Tag Archives: The Sea Ranch

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Karen Wilkinson noticed this Bobcat hiding in the grasses near a trail at The Sea Ranch. She called Mike Petrich to come and take a look.

Mike photographed what I believe is a female Bobcat. Females are quite a bit smaller than males.

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

Our string of dry weather continues, much to our delight and much to our dismay. No rain yet in the month of February. No mushrooms to speak of with the dry conditions. I did see my first Western Trillums in bloom this morning!

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The Christmas Bird Count takes place in January here on the Mendonoma coast. During the event, a Red-tailed Hawk nest was seen at The Sea Ranch. The call went out to wildlife photographer Craig Tooley to come and photograph it. Craig got one of the Red-tails perched on the side of the nest as the other flew away. The hawks were working on reinforcing the nest. They use the same nests for some years.

Eric Zetterholm recently photographed a pair of Red-tailed Hawks, the larger female and the smaller male, near the Gualala River.

We don't know if the nest Craig photographed is their nest.

John Wall also photographed a Red-tailed Hawk, perched on a Sea Ranch road sign. John said there was a new traffic cop in town!

Thanks to Craig, Eric and John for allowing me to share their photos with you here. To see much more of Craig's wildlife photograph, here is his website: www.ruffimage.com

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Amy Ruegg was at Stengel Beach on The Sea Ranch recently. She wrote, “It has been beautiful seeing the waterways fill up, and the rain soak the earth.

The cloudy sunsets have been almost unbelievable of late, as if a piece of heaven fell to earth. I enjoyed seeing a splashing waterfall there. The tide was low as the sunset revealed a purple and an orange Sea Star clinging tightly to slippery rocks.”

Thanks to Amy for allowing me to share her photos with you here.

After a strong storm on Sunday, today is a different story. Sunny, with a few clouds to add interest, and cool temps. Come to the Mendonoma Coast to start your year off right!

 

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Here's the story from Susan Stephens: "On Tuesday, Dec 3rd, I was still sleeping when I thought my subconscious told me it heard a thump against a window.  I didn’t wake up since I was in that 'twilight sleep' and forgot about that happening when I actually did wake up.  About 10 a.m. I went out the front door to go for a walk.  I saw something out of the corner of my right eye and it was this little cutie sitting there about 5 feet from the glass front door on the cement apron in front of our garage."

"I was so amazed I froze, not wanting to scare it, then squatted down and gently talked to it to see if I could get a response.  It just sat there staring back at me.  I got goose bumps looking into its big open eyes, then finally each eye blinked individually.  It didn’t appear to be injured, both wings looked in good shape and there were no feathers on the ground.  I very slowly backed up and went into the house to get my camera hoping it would still be there when I returned.  It was and that’s when I took the photos. My neighbor, Mary and I looked at where the owl was and decided it probably had flown into the reflection of the glass front door and was dazed. Then the little owl turned its head about 2/3 around and look in a different direction and suddenly flew into another outside corner area by the garage. Mary and I walked over to its new location and then it flew up and made a sharp right up and over the garage and out of our sight. It headed towards a forested area. We walked over in that direction and looked around but didn’t see it again. Happily, I guess it was okay!"

These tiny owls are forest dwellers and quite nocturnal. What this owl was doing near a meadow on The Sea Ranch is a mystery, but we are glad he/she recovered and flew back to the forest.

Thanks to Susan for allowing me to share her photo with you here.

Wow, we had a pretty vigorous rainstorm come through today, and the ocean is roaring! I love (near) winter storms.

 

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Humpbacks have been seen off our portion of the coast, always a treat. John Batchelder photographed this Humpback off the coast of The Sea Ranch. Just look at all those Brown Pelicans flying by.

Here are a few photos of Humpback Whales that John took last year - a tail, a breach and a flipper.

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

Today it is HOT on the Mendonoma coast! Have I ever mentioned I'm not a fan of  hot weather? Bring back our ocean breezes! Oddly enough, but most welcome, we have rain in our forecast for Monday. Rain would be such a blessing.