A beautiful native plant, Hooker's Evening Primrose, is blooming rather late this year. Amy Ruegg found this plant near Shell Beach on The Sea Ranch.
The plant has formed seed capsules, which Pine Siskins love to feed on. Here's a photo of the entire plant Amy found, and a close up of the flower.
Thanks to Amy for allowing me to share her photos with you here.
Great Blue Herons walk with a stately grace. And seeing one fly, with its slow wing beats, is a treat. Martin and Rene Steinpress recently saw one on a bluff on The Sea Ranch while they were walking on one of the public access trails.
Great Blue Herons eat small mammals, and they eat fish too. Here is one of my favorite photos of a GBH, just taking off from the water. This photo was taken by Paul Brewer.
Thanks to Martin and Paul for allowing me to share their photos with you here. To see much more of Paul's nature photography, here is the link to his website: www.capturingnatureswonders.com
Allen Vinson noticed these two Harbor Seals sharing a moment while perched on a rock off of The Sea Ranch. If only we knew what they were "saying."
Thanks to Allen for allowing me to share his photo with you here.
Low tides are an invitation to take a tide pool walk. Noel Olson and her sons, Julian and Chase did just that recently, and they found something very interesting, several Hopkins’ Rose Nudibranchs. Noel wrote, “Today we spotted these two beauties in The Sea Ranch! My sons carefully held them [underwater] for scale."
What is interesting about the nudibranchs the Olsons found is these pink, spiky, one-inch long sea slugs are usually found off of Southern California; they prefer warmer waters. The last time they were found this far north was during the strong El Nino that brought heavy rains in 1997-1998.
Thanks to Noel for allowing me to share her photo with you here.
Jack Likins went diving off The Sea Ranch on Father's Day, last Sunday. The visibility was good and he had a most successful dive. Jack found a big one, a trophy Abalone. It measured 10 and 9/16 inches.
That's the perfect Father's Day gift for an experienced diver like Jack. Thayer Walker, Jr. took the photo and I thank him for allowing me to share it with you here.
To learn much more about abalone, here is Eric Anderson' excellent website: http://www.abaloneten.com/