Tag Archives: The Sea Ranch

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Craig Tooley recently spent some time photographing the birds on an offshore rock at The Sea Ranch. He found some Brown Pelicans in breeding plumage - yellow on the top of their white heads, and red skin on their throat patch. It certainly does seem early!

Those black birds are Brandt's Cormorants, and the dark brown bird is a juvenile Brandt's. At the very top of Craig's photo looks to be the bottom parts of a Western Gull. Nice to see everybody getting along!

Below is a video Craig took showing the pelicans preening themselves. They are resting on the journey southward.

I will miss their comings and goings during the winter months, and look forward to seeing them again in late spring.

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

A beautiful cool day here today. Fog rolled in over the ocean this afternoon and it's a sea of white. A storm is arriving early tomorrow.

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When there are clouds to reflect the sunset, such beauty can be had. Adrian Bennett took this photo from her place at The Sea Ranch.

Adrian wrote, “My camera phone can’t capture the true beauty of this sunset but still pretty good! I am thankful that I am lucky enough to live with beauty everywhere.”

That’s a wonderful way to describe the Mendonoma Coast – living with beauty everywhere.

Another storm moved in yesterday afternoon bringing over a half inch of rain. 6.38 inches so far at Rick's and my place in Anchor Bay!

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We've been seeing lots of evidence of a Black Bear, especially at The Sea Ranch. Joe Dobrenski's camera caught the big bear. Here are two stills from the video that Joe's son provided.

And here is one of the videos.

 

Amy Ruegg came across Black Bear scat the same week of Joe's sighting. It's studded with huckleberries.

And several weeks ago Amy came across this snag where a Black Bear was digging for insects, possibly termites.

Yep, Black Bears are year round residents of the Mendonoma Coast! Thanks to Joe and Amy for allowing me to share their photos and the video here with you.

It's a magnificent day here today - sunny, warm with little or no breeze.

 

 

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Bob Yeager wrote, “Our friend, Alex Pierce, took this wonderful photo of a Northern Pygmy Owl while she and her husband Donald were on vacation at Sea Ranch a couple of weeks ago.” In receiving Alex’s permission to share her photo, Alex wrote, “I love going to [the coast] and photographing birds and everything nature.”

I love owls, and Pygmy Owls are a treat to find. Rick and I had one land on our deck railing some years ago. Did you know they have false eyes on the back of their head? That's what I photographed!  Quite an interesting feature Mother Nature gave this tiny owl, a little help from predators.

Their calls are a high pitched hoot and you can hear it for yourself at this link to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Northern_Pygmy-Owl/sounds

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

We are having a two-day heatwave for today and tomorrow. It's quite warm away from the ocean, and even toasty in downtown Gualala. The Pacific Ocean is all riled up today - huge breakers and the mist from them is drifting across Highway One. I was told by Ron at Surf Market that the ocean is riled up because of a storm in the Gulf of Alaska. Wow!

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I love it when Mike Reinhart is out and about with camera in hand. He's a pro at photographing birds. He found perhaps the first returning Say's Phoebe recently, perched on a bush (coyote bush?)  in a meadow at The Sea Ranch.

The Peregrine falcon was soaring through the air, always a thrilling sight.

And this Osprey coming in for a landing was seen at Mill Bend, the mouth of the Gualala River. Ospreys will be leaving us soon, unless one or two decide to overwinter here. The vast majority will migrate south for the winter, returning to the Mendonoma Coast around the first day of spring.