Warming up

  

Quick shot of a Mourning Cloak (Nymphalis antiopa) butterfly, high up in a tree catching the last warm rays of the sun.  Photographed in Cotati on 23 March 2025.

Feeding time

  

A quick update on the Anna's Hummingbird nest (20 March 2025): Tonight we saw the female feeding a small chick.  In the photo above, you can see the nestling's bill and mouth opened wide, highlighted by orange color.  Just in time for spring!

Dolphin surprise

  

I was working at my desk this morning (19 March 2025), when a lot of splashing offshore caught my eye.  I checked quickly with binoculars and realized it was a large group of dolphins passing Bodega Head, so I went to get my camera to try for photos.

They were pretty far out, so the photos aren't great, but because this doesn't happen very often, here are a few images for the record.  [You can click on the images for sharper versions.]

 

 

This was a large group of Risso's Dolphins (Grampus griseus).  My estimate was somewhere ~100 individuals, but I ran into Lisa who wondered about ~50, so somewhere in the range of 50-100 dolphins.

Look for the relatively large body size (8.5-13 feet), overall grayish coloration, and tall dorsal fin.

 

 

The dolphins were swimming south fairly quickly, but they were in view from Bodega Head for at least 30 minutes (between 10:30-11:00 a.m.). 

Remarkably, we also observed a large group of Risso's Dolphins under very similar circumstances last year on nearly the same date (21 March 2024) -- see post called "Splashes, fins, and leaps!"  Perhaps the week after St. Patrick's Day is a good time to be watching for Risso's from Bodega Head?

Feather detail and more

  

Cooper's Hawk (Astur cooperii) feeding while perched on a tree branch in Cotati on 18 March 2025.  [You can click on the image for a larger version.]

In addition to feeding on prey, this bird happened to be quite vocal as we were walking by.  The calls were not the more-often-heard cak-cak-cak variety, but instead what are sometimes described as whaaa calls, more often attributed to females.

If you're interested, I recorded a very short audio clip for the record -- see below.  [If you can't see the video player in the e-mail, click on the title of the post above to find it on the NHBH web page.]  The lighting isn't the best, but at the time I was more focused on trying to record the sound.  You might need to turn up your volume a little bit.

Spring is on the way!

Clearing showers

  

Clearing showers at the end of the day today (17 March 2025) produced a beautiful rainbow to the east.  And who was at the end of that rainbow?

The Anna's Hummingbird on her nest -- a little green (and a pot of gold?) for St. Patrick's Day!  ;)

Blue drift lines

  

Looking north along Salmon Creek Beach, with drift lines of By-the-wind Sailors (Velella velella).  There were so many Velella washed up tonight (14 March 20205), the beach looked blue as far as you could see. Here are a couple more views showing the high densities of Velella:

 

 

 

You can probably see that there were a variety sizes, anywhere from ~1 mm long to 70 mm long.  Below, a photo of small-medium Velella:

 

 

 

And, a couple of tiny (hard-to-see!) Velella. The first is at the end of Eric's fingertip for scale:

 

 

And the next one is so small its sail is barely visible:

 

 

If you've been to the beach lately, I'm guessing you're seeing Velella, too?

P.S.  For an introduction to Velella, see "Below the water line" on 18 March 2014.

Looking out from the nest

  

Some of you might recall when we followed a couple of Anna's Hummingbird (Calypte anna) nests last winter.  Well, we've been checking the same area during the last few weeks and tonight (13 March 2025) we spotted a female incubating in the exact same spot as the first nest last year!

The timing is later than last year, but we'll check on her every now and then to see what happens.

Last year's nest had lost a lot of material during the past year and it was barely visible.  But recently I noticed the nest cup was being built up and renovated with more mosses and lichens, so it was clear a hummingbird had decided to use the site again.

Here's another view from a different angle:

 

 

We'll keep our eyes open for any signs of chicks!

P.S.  You have probably noticed that I'm not posting as often right now.  A few things have come up that make posting a little more challenging, so I'm just including a reminder that you can sign up to receive e-mails when a new post is available (so you don't have to keep checking the website).  No pressure at all, but if you'd like to receive NHBH e-mails, just go directly to the NHBH website here, scroll down to the very bottom of the page, and then enter your address to subscribe.