Alfredo Orozco caught magic with his photo from Anchor Bay Beach.
And Robert Scarola, who photographed the amazing sunset from The Sea Ranch, did the same.
Today fog moved in, blanketing the Coast with moist, cool air. After the warm holiday weekend, the moisture is very welcome.
Thanks to Alfredo and Robert for allowing me to share their photos with you here.
It's always a treat to see a Red-shouldered Hawk. Mark Simkins recently photographed a young one near Manchester sitting on a fence post.
And Robert Scarola spotted a juvenile in the Sea Ranch area. These hawks are year round residents of the Mendonoma Coast.
Robert also photographed this forest hawk on a rainy day and the bird doesn't look pleased!
These hawks have a distinctive call. You can hear it at this link to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology: http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Red-shouldered_Hawk/sounds
Here is what an adult looks like, photo taken by Jim Garlock. No more brown head!
Thanks to Mark, Robert, and Jim for allowing me to share their photos with you here.
Robert Scarola photographed what I believe is a yellow flash.
The night after I thought for sure I was going to get my first photo of a green flash but I photographed what Robert described in his photo as "two suns" or a yellow flash.
Andrew T. Young has a fascinating article on the web about green flashes. He wrote, “Green flashes are not always green; they can be yellow, green, blue, or even violet. But green is the hue seen most often.”
Mr. Young also has some unsolved green flash mysteries. Perhaps you can help solve one of them. Here is the link: http://mintaka.sdsu.edu/GF/unsolved.html
Here is one of my favorite green flash photos, taken by Craig Tooley. It shows a double green flash.
One of the myths about green flashes is that it is good luck when you see one. Let's expand that to yellow flashes too!
Thanks to Robert and Craig for allowing me to share their photos with you here. To see much more of Craig's nature photography, his website is: www.ruffimage.com
A storm like this can put a serious dent in ol' man Drought! We are told we may get more than five inches of rain and 50 mile per hour winds. Bring it on, Mother Nature! Robert Scarola photographed a storm cloud moving in.
We know we might have power outages but we are prepared. We haven't had a nice, big storm like this for several years and we are grateful.
Thanks to Robert for allowing me to share his photo with you here. If you are on the Coast this Sunday, Dec. 14th, join Rick and me at the Four-Eyed Frog Bookstore in Gualala at 4 pm for Robert's book event for his new book, Rim of the World. For more into, here is the Frog's website: http://www.foureyedfrog.com/
Two mornings in a row the sunrise was spectacular. I've already shared Carolyn André's series of photos of November 16th. Here are several more. Robert Scarola took this photo on November 16th of the sunrise in the east.
Paul Brewer took this photo the same morning from a different perspective.
And finally Richard Hansen captured this lovely sunrise the next day showing Castle Rock. For a few minutes the Pacific Ocean looked purple.
Thanks to Robert, Paul and Richard for allowing me to share these visions of loveliness. To see much more of Paul's nature photography, here is his website: http://www.capturingnatureswonders.com/