Tag Archives: Peter Baye

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Peter Baye was tide pooling recently when he saw this Opalescent Nudibranch.

Nudibranchs are mollusks in the class Gastropoda, which includes snails, slugs, limpets, and sea hairs. Their common name is Sea Slugs, which doesn't do justice to their beauty. John Thompson photographed a Clown Dorid Nudibranch some time ago.

And Loren Adrian photographed a Hopkin's Rose Nudibranch. This particular nudibranch was previously found to our south, but over the past several years, we've had sightings of a few off our coast.

Just a small sample of the beautiful life that lives in the ocean.

Thanks to Peter, John and Loren for allowing me to share their photos with you here.

Sunny, mild weather, though I see the fog low on the ocean. The full moon setting early this morning was quite wonderful to see. Happy Halloween!

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Wood Ducks are quite shy, so Karen Wilkinson was delighted when she spotted one for a brief moment, paddling in the Gualala River. She only caught this one glimpse.

Some years ago Peter Baye photographed this pair of Wood Ducks, the female on the left.

And Kathy Bishop also had a sighting some years ago of these ducks and she got some great close-ups of the beautiful adult male, and a photo of the rather drab-looking female with her brightly-colored mate.

In the 15+ years of writing my column in the Independent Coast Observer, these are the only photos sent in over that time. So I'd say Wood Ducks are a rare sighting here!

Thanks to Karen, Peter and Kathy for allowing me to share their photos with you here.

Another foggy, cool day on the Mendonoma Coast. Hey, it must be summer!

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Pat Maxwell found this Anise Swallowtail Butterfly on her appropriately-named Butterfly bush.

And Catherine Miller spotted this Pale Swallowtail Butterfly feeding on the geraniums in her garden recently.

The other swallowtail we commonly see here on the coast is a Western Tiger Swallowtail. This photo was taken some years ago by Peter Baye. This lovely butterfly is feeding on one of my favorite native wildflowers, the Leopard Lily.

 

Thanks to Pat, Catherine and Peter for allowing me to share their photos with you here.

Today is simply one of the most beautiful days on the Mendonoma Coast - sunny, bright with a gently breeze.

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Kathryn Arnold and Michael Kleeman sent in a fascinating video of three Yellow-faced Bumblebees. She wrote, “Michael and I came across some bees behaving mysteriously. There is one large bee and two smaller ones. They appear to be the same species. Are the two smaller ones attacking the larger one? Trying to mate? Hitching a ride? Thanks for helping us solve the mystery!”

I sent Kathryn’s video to Peter Baye and he shared it with entomologist Will Ericson. Peter wrote, “That’s was a Bombus vosnesenskii – Yellow-faced Bumblebee - queen copulating with two males. Will said he’d never seen the actual act before!”

Here's the video:

Thanks to Kathryn for allowing me to share her photo and video with you here.

Cloudy and cool-ish today, quite nice for a walk.

Spring doesn't know...

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Peter Baye wrote, "Here are some photos of a beautiful flowering shrub that isn't too common in Mendonom - canyon gooseberry, Ribes menziesii. It has incredible tiny fushsia-like flowers, dark maroon to pink or white.

This bush is from The Conservation Fund's Buckeye Forest, on Fuller Creek. Not many records of them up here, most of them quite old."

Fuller Creek is a tributary of the Gualala River. I personally have never seen this flowering bush. It's quite lovely. To learn more about the Conservation Fund, here is a link to their website: https://www.conservationfund.org/projects/gualala-river-forest

Thanks to Peter for allowing me to share his photos with you here.

Another sunny, warm day here today. Hints of rain coming in for the weekend.