Burrowing among the boulders?

 Rocks, lichens, mosses...and an owl!  Can you spot it?

 

 

 

There's a Burrowing Owl (Athene cunicularia) just right of center.  If you're having a hard time spotting it, here's a slightly closer view (below).  [And you can click on the image for a larger version.]

 

 

 

Photographed in Petaluma on 31 January 2021.

Peering down

 Had to work late tonight, but here's a Bushtit for you:

 

 

After rain clouds

  

 A quick shot of some clouds at sunset tonight, 28 January 2021.

Gold in the rain

  

I wandered outside tonight with salamanders on my mind.  This is the first one I encountered — a young Arboreal Salamander (Aneides lugubris) in Cotati on 27 January 2021.  We received ~1.5-2" of rain during the last 24 hours.

Mini macaroni?

  

These tubular shells look a little bit like macaroni, don't they?  I had noticed examples of this family in shell books over the years, but I hadn't seen a live animal until this past summer. 

While examining some sediment samples, Maddy spotted these tiny snails crawling around among the sand grains.  They reach a maximum length of 2.5 mm (⅛ inch) — even smaller than a grain of rice.

 

 

Meet Caecum orcutti!  This species has been documented as far north as Pacific Grove, but this appears to be the first record north of San Francisco. 

Although the shells themselves are interesting, the live animals are even more intriguing.  Eric captured a few of them in a short video clip (see below).  They're quite speedy!  Note the long antennae, the short foot, and the circular operculum ("trap door") that seals the opening of the aperture (visible at ~0:44 seconds).  [If you can't see the video in your e-mail message, click on the title of this post to go to the NHBH web page.]

 

 

Many thanks to Maddy and Eric for finding and documenting these snails, and to Bret Raines (Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County) for confirming the identification.

 

A flash of gold

  

 Golden-crowned Kinglet (Regulus satrapa) in Bodega Bay in 18 January 2021

P.S.  There's a little more information about Golden-crowned Kinglets in an older post called "Grooves on the soles of her shoes" on 27 January 2013.

Pygmy, pine, and pupa

  

Pygmy Nuthatch (Sitta pygmaea) as it pecked at what looked like an insect pupa that it had wedged into a fissure between the scales of a pine cone.  Photographed in Bodega Bay on 18 January 2021.

The gladdest thing

  

I suppose everyone has species that they're drawn to for some reason and Brown Creepers (Certhia americana) are in that group for me.  There's just something about how subtly beautiful they are.  I've posted about creepers several times over the years, but yesterday I had a close encounter with one, so here are a few of my favorite images.  [You can click on the images for larger versions.]

Looking like bark:

 

 

 

Going with the flow:

 

 

 

 

Searching for prey:

 

 

 

 

Feather details:

 

 

 

 

In profile view:

 

 

 

 Seeing creepers always makes my heart feel like the gladdest thing.
 

 

P.S.  The last line includes a nod to Edna St. Vincent Millay.

 

P.P.S.  For more information about Brown Creepers you can review the post from 24 March 2012.

January dragon

 

 

There were record-breaking high air temperatures for this date (18 January 2021).  I'm seeing slightly different numbers from several meteorological stations in Bodega Bay, but it looks like air temperatures reached between 68-72°F (20-22°C) on the coast today.

 

Because of the warm temperatures, after some morning tasks I decided to take a quick look for butterflies near the Bodega Dunes Campground where it tends to be calm and warm on days like this.  I struck out with butterflies, but I spotted one Variegated Meadowhawk (Sympetrum corruptum) perched along the trail.

 

Deep purple

  

 Sunset near Fort Ross on 29 December 2020

The hunter

  

I'm working on some photo organization (an endless task!), but here's a Northern Harrier (Circus hudsonius) from 24 December 2020.

A not-so-long tail

  

Birders have been reporting two Long-tailed Ducks (Clangula hyemalis) in Bodega Harbor near Porto Bodega, so I swung by there this afternoon (13 January 2021) after a stop at the post office.  They weren't too hard to find, but they were a little distant, so this is the best photo I have.  Long-tailed Ducks are rare winter visitors to this area.  (Males have very long tails when in breeding plumage.)

My eyes were also drawn to some intriguing patterns on the surface of the water close to shore.  [You can click on the image for a larger version.]

 

 

After 16 years...

 

No joke — I've been hoping for a badger photo for over 16 years now, and tonight (11 January 2021) it finally happened.  We often see evidence (digging) of American Badgers (Taxidea taxus) in coastal grasslands in this area, but seeing the animals themselves is rare (they're more active at night, which I am not).

Tonight Eric suggested one more task which would require going for a short walk.  Somewhat unusually, I wasn't so sure...it was cold and foggy and getting dark.  But we got ready to go, and somewhat unusually (again), I decided to leave my camera with the zoom lens behind.  It was so foggy I didn't think it was worth carrying the larger camera.  Then Eric said offhandedly, "Okay, let's go find a badger."

Not long after leaving the car, I couldn't believe my eyes because I looked to the west and there was a badger...rambling around in the coastal prairie...and all I had was a point-and-shoot camera!  Lucky for me, Eric was willing to go back to retrieve my larger camera while I kept an eye on the badger, and we ended up with a few fun photos.  Here it is — surveying, smelling, listening, looking:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Such an intriguing animal.  I'm so happy to know they're out there digging in the coastal prairie soil, even while I'm curled up in my bed.

Wave-watcher

 

 Surfbird (Calidris virgata), Bodega Head, 8 January 2021 

Backlit

A few more wave photos for you, taken today (7 January 2021):

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

January swell

  

Large west northwest swell today (12-15 feet).  [You can click on the images for larger versions.]

 

 

Waves are predicted to be large through the week and into the weekend.  Please be safe and heed high surf advisories.  You can check for them on the NWS/San Francisco Bay Area website here or on their Twitter feed here.

 

California and Connemara

The other day we were watching a coyote hunting — walking, pausing, listening intently:

 

 

 

It was late in the afternoon, so the lighting brought out the different colors in the coyote's fur:

 

 

 

Afterwards, I kept pondering what colors were there.  How would you describe them?

 

Later that night I was reading a book I started recently (Listening to the Wind by Tim Robinson) and I came across a line that strung together these colors — "tawny, amber, and rufous."  Tim was describing sedges in a bog, but it immediately made me think about this coyote and I thought, "That's it!  Those are the colors in the coyote's fur."

 

A fun connection between a coyote in California and a bog in Connemara.

 

P.S.  Connemara is on the west coast of Ireland in the northwest corner of County Galway.

 

Sunshine on a cloudy day

  

A quick shot of another backyard visitor — Townsend's Warbler (Setophaga townsendi), in Cotati, 2 January 2021.

Looking back

  

It was a cloudy and wet day in Cotati today (2 January 2021).  Rain often brings many birds to our backyard birdbath.  This Hermit Thrush (Catharus guttatus) came by several times, but I'll never get tired of her visits!

Ringing in the new year

 

 

We had some nice views of a small group of Ring-necked Ducks (Aythya collaris) in Petaluma this afternoon (1 January 2021).  The reflections of the shoreline vegetation in the water surrounding the ducks were amazing.