Finding a way

  

 Silver Bee (Habropoda miserabilis) on Seaside Fiddleneck (Amsinckia spectabilis).

 

P.S.  Spectacular Game 7 win for the black-and-gold Bruins!  Yeah, B's! 

Blown in with the wind

  

Conditions were just right for bringing Bonaparte's Gulls (Chroicocephalus philadelphia) into Bodega Harbor this week — several consecutive days of steady gale force northwest winds.  

Leaving work tonight (2 May 2024), there were over 50 Bonaparte's Gulls along the west side of the harbor — some resting on the tidal flats, and several groups diving on fish in shallow water:

 

 

 

I'm not sure about the identity of the fish, but a few were visible in the bills of several gulls:

 

 

 

 

 

I don't know if they'll stick around, but if you're in the Bodega Harbor area, watch for these handsome black-headed gulls.

 

 

 

Morning light

  

Morning light and Black-tailed Jackrabbit (Lepus californicus), 30 April 2024

A long way to grow!

  

Close-up of barnacles on a Californa Mussel (Mytilus californianus) shell, photographed on 29 April 2024.

There are at least two age classes of barnacles here — the larger Little Brown Barnacle (Chthamalus dalli) adults and the very tiny newly-settled recruits.  The recruits were so small they were actually hard to see in the field — just small specks scattered across the mussel shell.  They have a long way to grow!  :)

Holding fast?

 

 

We were doing surveys during the low tide this morning (27 April 2024) when Eric spotted this unusual interaction.  The holdfast of a small Sea Palm (Postelsia palmaeformis) had grown over and appeared to be attached to a chiton, Nuttallina californica!

 

Chitons are mobile grazers, moving over the surface of the rock and feeding on algae.  Perhaps they take breaks and stay in place for a while, which allowed the kelp to attach to it?

 

We didn't actually pull on the chiton to see if the haptera (root-like outgrowths) were definitely attached to the chiton, but it sure looks like it:

 

 

 

We'll be back in this area and can check on the kelp and chiton again to see how things turn out.

Pool of light

  

 Morning light in a tidepool with sea urchins (purple) and sea anemones (green).

Slender spur

  

Blue Toadflax (Nuttallanthus texanus) in the Bodega Dunes on 19 April 2024.

P.S.  The "spur" is the long slender part of the flower (to the left of the petals) that's curving downward.