In the prairie, after the rain

  

Whimbrel (Numenius phaeopus) in the coastal prairie, 31 March 2022

In the Bodega Bay area, Whimbrel are often observed in marine and estuarine habitats — sandy beaches, mudflats, rocky shores.  But sometimes, especially when the ground is wet after rain, we'll see them feeding in the grassland.

 

 

 

 

I wonder if it reminds them of the tundra habitat that they'll spend time in during the breeding season?

 

 

 

Dashing

  

Juvenile Hairy Rock Crab (Romaleon jordani, formerly Cancer jordani) with a fun color pattern.  Thanks to Eric for spotting it!

Kermit?

  

An up-close and personal view of a sculpin in the intertidal zone, thanks to Eric. 

Here's a broader view:

 

 

Perhaps it's the greenish tint and the large eyes, but I was vaguely reminded of Kermit the Frog, so I present to you, Kermit the Sculpin!

Artful anemone

  

We've been busy lately, but here's a quick shot of a beautiful Moonglow Anemone (Anthopleura artemisia) from today, 28 March 2022.

Coastal palette -- Part 2

Okay, so I received several guesses about last night's mystery photo (re-posted below)...thank you!  I knew this would be tricky, and I wouldn't have known the answer either.

 

 

If you've been following the NHBH blog for a while, you'll know that I'm fascinated by light and color in the environment.  And you might recall my photos of strands of silk in spider webs as well as close-ups of foam bubbles along the shore.  This is very similar!

 

Here's a zoomed out version of the original view:

 

 

 

These are foam bubbles left behind on a sandy beach after a wave has receded.  Sunlight is interacting with the film on the bubbles to create small colored reflections.  The bottom half of the image has sharper focus (and the colors are more subtle), but notice how the top half of the image is out of focus and in that case the colors become broadened into circles.

 

Here's another example (below) where I've purposely blurred the image to make the colored reflections in the foam become more visible:

 

 

Once I've downloaded the image I can zoom in on interesting sections of the photo, like this:

 

 

I don't know why there are so many different colors...or why the colors appear as perfect circles (but see this article on "Understanding bokeh").  It's intriguing to see what colors and patterns appear as the foam and light interact.  (You might recall that I've noticed a seasonal pattern where it appears that the foam is the most colorful during the spring upwelling season.)

 

 

 

So there you go — the colorful mystery dots are a blurry view of sea foam and sunlight.  Who knew?

 

Coastal palette

  

A bit of a mystery photo for you to ponder.  I know this will be hard, but I thought you might be intrigued.  I took this photo on the beach yesterday.  Any guesses what it might be?  (I'll reveal more tomorrow.)

In motion

 

 

Sanderlings (Calidris alba) and surf, 21 March 2022

 

[You can click on the image for a larger version.]

Tips for spring

  

A flock of Cedar Waxwings (Bombycilla cedrorum) returned to our yard this weekend.  The lighting was quite nice this morning (20 March 2022), so I decided to try for a few photos.  Things weren't quite working out, but then I noticed something interesting.  I had zoomed in on the image on my camera to check the focus and I noticed that this individual had more than the typical yellow coloration on its tail.

Waxwings are known for having red waxy tips on their secondary wing feathers — like this:

 

 

 

But if you look closely, the waxwing in the first photo (above) has red-orange waxy tips on its tail feathers.  Here's a closer view:

 

 

 

I couldn't remember seeing this before, so I read a little more about it in Birds of the World.  Here's what it said — "Waxy appendages...are found on up to 8 central rectrices (among r1–r4) in 0.3–0.9% of museum specimen and banded bird samples."

 

So it's pretty rare to find a waxwing with waxy tips on its tail feathers.  Also, it's a little hard to count, but it appears that on the bird I photographed there are 12 red-orange waxy tips (Cedar Waxwings have 12 tail feathers.)

Sunset clouds

 

 

Sunset clouds from Cotati on 19 March 2022

Snorkeling in Bodega Harbor

  

We spotted these snorkeling Common Mergansers (Mergus merganser) in Bodega Harbor when leaving work today (18 March 2022).  Common Mergansers are fish-eaters and "visual pursuit predators" — when you see them swimming in this position, they're actively searching under water for prey:

 

 

 

Here's a closer look at the male:

 

 

 

 

 

 

And the female:

 

 

 

Maybe they found some sticklebacks in the eelgrass?

High tide roost

  

Marbled Godwits (Limosa fedoa) roosting at high tide along the Bodega Harbor shoreline on 17 March 2022

Under the cypress

  

In the shade, but it was nice to see this Varied Thrush (Ixoreus naevius) on Bodega Head a couple of days ago.  

P.S.  I've written about Varied Thrushes in the past -- for more info, check out these posts:

"Eating berries in the shadows" on 11 February 2013

"Shiver me thrushes" on 5 December 2013

"Irruption" on 28 December 2014

Swept back

  

A flock of Cedar Waxwings (Bombycilla cedrorum) stopped in our yard over the weekend.  I walked outside and heard them calling softly from high up in a tree, and then noticed some birds were flying down to a cluster of berries near our house.  I was impressed with this one's crest!

Pardon me...

 

 

...coming through!

 

A Gray Whale (Eschrichtius robustus) surfaces among Surf Scoters (Melanitta perspicillata) on 12 March 2022.  The whales are on their way north to Alaska.

 

Harbor Porpoises -- Part 2

Last night I mentioned that a large number of Harbor Porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) were visible off Bodega Head yesterday.  Although the porpoises were far from shore (~1-2 km), making photographing them a challenge, I wanted to include a few photos for the record.

I estimate that more than 100 Harbor Porpoises passed by Bodega Head between 10:30-11:30 a.m. on 12 March 2022.  Although there was some back-and-forth movement, they were primarily swimming south. The group sizes ranged from 2 to more than 15 individuals; groups of 6-8 individuals were common. 

In my experience, it's unusual to see so many Harbor Porpoises at one time.  From Marine Mammals of the World: "Most harbor porpoise groups are small, generally consisting of less than five or six individuals.  They do, at times, aggregate into large, loose groups of 50 to several hundred animals, mostly for feeding or migration." (Jefferson et al. 2015)

You can click on the images for larger versions:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Seeking your porpoise in life

  

Well, this is a bit of a preview, but I wanted to share an observation from today (12 March 2022).  This morning I noticed a few Harbor Porpoise (Phocoena phocoena) off Bodega Head.  Conditions were good for documenting them (flat calm, gray light), so I went to get my camera to try to get a few photographs.  I was amazed to see some relatively large groups of porpoise — up to 15-20 individuals at a time.  I'm used to seeing 1-2 individuals, but larger groups of six or more seemed unusual.  They kept swimming by, mostly heading south, until I had estimated well over 100 individuals in about one hour!

I'll include some more photos in another post, but I thought I'd share one tonight.  You can click on the image for a larger view.  Look for their small triangular dorsal fins.

A quick hello

  

Greater Yellowlegs (Tringa melanoleuca) photographed on the way to work on 11 March 2022.

Revisiting The Birds?

  

Do you remember the scenes from Alfred Hitchcock's movie The Birds when the gulls are attacking?  Well, nearly 60 years later, they're still at it!  This morning (10 March 2022) they were mobbing a Bald Eagle on the tidal flats in Bodega Harbor.  The eagle wasn't that happy about it:

 

 

 

 

 

Ethereal

 

 

It's a good time of year for jellyfish polyps in Bodega Harbor.  Eric captured these ethereal images on 6 March 2022.  

To learn more about these polyps and how they fit within the jellyfish life cycle, check out the post called "The polyp that packs a wallop" on 25 February 2020.

 

 

 Many thanks to Eric for sharing these beautiful images!

On their way

  

This is an older photo from the Bodega Dunes, taken in May 2017, but I was in the dunes for a short time today (8 March 2022) and could see some of the wildflowers starting to appear.  I'll be hoping for more rain and watching their progress.

All dressed up...

 

 

A quick shot of a Bufflehead (Bucephala albeola) in Bodega Harbor on 6 March 2022.  I thought this Bufflehead was looking pretty sharp in his black-and-white "duxedo."  (A "duxedo," you ask?  You know, a duck tuxedo!)

Partially pigmented

  

This afternoon I was helping Eric look for a few invertebrates in Bodega Harbor for his class when he called me over to look at a small fish.  It was only ~3 cm (a little over one inch) long.

The fins were only partially pigmented, which made the fish look "rough around the edges" and very much like a little piece of kelp:

 

 

 

Here's a closer view of the fins:

 

 

 

 

And one of the tail:

 

 

 

We're wondering if this could be a juvenile kelpfish, possibly a Crevice Kelpfish (Gibbonsia montereyensis)?  If you have any thoughts about the identification of this fish, we'd be interested!

 

Above the western horizon

  

Crescent moon from Cotati, 4 March 2022

In the strawberries

  

I was checking on some wild strawberry flowers in the dunes recently (28 February 2022) and noticed this little bee (Sphecodes sp.?) emerging from one of them.

From this view you can see the red-colored abdomen:

 

 

Spending the afternoon in strawberry flowers...not such a bad idea!