Tag Archives: The Sea Ranch

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With the ocean looking like glass last Saturday, there were a lot of great sightings. The greatest of them all was the sighting of Blue Whales. A mother and her calf were seen off of The Sea Ranch.

Jodi Smith, of Naked Whale Research, went out of Fort Bragg and found another Blue Whale.

Blue Whales are the largest animal on earth. And they are on the endangered species list, as their recovery from the days of whaling has been slow. To see a mother with a calf is such a good sign.
To Jodi's joy she also saw several Northern Right Whale Dophins.
 They rose next to the boat and rode the bow for a while. You can read about Jodi's excellent day on the water on her blog at: http://orcinusorca.wix.com/nawhare-temp/apps/blog
And to learn more about Jodi's Naked Whale Research, which studies Killer Whales, here is that website:
Thanks to Jodi for allowing me to share her photos with you here.

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Robert and Nancy Scarola were fortunate to have several fawns born at their Sea Ranch property. Here is a recent photo of two fawns that were born earlier this year. They have lost their spots. They also seem to be posing just for Robert.

Below is a photo of these two fawns just after they were born. They love to play with each other.

Black-tailed Deer are a wonderful part of the landscape that is the Mendonoma Coast.

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

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Rattlesnakes prefer warm climes than the Mendonoma Coast. There are legends of a rattlesnake hitching a ride on a logging truck and falling off near the ocean. Perhaps that is what happened here. But there were two of them spotted within a week.

The first one was seen near a road at Gualala Point Regional Park by Kathy Bishop.

It was identified by Gary Nafis as an adult Northern Pacific Rattlesnake. It appeared to have been run over by a vehicle and it soon died.

However another adult was seen several days later at the south end of The Sea Ranch. Jim Merryman photographed the head and the tail.

I wondered if these extremely unusual sightings of rattlesnakes could be because they are searching for water. Gary Nafis told me they don't drink water. He said, “Rattlesnakes get most of their water from food, which they’re always looking for until they find it and go underground to digest. They often need to travel out of their usual home territories in their search, which could be happening here. Both snakes are adults, so it’s not a case of juveniles looking for a place to settle.”

Jim said about an hour after his sighting he saw a White-tailed Kite with a snake the same size as the rattlesnake so perhaps the Mendonoma Coast is once again free of rattlesnakes.

To see Gary Nafis' fascinating website about amphibians and reptiles, here is the link: californiaherps.com

Thanks to Kathy and Jim for allowing me to share their photos with you here.

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I can't resist sharing one last photo by Kathy Bishop of a cute Gray Fox Kit lounging in the sun.

This little fox is exemplifying the Sea Ranch motto of living lightly on the land.

We are having a heat wave on the Mendonoma Coast. With no fog on the horizon there was a beautiful green flash last night a sunset. Tonight should be another great chance to see this phenomenon.

To see a photo of a green flash, here's the link: http://www.mendonomasightings.com/2012/02/07/the-green-flash-was-photographed-by-richard-kuehn/

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

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Osprey calls still fill the air but it seems like some have already left for points south. Watching an Osprey fish is thrilling. Ken Bailey was on the bluffs at The Sea Ranch when he got this series of photos.

In the first photo you will see the Osprey has its talons ready to grab its dinner.

And this photo is titled "Got it!"
The Osprey stayed low to make sure it had the fish tight in its grip.

With the large fish secured, the Osprey begins to fly off.

Thanks to Ken for allowing me to share his wonderful photos with you here. To see some of Ken's underwater photography, here is the link to his website: http://www.seadreams.org/