I love these elegant birds. We often see Great Blue Herons near rivers and wetlands. Recently Mike Reinhart found this Great Blue Heron preening near the Gualala River.
Can you stand on one leg and preen your feathers? I thought not!
Thanks to Mike for allowing me to share his photo with you here.
It's much cooler today. It's also windy with lots of clouds - it *feels* like we could get rain soon. Hope so! It's been well over a month since we got any meaningful rain.
Michael Reinhart spotted this Red-shouldered Hawk in Point Arena recently.
Isn't this a beautiful hawk? Red-shouldered Hawks live in areas of tall trees and water. Sounds suspiciously like the Mendonoma Coast! They have loud calls which can be listened to at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology at this link: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Red-shouldered_Hawk/sounds
Thanks to Mike for allowing me to share his photos with you here.
Today started off with fog but it cleared in most places by mid-morning. A sunny, windless day was our reward for being on the beautiful Mendonoma Coast today. Lots of Gray Whales are migrating southward now. I saw multiple spouts off the Mendocino Headlands today.
The Bald Eagles seemingly went their own ways after successfully raising a chick earlier this year. But in recent weeks, they have paired up again. Mike Reinhart recently photographed the Gualala Bald Eagles.
We're not sure why the one Bald Eagle, the female, has her wings extended. Maybe she was just stretching. Then they jointly preened themselves.
It's a lot of fun watching for these eagles! The best place to spot them is behind Trinks Cafe in Gualala and at the north end of the Gualala Bluff Trail. There is a dead tree, a snag, to the north that they like to perch in.
Thanks to Mike for allowing me to share his photos with you here.
We are waiting for another "river of rain" event that comes late afternoon/early evening today, Saturday. Our stretch of warm, dry weather is over...for now. Bring it, Mother Nature!
Michael Reinhart trained his camera on a beautiful male Anna's Hummingbird. As the sunlight shone on the little bird, the iridescent colors were revealed.
Mike also photographed a male Allen's Hummingbird, the feisty cousin of the Anna's.
Allen's Hummingbirds numbers are in decline, whereas the Anna's seem to be thriving.
Thanks to Mike for giving us these close-up views of these vibrant hummers.
A beautiful, sunny day on the Mendonoma coast today. Windy on the bluffs with lots of white caps on the ocean. Mary Heibel met me at the Point Arena Lighthouse gates and showed me a wildflower I hadn't seen before, Wallflowers. More on them in another post!
Michael Reinhart checked the bluffs on The Sea Ranch and found several Pelagic Cormorants paired up and already building nests. This is very early, experts agree.
Here is a cormorant with nesting materials in its mouth.
And here is a Pelagic Cormorant in flight. Beautiful, don't you think? The white patch on this seabird's flank shows it is in breeding plumage.
Pelagic Cormorants are mostly silent but they do make some sounds, including groans, when breeding. You can listen here, a link to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Pelagic_Cormorant/sounds
Thanks to Mike for allowing me to share his photos with you here.
Today the weather story is WIND! It's sunny but the wind is howling. It's no fun to be out on the bluffs today!