Tag Archives: Tim Bray

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Bill Mabie and Denise Mendoza were up at Noyo Harbor several weeks ago. Bill wrote, “We were having lunch at Sea Pal Cove and we saw something that surprised us. A Harbor Seal was swimming by, but then a Sea Lion showed up. At first we thought it was just playing, but then it disappeared for a short period and burst upwards breaching. Looking at the photos it appears that Sea Lion was attacking Gulls. Is that normal?”

No, something else was going on here. Bill’s photos show the Sea Lion caught some type of Skate, also called Rays. The Gulls were actually trying to steal all or part of the Sea Lion’s catch. Ryan Berger, a Marine Scientist at the Marine Mammal Center took a look at Bill’s photos. He wrote, “Most certainly you will see Gulls flying overhead when a CA Sea Lion has prey at the surface that they are breaking into smaller pieces to consume. The Gulls often fly down to pick up scraps or try and steal the fish away.”

I asked birder Tim Bray if he could identify the types of Gulls in Bill’s photos. He wrote, “All I can make out for sure is one immature Herring Gull with a yellow iris. I think there's at least one more immature Herring and one California Gull as well. Of more interest to me is the fish! It looks like a Skate, which I did not know we had in the Noyo. It makes sense though, they are often found in estuaries.”

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

Clear and very cold this Saturday morning, with clouds coming in this afternoon. Rain is in our forecast, beginning sometime Sunday and continuing through next week. Bring it, Mother Nature! Let's break this drought!

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Gaily Jackson (no relation!) was at Gualala Point Regional Park last week at dusk. She saw what she thought was an Osprey with a fish. But when she trained her camera on the bird, instead of a fish, she saw a very long tail. She was seeing a seabird that you usually have to take a pelagic trip to see - a Parasitic Jaeger.

Dave Barry took a look at Gaily's photos. He wrote, “With the necklace, long pointed tail feathers, it sure looks real good for a breeding plumage, light morph, Parasitic Jaeger.”

Tim Bray agreed with the ID. He wrote, “They sometimes come in close to shore in pursuit of Terns, either Caspian or Elegant. I saw one fly up the Garcia River once when there were a number of Caspian Terns resting there. South winds also seem to sometimes bring pelagic birds in close. Great photos, classic light-morph Parasitic Jaeger. It’s always exciting to see pelagics from shore!”

This Jaeger is called parasitic because it steals fish from other birds, particularly Terns. Tim wrote further, “They follow the Terns and watch them, and when one catches a fish, the Jaeger will harass the Tern until it drops the fish, which the Jaeger then catches in midair and eats. The Jaegers don't actually harm the Terns, just make them work twice as hard for food.”

Fascinating! Thanks to Gaily for allowing me to share her photos with you here. To see more of Gaily's nature photography, here is her website: http://gailyimages.com/

Sunny, breezy, with clouds zipping by on the Mendonoma Coast today.

Spring doesn't know...

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*This post has been amended - I thought these were Krill but Tim Bray let me know I was incorrect, and Robert Van Syoc agreed. They are Mysids.* Amy Ruegg recently saw Mysids at low tide. She described them as tiny with brown bodies and two black eyes. She used a Tupperware bowl to scoop them up for a closer look. Their common name is Opossum Shrimp. They are small, shrimp-like crustaceans. They are an important food source for many fish and even great whales when they feed on rocky reef areas.

She also spotted a Shield-backed Kelp Crab which she also scooped up for a closer look. You can see tiny Mysids in the bowl too, to give you perspective.

Amy returned the Crab to his home in the kelp and the Mysids back into the Pacific Ocean.

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

We have a stretch of sunny weather here on the Mendonoma Coast. Look for the Orion meteor shower, which peaks on Oct. 21 and Oct 22nd in the early hours of the morning.