Tag Archives: Rick Denniston

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All the storms have brought a great deal of rain to the creeks and rivers of the Mendonoma Coast. When the Gualala River opened this autumn with the first rains, it breached the sandbar at the far north end. But after the recent rains, take a look at the new opening of the river. Rick Denniston photographed it for us to see.

When I zoom in on the right side of the sand spit, there are the two Bald Eagles, standing very close to each other, perhaps looking for a Lamprey, one of their favorite meals.

Thanks to Rick for allowing me to share his photos with you here. The Gualala River is always changing, always fascinating, and so worthy of protecting.

Yesterday's storm has blown through. I received 0.80 inches from the last storm. We had hail and downpours and brilliant sunshine between. It was a wait-five-minutes kind of day! Today is sunny and warmer. And that is the forecast for the rest of this week!

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King Tides, the extra high tides, were experienced this past weekend. Rick Denniston photographed some of the action at the Gualala River. The Pacific Ocean was spilling over the sandbar and into the river.

Thanks to Rick for allowing me to share his photo with you here.

I've received quite a few photos from the big minus tide event that is paired with the King Tides. I'll be showing you some of the intertidal animals soon.

You can see some blue sky in Rick's photo, and our clear weather continues today. Temps are in the 60's and there is only a hint of a breeze.

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Ospreys arrive on the Mendonoma Coast around the first day of spring. This year they arrived early and they quickly got to work on their nests. Rick Denniston noticed this Osprey perched on a snag, and he also photographed Western Gulls below on the sandbar and in the Gualala River.

Ospreys make nests of sticks at the top of tall trees. Females are sitting on nests now, and perhaps there are chicks inside. Until the chicks' heads can be seen above the edge of the nests, we just don't know for sure what's going on!

I have some dramatic photos of an Osprey fishing taken by Gaily Jackson, which I will be sharing here soon.

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

We are having a beautiful day here today, sunny, warm and a slight breeze. Lots of visitors are arriving for the Memorial Day long weekend.

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Rick Denniston had several other photos of the Bald Eagle eating what appeared to be a huge lizard. In this photo I could see that the Bald Eagle was eating a Lamprey, an eel-like fish found in the Gualala River.

Mystery solved!

Thanks to Rick for allowing me to share his additional photo with you here.

Another wild weather day. Early this morning, with the temperature barely reaching 40 degrees, a hailstorm hit. Here's our deck in Anchor Bay covered in hail.

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Rick Denniston photographed this Bald Eagle eating what looks like a large lizard. The light wasn't good for the photo, Rick said.

I sent Rick's photo to reptile expert Gary Nafis. He wrote,

"I don't know what it is. I'm not sure it's a lizard, and I don't think it's the tail end of a snake. I can't see any legs and the light thing hanging down over the branch doesn't look like one. The largest lizards in your area are alligator lizards, but if an eagle's talons are two inches long as I've read, then it's too large to be an alligator lizard. If it is a lizard, it would have to be an escaped pet. If it's a rodent, I don't think the eagle would be eating the tail end. Raptors have been seen eating salamanders, too, but the tail is also wrong for a giant salamander."
Do you have any idea what the Bald Eagle is eating?
Thanks to Rick for allowing me to share his photo with you here.
Ooo, we are having wild weather - rain, hail, sunshine, more rain hail, sunshine...a wait five minutes kind of day. We had a 1/2 inch of rain this morning in a short period of time. More coming in late this afternoon.