Local patches

  

Recently, several people have asked me about the kelp beds that are visible just offshore of Bodega Head right now.  The calm ocean conditions and gray overcast days during the second half of July have helped make these Bull Kelp (Nereocystis luetkeana) patches stand out.

Most people in this area have heard about the significant declines of kelp beds throughout Sonoma and Mendocino counties during the last five years or so.  However, the kelp beds off Bodega Head are a bit of a puzzle.  These local patches of kelp have increased in number and extent during the last ten years, and that has become especially apparent during the last five years.

For the record, I started taking photos of some of the local Bull Kelp patches back in 2008.  As an example, here's one from 2016.  [Look for the darker blue/brown area in the water just beyond the shoreline.]

 

I'm not sure why the kelp beds off Bodega Head have increased while those at many other sites have decreased.  I have wondered if there might be some connection to more rock being exposed on the bottom (where kelp can take hold) if sand shifts during significant wave events (e.g., during the 2015-2016 El Niño).  But there are lots of other factors that could influence the success of the kelp here, e.g., water temperatures, nutrients, dispersal of spores, grazers, etc.  The reasons might remain a mystery, but the expansion of the local Nereocystis patches has been interesting to watch and raises many questions.

 

All in one basket?

 

An egg case with developing embryos of a Channeled Basket Snail (Nassarius fossatus).  The capsules are often attached to blades of Eelgrass (Zostera marina).  The embryos hatch in ~20 days.  This capsule was photographed in Bodega Harbor last week.

Little leopard

 

We've gone years without encountering this worm, and then during the last few weeks we've found two.  Quite a beauty, isn't it?

For documentation, Eric took these first two images through a microscope.  The entire worm was ~3-4 cm (~1-1.5 inches) long.

 

In-tro-duc-ing Eteone pacifica!

This is a type of paddleworm (Family Phyllodocidae).  I haven't seen a common name for it, but I started calling it the "little leopard worm" because of the nice spot pattern. 

Here are two photos from the field.  This individual had a wonderful purplish color in the mid-section.  [You can click on the images for larger versions.]

 

 

Many thanks to Leslie for assistance with the identification!

Beads and bristles

Several days ago, Eric found this handsome chiton under an intertidal rock in the Bodega Bay area.  He recognized that it looked different than the chiton species that we usually encounter, so he took a few photos for the record:

 

Notice the attractive beaded ribs on its eight plates and the impressive setae (stiff bristles) around its margin:

 

 

Meet Mopalia porifera!  This is the first time that we have seen this species.  It can be distinguished from other chitons in the genus Mopalia in part by the three rows of alternating, sparse setae, which are especially prominent at the spaces where the plates meet.  This individual was 20mm long.

Mopalia porifera is primarily a southern species found from Baja California, Mexico, to central California.  We are aware of only a handful of records of this species from north of Point Reyes (museum specimens all collected at Dillon Beach in 1947 or 1974).  

Because this chiton might be rare in this area, we returned to the site to look for the chiton again (for more photos) and to see if there were other individuals. 

After a little searching, Eric was able to relocate the chiton.  Although it had shifted its position, it was on the same rock.  The shell sculpturing is quite striking:

 

 

We were also able to find a few more individuals.  They were smaller than the first chiton, and slightly different colors, but you could see the same beaded sculpturing on the plates and the prominent bristles along the margins:

 

 

It was wonderful to see a new species of chiton!  Kudos to Eric for spotting it and recognizing that it looked different, and many thanks to Anthony for confirming this species identification.

Dragons in the afternoon

We're having trouble accessing the Internet tonight, but I'm going to try to post a few quick dragonfly shots from this afternoon (25 July 2020):

 

Ovipositing darner (Blue-eyed Darner?)

Haven't had a chance to check yet.

 

 Western Pondhawk (Erythemis collocata)

 

Wandering Glider (Pantala flavescens)

 

Spot-winged Glider (Pantala hymenaea)

In search of NEO

Well, my wish came true, at least in part!  We went out to look for Comet NEOWISE tonight and spotted it between the Moon and the Big Dipper.

The comet wasn't totally clear, and I'm not sure if that's because of light pollution or the comet itself.  But it was fun to finally get a better look at it!  I don't think my camera lens is strong enough to capture it, but here's the Moon from the same time tonight (23 July 2020).

Wishing on a star

Maybe I keep thinking about stars recently because I've been hoping and hoping that the night skies would be clear enough to see Comet NEOWISE.  Have you seen it?

No luck here yet, but below is a juvenile Ochre Sea Star (Pisaster ochraceus) photographed a couple of days ago.

 

Swirls above the sand

 

Yesterday I was helping Maddy and Eric look for ribbon worms on the tidal flats in Bodega Harbor.  I know, I was supposed to be looking for ribbons worms (and I did find some!), but I always get distracted when there are phoronids around.  Crowns of tentacles (lophophores) of Phoronopsis harmeri, Bodega Harbor, 20 July 2020.  [You can click on the image for a larger version.]

Jack is back?

 

It's been a while since Black-tailed Jackrabbits (Lepus californicus) have been sighted more frequently in the Bodega Head area.  One guess was that Bobcats and Coyotes might have reduced their local population.  However, I've heard about several observations of jackrabbits this summer, and I finally caught up with one when I had a camera nearby.  Photographed on Bodega Head on 19 July 2020.

Landscape with tattler

 

I heard the wonderful calls of a Wandering Tattler this afternoon.  No pictures today, but here's one from back in April.

P.S.  I like the way the tattler blends in with this rocky landscape.  To find it, scan for a very small pale gray sandpiper perched on the bare rock near the center of the image.

Stilt success

I had heard that Lisa had found a Stilt Sandpiper (Calidris himantopus) near the upper reaches of the Estero Americano, so I swung by there today (16 July 2020) on my way home.

Luckily, Gene spotted the Stilt Sandpiper not long after I arrived.  It was far away, but the views were still decent through a spotting scope.  My camera lens wasn't quite strong enough for a good photo, but here's one for the record, since it's the first Stilt Sandpiper I've seen in Sonoma County.  (Most Stilt Sandpipers migrate through the interior regions of the North America, so they're rare on the West Coast.)

 

There were a lot of nice shorebirds in this marsh today, so here are a few more examples:

 

Black-necked Stilts (Himantopus mexicanus) — the juveniles have pale edges on their back feathers, making them look "scaly" in comparison to the adults.  [Three adults in the foreground and three juveniles in the background.]

 

Another distant view, but note the Wilson's Phalarope (Phalaropus tricolor), the paler bird behind the feeding dowitchers.

 

Young Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus) in pursuit of a dowitcher (Limnodromus sp.).  [After a long chase, the falcon won.]

Many thanks to all of the local birders who posted information about the Stilt Sandpiper.  It's much appreciated!
 

Backyard dragon

 

A nice female Flame Skimmer (Libellula saturata) paused briefly in our backyard this evening.

Here's a close-up view of the impressive insect-catching spines on her legs:

 

Photographed in Cotati on 14 July 2020.

 

The tail end

When we were conducting a survey in late June, Eric spotted an unusual chiton.  I realized it was a species I hadn't seen before, but it was still familiar because it reminded me of a photo I'd seen in a book.  (That's one of the values of browsing through field guides and other natural history books — it helps you recognize something in the field, even if you've never seen it before.)

We were looking for something else, so we had to continue our surveys, but I took a few quick photos for the record.

 

Chitons have eight plates across their dorsal surface, including a head plate (on the left in the photo above) and a tail plate (on the right).  This species is unusual in that the tail plate is higher than all of the other plates, so it looks like a bump or protrusion at the back end.  I didn't capture this feature very well, but here's another view.  If you scan across all of the plates, you can see how the tail plate (on the right) is raised and rounded:

 

In the next image, you can see the sculpturing on the head plate (on the left).  It has 10 nice radiating riblets with little rounded bumps on top.  [Also note that each of the middle plates has two radiating riblets (also with little bumps) on each side.]

 

Meet Callistochiton palmulatus!  It's the first time we've observed this chiton species.  We're still learning about them, but in general it sounds like they're more common in the southern part of their range.  We are aware of one record from Mendocino County in 1946, but otherwise the observations we've found are from south of San Francisco.

One more view of this intriguing chiton walking away towards the other side of the rock:

 

Summer sailing

 

Yesterday (11 July 2020) we noticed a few By-the-Wind Sailors (Velella velella) washed up on the beach.  There weren't a lot (maybe 40-50 or so), and most of them were relatively small (under 4 cm long), but it's been a while since we've seen any, so it seemed worth recording.

Enlightening

 

Wonderful morning light showing the sori (patches of spores) on a large blade of Bull Kelp (Nereocystis luetkeana).

The next photo reveals even more of the blade.  I'm curious about the darker and lighter colors of the two different patches (upper and lower) and wonder if they represent stages of spore maturity?  Perhaps someone out there can help?

 

Blue highlights

 

Buckeye on buckwheat, 9 July 2020

Up ahead

One morning this week I was following Eric up a coastal trail when he stopped and whispered something.  We were done with field work and headed back to the car, and honestly I was hungry and I was thinking about a snack.  So I was a little confused when Eric paused, but then I registered what he had said — "There's a raptor up ahead."

A raptor?  Up ahead?  But we were just below the parking area along a busy road.  How could there be a raptor there?  He said it again, but it was a narrow trail so I couldn't see beyond him at first.  Eric had turned to the side, so I could just peek around him and look at what might be there.  

This was my first view (taken with a point-and-shoot camera).  That's the drawstring on Eric's sweatshirt in the foreground.

 

Not only was there a raptor perched about 20 feet from us, but it was a Peregrine Falcon!

This is a young falcon, probably recently fledged, so its behavior was a little different than what you might encounter with an adult.  It sat there, looking a bit curious, scanning the landscape, and then eventually took off and headed for a flock of gulls out by the ocean.

 

So cool!

 

Not far from the tree...

During one of our recent intertidal zone surveys, Eric noticed this tiny little orange blob on a rock:

 

Although the blob was only ~2 mm long, Eric's eyes are good enough that he wondered if it might be a very young Scarlet Sea Cucumber (Lissothuria nutriens).  I looked with a hand lens and I thought I could see tube feet, which meant that sea cucumber was a definite possibility.  Then we thought — since Lissothuria broods its young, if the blob is a tiny sea cucumber perhaps the mother is nearby.  You've heard that old expression, "The cucumber never falls far from the tree..."?  [Instead of growing up in the plankton, the embryos develop on the mother's back and then the juvenile sea cucumbers walk away from the mother as smaller versions of her.]

We looked more closely and there she was!  Here's a zoomed out view.  Although Scarlet Sea Cucumbers are red, they hold small bits of seaweed and other debris on their backs, so they can be very hard to see at first.  In the photo below, there's one adult sea cucumber and five juveniles.  This will be tricky, but can you spot them all?

 

Below the sea cucumbers are circled, mom in blue and juveniles in orange:

 

Since this is one of the species we're tracking, we documented them with some microscope photos and yes, a video!

These are beautiful little sea cucumbers, so it's a treat to see them up close:

 

With a ruler for scale (marks are in millimeters):

 

At this stage, the sea cucumbers are almost transparent, so it's a wonderful view of their ossicles.  Look for the shiny plates in the body wall and the tentacles.  (For more info about ossicles, see the post called "Scarlet fire" on 12 February 2017.)

 

 

And as if those pictures weren't enough, Eric captured some amazing video.  Check it out!  [If you can't see the video player in your e-mail, click on the title of the post to go directly to the website.]

Morning moon

 

We looked for the partial lunar eclipse last night (~9:30 p.m. on 4 July 2020), but couldn't make it out.  Then on the way to the coast for work this morning, we saw the moon again, this time on the western horizon ~5 a.m. on 5 July 2020.

 

Wandering

 

Wandering Glider (Pantala flavescens), Bodega Head, 4 July 2020

 

Bursting forth

 

A botanical firework for the Fourth of July — a native Brownie Thistle (Cirsium quercetorum) from the coastal prairie.  Photographed on Bodega Head on 10 May 2020.

From a distance, Brownie Thistles might not stand out.  They're low to the ground and don't look that colorful, but when you get close, they're pretty spectacular:

 

And even closer!

 

P.S.  This post goes out to Michelle, who I'll always think of when getting up close and personal with Brownie Thistles, and who taught me the value and beauty of a bee's-eye-view of flowers.  :)