Cued by a temperature change?

  

Eric was doing an end-of-day check on some tanks in the lab last night and noticed some sea urchins spawning!  Above, a male Purple Sea Urchin (Strongylocentrotus purpuratus) with clouds of sperm being released from the gonopores on the upper surface.  

Looking around, we eventually noticed a few female Purple Sea Urchins releasing eggs (more yellow-orange in color):

 

Our guess is that warmer ocean temperatures during the past couple of days triggered spawning.  There's been a lot of upwelling this year, with water temperatures as low as ~8.8°C (~47°F).  But winds calmed down at the end of the week and temperatures rose to ~12°C (~54°F).

There were also a couple of other echinoderms spawning.  Here's a male Red Sea Urchin (Mesocentrotus franciscanus) releasing sperm:

 

 

 

And a female Ochre Sea Star (Pisaster ochraceus) releasing eggs:

 

 

 

What's that saying, "Spring is in the water"?  ;)

Snake eyes

  

Walking through the dunes today (29 April 2023), I was pleasantly surprised to come across this beautiful Western Yellow-bellied Racer (Coluber constrictor mormon).  It was curled up below a shrub and eventually turned and moved off in the other direction, but I managed a few photos for the record.  I don't see racers that often on Bodega Head, so it was a highlight on a cool day at the coast.  Here's a close-up showing the scales (and a reflection of me in its eye!).

 

 

I posted about racers way back in 2012, so if you'd like to read a little more about them (and see a photo of a juvenile), see "Color shift" on 15 October 2012.

 

Octopus for lunch?

  

Octopus for lunch?  

A Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura) feeding on a Giant Pacific Octopus (Enteroctopus dofleini) washed up on the beach on 25 April 2023.

A nap in the sun

  

I was working on another task today when I spotted a furry brown animal curled up on the rocks below.  A closer look revealed a sleeping River Otter (Lontra canadensis)!  I was pretty far away, but luckily I had a large zoom lens on my camera.

The otter started to wake up from its nap and at first it still looked a little sleepy:

 

 

 

Then the otter started to become more active and headed down the rocks towards the ocean:

 

 
Not a bad day for a nap on the rocks and a swim in the sea!

In the zones

  

This morning (24 April 2023) we were finishing some surveys at a site with lots of wave splash.  In this case that means the intertidal zonation is clearly demarcated and the zones extend very high on the rocks.  

For example, on the left, the brownish coloration is made up of seaweeds (primarily Pyropia and Pelvetiopsis), the dark blue areas are California Mussels (Mytilus californianus), and below that is a band of surfgrass (Phyllospadix scouleri) and coralline algae (some of it is bleached, likely by warm or desiccating conditions, so it's paler than usual).

In this view there was also a nice flock of Surfbirds (Calidris virgata) foraging in the zone above the mussels.

Dusky purple

 

 

Close-up of a Band-tailed Pigeon (Patagioenas fasciata) in Bodega Bay on 22 April 2023.  Note the pale purple coloration overall, and the white crescent and iridescent feathers on the back of the neck.  Band-tailed Pigeons occur along the Pacific Coast from southeast Alaska to Baja California (and farther south).

 

P.S.  Many thanks to Peter for letting me know that these pigeons have been visiting his yard!

Impressionism in the sea, Part 2

  

Some of you might remember that I shared a similar photo back in 2013.  For Earth Day, here's Impressionism in the sea, Part 2!  

Enjoy the Earth today and every day!

Springing into action

 

 

I was a little surprised this morning when a bounding flash of color caught my eye.  Long-tailed Weasel (Mustela frenata)!   

 

I went to get my camera and returned hoping that the weasel might be in the same area.  I couldn't find it at first, but kept scanning and eventually noticed a little face emerging from a freshly dug burrow.

 

This weasel was quite active — looking around, listening to bird sounds, sniffing the air, pulling back when a bumblebee flew by.  And then it emerged from the burrow, took a few spins around, went in and out of the burrow, and then dashed off to another spot in the grassland.

 

Luckily I had a zoom lens on the camera and the weasel wasn't too far away, so here are a few more of my favorite images.  [You can click on the images for larger versions.]  Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rock fall

  

We've been busy with field surveys recently, but I wanted to share one photo illustrating the impacts of the intense storms in January this year.  We're currently visiting sites that we survey once per year, so we're just now gaining additional insight into the impacts from the winter storms.

This is one example of wave impacts to a rock wall causing it to fracture resulting in giant sharp-edged rocks filling a surge channel.  The clean gray angular rocks towards the middle of the photo are newly fallen off the wall to the left side of the channel.  (We estimate those rocks are ~5 feet tall.) 

Another reminder to be careful near bluff edges and coastal outcrops!

Earth day?

  

Every day is earth day if you're a badger!  

Photographed on 11 April 2023.

Isopod and friends

  

We've been busy doing surveys in the field during the low tides recently, but here's an isopod photo from back in February -- a Blunt-tailed Isopod (Idotea urotoma) photographed in the low intertidal zone.  

Among other things in the photo, you can see pale pink crustose coralline algae, a small iridescent snail, Lirularia sp., and a darker pink and red bryozoan (Integripelta bilabiata, formerly Eurystomella).

All in one

  

Well, if you're going to put all of your eggs in one basket, you better have a lot of them!

Fish eggs in the rocky intertidal zone, photographed in April 2009.

Spring ornaments

 

 

A flock of Cedar Waxwings (Bombycilla cedrorum) perched in the early evening light behind our house on 7 April 2023.  The entire flock was much larger -- tree ornaments in spring!

 

 

 

April moon

 

 

Full moon from Cotati on 5 April 2023.

 

In the grooves

  

Along with Velella and other wash-ashores, Eric spotted this glass bottle washed up on the beach yesterday (2 April 2023).  The bottle's shape was unusual, but the grooves and indentations were perfect attachment spots for pelagic gooseneck barnacles (Lepas sp.):

 

 

P.S.  Anyone know what kind of bottle this is?  I tried to locate something similar on the Internet but couldn't find a match.  If you have any ideas, let me know!

Sailors on the beach

 

 

A quick shot of a By-the-wind Sailor (Velella velella) washed ashore in Bodega Bay on 2 April 2023.  These Velella were relatively small, most were less than 1 cm long.  Have you been seeing them on the beaches recently? 

Lower limits

 

 

Whew, I'm finally getting over a heel injury...and it's just in time for spring field work!  Eric and I were doing some intertidal surveys this afternoon (1 April 2023) and Eric took this nice photo of Ochre Sea Stars (Pisaster ochraceus) —  some feeding on very large California Mussels (Mytilus californianus).