrees cooler today - hooray!

Spring doesn't know...