Tag Archives: Ron LeValley

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This medium-sized Owl is a rare sighting on the Mendonoma Coast. Ron LeValley recently photographed one.

They fly low over grasslands listening for small mammals, or sometimes birds. Yes, they find their prey mainly with their ears rather than with their eyes.

This owl must have heard Ron, as it turned and looked directly at him.

Such a beautiful bird! To hear its call, here is a link to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology: http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/short-eared_owl/sounds 

I thank Ron for allowing me to share his photos with you here. To see much more of Ron's nature photography, here is the link to his website: http://www.levalleyphoto.com/home/

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We are waiting for a rainstorm that is due in late tonight. It has been very dry until now but I didn't think it was dry enough for Prince mushrooms to fruit! They are considered a summer mushroom. But right alongside our road, six Prince mushrooms popped up yesterday.

I have noticed a fresh bloom of Oyster Mushrooms on a standing dead Tan-oak tree in our forest. Here is a photo Ron LeValley took of several pristine Oyster Mushrooms. Ron advises getting them while they are young and delicious.

Thanks to Ron for allowing me to share his photo with you here. To see much more of Ron's nature photography, here is his website: http://www.levalleyphoto.com/home/

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Humpback Whales can be seen off the Mendonoma Coast in the summer and fall, though not in great numbers. Ron LeValley went out on a boat from Noyo Harbor in Fort Bragg and came across two Humpbacks. And they came very close to the boat, obviously curious about the boat filled with people. Ron says they were spouted on several times and he had to clean his camera lens three times!

 Below is the tail of a diving Humpback.

 And below the Humpback is about to spout. I have a feeling this is one of the times Ron had to clean his camera lens.

And here is a Humpback's barnacle-encrusted tail fins.  Ron says there are two species of barnacles on this whale - the acorn barnacle, Coronula diadema, which is unique to the humpback and the rabbit-eared barnacle, Conchoderma, a kind of stalked or goose-necked barnacle that settles on Coronula.

Below you will see this Humpback Whale is taking a good look at Ron!

Thanks to Ron for allowing me to share his fabulous photos with you here. To see much more of Ron's photography, here is his website: http://www.levalleyphoto.com/home/

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Ron took a boat out of Noyo Harbor. He and the others on board got to see Humpbacks and a few Blue Whales.

Here you see the behemouth spouting.

And below you can see its mottled back. Ron tells me you can identify individual Blue Whales by the patterns on its back. 

Here is the Blue Whale's very small dorsal fin.

And here's a photo of a Blue Whale's tail. 

You won't see Blue Whales come out of the water much. They don't - probably can't - breach like Humpbacks or Gray Whales as they are so huge. They are extremely endangered as they try to recover from intense whaling of years past.

A reference book I enjoy is "Whales and other Marine Mammals of California and Baja" by Tamara Eder. She writes that at birth a Blue Whale weighs about 2.5 tons and is 23 feet long. An adult can weigh up to 200 tons (181,000 kg) and be up to 110 feet (34 m) long.

I was told some years ago that if you see an island in the ocean where there wasn't one before, you've just seen a Blue Whale.

Thanks to Ron for allowing me to share his photos with you here. To see much more of Ron's nature photography, here is the link to his website: http://www.levalleyphoto.com/home/

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Spy hopping is when a whale pokes its head out of the ocean and appears to take a good look around. Ron LeValley photographed several Gray Whales doing just that.

In the photo below you can see the Gray Whale's eye just above the water line if you look closely.

The other theory regarding spy hopping is that the whale is listening for the wave break so it can best align itself on its long migration.

I was on the bluffs at the southern end of The Sea Ranch on a wildflower hike several years ago. There were six of us, including my husband, Rick. I happened to glance out at the ocean and saw a Gray Whale spy hop. I almost couldn't believe what I saw. No one else saw it and when I looked again it was gone. A sweet memory for me.

Lucky for us all that Ron had his camera at the ready. I thank him for allowing me to share his photos with you here. To see much more of Ron's photography, here is his website: http://www.levalleyphoto.com/home/