Tag Archives: Mendocino coast

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Last Friday and Saturday the Mendonoma Coast experienced offshore breezes and there was a green flash each night at sunset. Tom Eckles manged to photograph Saturday's Green Flash. I am quite jealous as I have tried and failed to capture this phenomenon. I console myself with the fact Tom is a professional photographer. Thanks, Tom, for allowing me to share your photo here. Yes, the Green Flash is NOT a myth!

To see more of Tom's photography, here is the link to his website: www.tomeckles.com

To see a photo of the Green Flash by Richard Kuehn, here is the link: http://www.mendonomasightings.com/2012/02/07/the-green-flash-was-photographed-by-richard-kuehn/

And one more Green Flash photo on this site, this one by Frank Vaskelis: http://www.mendonomasightings.com/2011/04/28/the-green-flash-its-not-a-myth/

And perhaps you'd like to learn how to make a green flash cocktail! Here's the link: http://www.mendonomasightings.com/2012/01/01/dawn-of-the-new-year-as-photographed-by-coastal-photographer-craig-tooley-and-the-green-flash-cocktail/

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Even though it's winter, we've been hearing birdsong on the Mendonoma Coast. Craig Tooley photographed this White-crowned Sparrow and is kindly allowing me to share his photo with you here. This Sparrow looks like he's quite a singer!

To see more of Craig's wonderful nature photos, here's the link to his web site: http://ruffimage.com/
And to hear the sound of this bird, here the link to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology: http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/white-crowned_sparrow/sounds/ac

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Cooper's Hawks, Accipiter cooperii, move into the Mendonoma Coast in the autumn and over-winter here. They are a little smaller than a Red-tailed Hawk and can be identified in the air by their flap-flap-glide motion. They are amazing, agile fliers. They hunt small birds. Sometimes one will show up near a bird feeder. That's the time to take down the bird feeder so the Cooper's Hawk isn't given a free lunch.

Hal Fogel recently photographed this immature Cooper's Hawk. If it were an adult it would be blue-gray on top instead of brown. Many thanks to Hal for allowing me to share his photo with you!

To hear the call of a Cooper's Hawk, here's a link to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology: http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Coopers_Hawk/sounds/ac

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Anchor Bay Beach is a wonderful place to watch the sun begin to set. David Wayne Floyd did just that recently and look at what he saw. Beautiful! Thanks to David for allowing me to share his photo with you here.

Anchor Bay Beach is accessed through the private Anchor Bay Campground. To learn more about the campground, here's their link: http://www.abcamp.com/. It is one of the jewels of the Mendocino Coast.
Gray Whales, two of them, were seen today heading south, according to Adrian Bennett. Tomorrow I will share two edible mushrooms that just made an appearance on the Mendonoma Coast!

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Ron Le Valley recently photographed several Northern Right Whale Dolphins, Lissodelphis borealis, off the Mendocino Coast. These are small, slender Dolphins found in the North Pacific Ocean. They have no fins or ridges on their smooth, curving backs. They are quite shy and usually avoid boats. They travel in groups of two to two hundred but much larger pods have been seen. In the open ocean, they can travel fast, making low leaps together. These Dolphins are just a little bigger than a grown man. One of their favorite foods is Squid.

To see much more of Ron's work, here's a link to his web site: http://www.levalleyphoto.com/home/ And I thank Ron for allowing me to share his beautiful photo with you here.