A bit of a blur

 

Whoosh!  What happened to the last ten years?  It's a little hard to believe that it will be 2020 tomorrow. 

I started the Natural History of Bodega Head eight years ago now, which also makes me shake my head a bit.  Is that really possible?

You never know what each day will bring.  Best wishes for the year ahead!

 

Burrowing Owl at sunset, 30 December 2019  

Waxwing day

  

Although the day varies, every year a flock of Cedar Waxwings (Bombycilla cedrorum) descends to gorge on berries in our yard.  Today was the day in 2019!  There were ~40 birds here this morning.

 

The birds tend to alternate between eating berries and resting in nearby branches.  Since they're in the yard for a little while, there are opportunities for close-ups.  Here are a few of my favorite from 30 December 2019:

 

 

 

 

Winter light

 

Sanderling (Calidris alba), Salmon Creek Beach, 28 December 2019

 

Waxing crescent

 

Crescent moon on the western horizon, 27 December 2019

 

Where the rivers meet the sea

A few highlights from a short walk in Humarock, MA, this afternoon (26 December 2019), close to where the South River and North River meet.  This is my old stomping grounds (where I grew up), so there were some familiar friends, but some new ones, too!  

In order of appearance:

 

Northern Harrier (Circus hudsonius) hunting over the dunes at Fourth Cliff

 

Harbor Seal (Phoca vitulina) resting on a floating dock

 

 

Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) perched on a tree on Trouants Island in Marshfield, MA.  I spent many years here and never saw an eagle, so it was fun to be surprised by one today!  (My mom mentioned there is now a pair nesting along the North River.)

 

Ripples in birch bark 

 

Ripples in sand

Dalí droplets

While walking through the woods this afternoon, this series of droplets caught me eye.  From a distance, I couldn't quite tell what was going on.  It looked a bit surreal — How could the droplets at the lower edge be rising up?

 

Then I realized that the entire lower portion of the scene was a reflection of a narrow icy ledge that was now elevated above the surface of the stream.  So the lower droplets are reflections of the upper droplets.  If you're interested, here's a broader view (below).  The surface of the stream was quiet enough that the reflection was just about perfect!

 

 

Winter scenes

Winter scenes from the last few days in New England...

Salt marsh in Duxbury:

 

Snow Bunting habitat:

 

 

Frozen ripples in a stream:

 

 

 Icy sea dragon?  :)

 

Happy holidays, everyone!

Along the beach

 

My mom and I enjoyed a nice walk down Duxbury Beach (in Massachusetts) today, 23 December 2019.  A couple of small flocks of Snow Buntings (Plectrophenax nivalis) crossed our path a few times.  They were flighty and active and tough to get photos of, but here are a few pictures for the record.

 

Four birds blending in with the sand and dune vegetation and with the afternoon shadows and light: 

 

Frost and flakes

 

This morning we woke up to a local air temperature of ~13°F (-10.5°C) in Massachusetts.  When we stepped outside, Eric noticed these beautiful frost crystals on the windshield of the car.

Looking more closely, the patterns and details were spectacular.  Want to see?

 

 

 

Happy Winter Solstice!

Tales from Poseidon

This past summer, Maddy worked on a project at the marine lab to document as many local species of ribbon worms (nemerteans) as she could find in the Bodega Bay area.  Gabriel, Alisha, and Sarah helped with the search and scooped up a few bags of sediments from the shallow subtidal zone off Doran Beach.  Within those sediments was a very interesting nemertean that we had not seen before. 

Below is a photo of the whole ribbon worm.  When contracted, the worm had a stout and short body, only about 12 mm long: 

 

 

At the pointy tip of its head, it has two conspicuous eyespots (called ocelli). They're tiny, so look closely.  [They're easier to see in the video clip below.]

 

Compared to most other ribbon worms, one of the most unusual aspects of this worm is its habit of drawing the tip of its head back into its body, which forms a “collar” of tissue that surrounds the retracted head:

 

Like other ribbon worms that belong to this taxonomic order (called hoplonemerteans) the proboscis that snares its prey was armed with a sharp stylet that helps in prey capture.  In the photo below you can see the central stylet that fits into a holder (called a basis), which looks a bit like the handle of a screwdriver:

 

Remarkably, if a nemertean’s stylet is lost or damaged, it is replaced with a new one that is moved into the holder!  In the photo above, you can see two accessory pouches (one on the left and one on the right), each holding 3 new stylets.

When we looked through the taxonomic guides, all of these characteristics seemed to be a good match for Poseidonemertes collaris.  This species was first described from specimens collected in intertidal sandy mud in Bodega Harbor in the early 1980s (Roe and Wickham 1984).

Some nemertean species are difficult to identify from their appearances, so as part of Maddy’s project, she sent small tissue samples off to Oregon for DNA sampling.   When the DNA sequences and analyses came back this week, our colleague Svetlana had a surprise for us.  Although this ribbon worm is closely related to Poseidonemertes collaris, the DNA sequences are distinct enough that this is likely a new, previously undescribed species of Poseidonemertes!

Eric was able to capture some video of this fascinating ribbon worm.  In the video, you will see the worm crawling.  Then (at about 35 seconds) watch for close-ups showing the characteristic behavior of the animal quickly retracting the tip of its head.  [If you're reading this in an e-mail and you can't see the video below, click on the title of this post to go to the web page to watch it.]

You might be wondering how this unusual ribbon worm got the name Poseidonemertes? Although we assume the name is associated with Poseidon, we have been unable to find more details regarding how this group of nemerteans came to be associated with the Greek god of the sea and earthquakes.

Many thanks to Maddy, Gabriel, Alisha, Sarah, Eric, and Svetlana for finding and documenting this fascinating worm.

Reference:  Roe, P. and D.E. Wickham. 1984.  Poseidonemertes collaris, n. sp. (Nemertea: Amphiporidae) from California, with notes on its biology.  Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington 97: 60-70.

Drying off

 

Yellow-rumped Warbler (Setophaga coronata) just after a bath, 15 December 2019

Loon, water, and light

 

It was another gray day in Bodega Bay, but on the way back from the post office I stopped to watch this Red-throated Loon (Gavia stellata).  (This is the loon's non-breeding plumage; it has a red throat during the breeding season.)

 

With the calm water and the crab boats headed out, there were gentle waves creating intriguing reflections.  It reminded me of skipping stones — how many skips, or how many reflections can you see in one picture?  Here are a few examples:

 

 

 

The loon spent some time drifting and looking around, and some time resting with its bill tucked under its back feathers.

 

Maybe I was drawn to the loon because this is how I feel today — a bit tired and ready for the weekend.  :) 

 

Night sky

 

Sometimes when things are stressful or disheartening, it's helpful to step outside and to look up at the moon.  I'm so thankful for the beauty in the night sky.  Photographed from Cotati on 12 December 2019.

Harbor reflections

 

Common Goldeneye (Bucephala clangula) at the north end of Bodega Harbor on 10 December 2019.

The light was a bit dim, but the patterns and reflections on the water drew my eye:

 

Below is a comparison of two goldeneyes and a Bufflehead (Bucephala albeola).  Although both species are dominantly black and white, the placement of white on their heads is different.  The goldeneyes have a smaller white spot in front of the eye, while the Buffleheads have a larger white patch behind the eye and wrapping around the back of the head (females of both species are brown and have different patterning than the males):

 

 

Stearns' ear?

 

Jim and I were talking about marine snails today, and at one point we discussed this species, Marsenina stearnsii (formerly Lamellaria stearnsii).  It's a small snail that I haven't seen very often, but I don't think I've shown a photo of them before, so here you go.  This one was photographed on Bodega Head in November 2009.  It is sometimes referred to as Stearns' Ear Shell because the shell (which is often hidden by the mantle in live animals) looks a bit like an ear.

A few fun facts about these interesting snails — Their color patterning looks like the tunicates that they eat (so they can be hard to see); they are likely nocturnal (another possible reason they're not observed that often); they have acid glands on the dorsal (top) surface — I'm guessing those are the little points at the top of the rounded area in the middle of the animal.

Enjoying the storm

 

It always seems like the gulls enjoy a good storm.  You'll often see them riding the updrafts along the bluffs.  Photographed on Bodega Head on 7 December 2019.  (We've received ~1.2" of rain on Bodega Head during the past 48 hours. The rainfall total since October 1st is ~5.1", but ~3.6" of that has fallen during the past week.)

Bedraggled

 

We were trying to do a shorebird survey this afternoon (5 December 2019) when I looked towards Doran Beach and noticed a very large bird on the tidal flats.  It was a bit bedraggled by the weather — rain showers and southeast winds — but it was fun to see this Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) in Bodega Harbor.

Mystery at the bottom of the pool

 

Okay, so this is mystery close-up, but one that I don't know the answer to yet.  Abby spotted this organism with beautiful spreading tentacles in a very shallow, high rocky tidepool.  Our best guess at this time is that it's a species of worm (perhaps in the family Oweniidae?), but we're not sure about its identity yet. 

Just in case you're wondering, there are large pieces of sand and a piece of white shell surrounding the tentacles of the mystery worm.  There's also a tubular organism with black-stripes in the bottom center of the photo that's not associated with the mystery tentacles — that's part of a different animal, a peanut worm.

If these tentacles look familiar to you, let me know!

The north end and the south end

 

Two ends of one rainbow in Petaluma on 2 December 2019 — the north end (above) and the south end (below):

 

I hope this is just the start to "rainbow season"!

 

Salamander weather, at last

 

After ~2 inches of rain during the past 48 hours, I looked outside and spotted a couple of Arboreal Salamanders (Aneides lugubris) near our front steps.  The adult (above) was over 6 inches long, but there was also a juvenile that was only ~1.5 inches long:

 

I'm so glad they're finally enjoying some rain!