Tag Archives: Rozann Grunig

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Rozann Grunig captured this dramatic photo of a Great Blue Heron perched on a rock during the wild surf. Storms to our north can cause high surf on the Mendonoma Coast in November.  The heron sure looks like it is hunkered down!

To see a lovely photo by Marianne Rittenhouse of a Great Blue Heron at the moment it takes wing, and to learn more about Great Blue Herons, click on this link: http://www.mendonomasightings.com/2011/09/30/great-blue-heron-photographed-just-as-it-takes-flight-a-lovely-photograph-by-marianne-rittenhouse/

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I thought this Saturday would be the first day of Boletus edulis, or King Boletes, but I just received this photo by Rozann Grunig of a beauty found this morning in Sonoma County. It's almost as big as the pineapple. Game on for bolete season!

We spent some time watching the beautiful Gualala River yesterday and again today. It is still closed to the Pacific Ocean but it could open any time. The river will break through the sandbar soon and I would dearly love to be there when it happens. I'm told the sound is amazing. Juvenile Steelhead are in the river's lagoon, waiting to go on their next journey. You can see the ocean waves washing over the sandbar in the photos below.

There are lots of wonderful things going on here on the Mendonoma Coast this week! My best to you, Jeanne Jackson

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On Sept. 3rd, Rozann Grunig found a shocking sight at Shell Beach on The Sea Ranch. The beach was littered with dead Sea Urchins. She also saw a Chiton, a type of sea mollusk, just barely alive. The Chiton was put back into the Pacific Ocean in the hopes it might survive.

Abalones have been found upside down off the Sonoma Coast - there has been much coverage of this event. A Red Tide plus a quiet ocean caused a loss of oxygen in these critters habitat. It is believed by local ocean watchers that this is a natural occurrence. It has happened before and will happen again. Tests are being done to see if something else is happening here. Divers and fishermen tell me while they have seen some dead abalones, there are thousands upon thousands out there and doing fine. The Mendocino Coast looks like it avoided this phenomenon.

I thank Rozann for allowing me to share her photos here.

To see Craig Tooley's photo of the Red Tide, you can see it on this link here on Mendonoma Sightings: http://www.mendonomasightings.com/2011/08/09/red-tide-seen-off-of-the-sea-ranch/

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A beautiful member of the Lily family, the Red Clintonia, Clintonia andrewsiana ,usually is in full bloom around Mother's Day here in the United States, which is the first part of May. If the flower doesn't get eaten by a Deer, the flowers will turn into striking cobalt-blue berries.

Rozann Grunig photographed one this past week at The Sea Ranch and has allowed me to share it here. You will also see below a photo by Frank Drouillard showing the red bloom.

I love finding this shade-loving wildflower in the forest. You probably won't be surprised to learn that another name for this plant is Blue Bead Lily.

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Brown Pelicans, one of my favorite birds, continue to be seen flying north along the bluffs and over the rocky islands of the Mendonoma Coast. So graceful in the air, they are always exciting to spot. Rozann Grunig recently caught a great photograph of Brown Pelicans and  has graciously allowed me to share her photo here.