The hunter at dusk

 

 

Leaving work just after sunset tonight (15 January 2026), I caught a glimpse of a Long-tailed Weasel (Mustela frenata) bounding across the road.  I pulled over to see if it would appear again, and it did.  In fact, it kept running back and forth from one side of the road to the other.  It was getting dark, so a photo was difficult, but I kept watching because the weasel was so active:

 

 

 

And then I saw another flash and I realized that another animal was involved.  The weasel was chasing a Brush Rabbit (Sylvilagus bachmani).

 

The next sequence was amazing -- the rabbit would dash out from the bushes and start running down the road, and then the weasel would appear and start to chase after the rabbit.  This happened at least 4-6 times!  Here's a sample:

 

 

 

I wasn't sure what was going to happen, but in the end, the weasel ended up capturing the rabbit!  I've never seen a weasel subdue prey before.  It felt like it took longer, but according to my camera time stamps, the weasel subdued the rabbit in about 1 minute:

 

 

 

Wow!

Spindrift and light

  

10-foot swell + 15-second wave period + an offshore breeze = a setup for spindrift! 

A few wave photos from this morning (12 January 2026).

 

 

 

 

 

We bid you goodnight

  

Sunset from Bodega Head, 10 January 2026
 

Morning sun

  

Cedar Waxwings (Bombycilla cedrorum) and a Northern Flicker (Colaptes auratus) enjoying the morning sun in Santa Rosa today (6 January 2026).  [You can click on the image for a larger version.]

Shuttle service

 

 

We were working along the Bodega Harbor shoreline a couple of days ago when I noticed some movement out of the corner of my eye.  

Octopus!  

It was very high above the waterline, so Eric decided to pick it up and help it get closer to the water.

Two more views, including a close-up of the eye: 

 

I know most of 2026 is the Year of the Horse, but wouldn't it be fun if there was a Year of the Octopus?

 

Tripping the light fantastic

  

During a walk at Dillon Beach on 27 December 2025, we came across several large masses of egg capsules.

Here's a photo in Eric's hand for scale: 

 

 

These are egg capsules of the Opalescent Inshore Squid (Doryteuthis opalescens).  When you look at the capsules up close, if the embryos are far enough along in their development, you can see tiny squid inside.  Look especially for the two large eyes.  Each compartment holds one squid (so an individual egg capsule can hold 50 or more developing embryos):

 

 

 

Development time is dependent on water temperature, but it can take 6-10 weeks for the little squid to hatch out in cooler temperatures. 

 

One of the egg capsules (above) appeared to have mature squid larvae that looked like they'd be ready to hatch soon.  We put the capsule into a large ziploc bag with seawater and what do you know, about an hour later, tiny (~3 mm long) squid larvae had emerged from the capsule and were swimming around.

 

Eric was able to capture some amazing video of the squid larvae and their beautiful chromatophores under a microscope (see below).  [If you can't see the video player in your e-mail, click on the title of this post above to go directly to the NHBH website to watch the video.]  It's fascinating to see the pulsing chromatophores in action.

 

We thought you might enjoy a little light show to ring in the New Year!

 

Best wishes for 2026! 

 

P.S.  For more information about how chromatophores work in squid and octopus, check out this "Hide and seek" video that Eric made in 2021.

 

Well-defined

  

Eric looked up just after sunset tonight and noticed the craters on the Moon looked particularly sharp in the crisp evening air.  Photographed from Bodega Bay on 29 December 2025.  [You can click on the image for a larger version.]