Spring wildflowers are in glorious bloom. The bluffs at The Sea Ranch are a great place to see them. Allen Vinson recently took these beautiful photos.
Here is a field of Goldfields.
You can see that we've been having lovely weather.
Thanks to Allen for allowing me to share his photos with you here.
Baby Blue Eyes, Nemophila menziesii, are blooming in sunny spots on the Coast. A great place to see them is in the meadows at the Stornetta Public Lands. Ron LeValley recently photographed a lovely group of them near Fort Bragg at MacKerricher State Park, obviously another great place to see them.
And here is a close-up of this wildflower. In Reny Parker's book, Wildflowers of Northern California's Wine Country & North Coast Ranges, she writes, "Baby Blue Eyes...the spring sky smiling up at itself."
Thanks to Ron for allowing me to share his photos with you here. To see much more of Ron's beautiful photography, here is the link to his website: http://www.levalleyphoto.com/home/
Thursday was such a lovely day on the Mendonoma Coast. Rick and I, with Huckleberry, our Golden Retriever, walked the Gualala Bluff Trail. We were amazed to see the level of the river had dropped so low. It was, however, still open to the Pacific Ocean. And the river was so clear that Rick saw a Steelhead swimming towards the river opening.
A couple was sitting on the sandbar when this squadron of Brown Pelicans approached.
And "Debbie" is obviously loved! This is river bottom, usually covered with water.
Some of the flowers currently blooming along the beautiful Gualala Bluff Trail.
Trilliums, Trillium ovatum, have been blooming for several weeks. When they are young the bloom is white. But when they age a bit the bloom begins to turns pink. I noticed a few pale pink blooms the other day.
And Redwood Violets have begun to bloom in sunny spots on the forest's edge.
Violet is the flower, not the color, which is obviously bright yellow!
It's no secret we've had a fairly dry winter - at least so far! Last night we had a beautiful sunset, which was accented by a very short green flash. Here's a photo just before the sun set, taken from our deck in Anchor Bay.
Today we are enjoying spring-like weather. Wildflowers are beginning to bloom in the forest. Redwood Sorrel, Oxalis oregana, has just begun to bloom. The leaves are purple underneath and they close if the sun hits them. Yes, they love the shady forest where they reside
In the top of this photo you can see the distinctive, splotchy leaves of a Fetid Adder's Tongue.
And I'm happy to report that the northward migration of Gray Whales has begun. On Sunday five Grays were seen, two of which were Calves. Hooray for our Gray Whales!