Land Ho!

  

You might have heard or noticed that there have been a lot of By-the-wind Sailors (Velella velella) washing ashore on local beaches recently.  Here's a photo from Bodega Head today, 31 March 2025.

Numbers of Velella vary from year to year, but this is a relatively common phenomenon during the spring, especially when there are strong west winds.

Sometimes when there are lots of Velella, there could be other species from farther offshore mixed in with them, so I often take a closer look to see if anything else stands out.

Interestingly, when I was looking at one Velella that was still floating, it looked like there was something on the "deck" (the skirt or mantle):

 

 

And with an even closer view, I realized what it was:

 

 

 

What?  Stuart Little with a spyglass!

 

 

 

Well, just kidding...Happy April Fools' Day!  

 

I couldn't resist documenting the recent Velella strandings, and it's also fun to think about all of the little By-the-wind Sailors out on the open ocean.

 

Spring green

  

Eric spotted this beautiful green hairstreak during a walk in Glen Ellen this afternoon (29 March 2025).  The taxonomy of this group has been challenging, but it sounds like this is currently being called Lotus Hairstreak (Callophrys dumetorum).  

With many thanks to Eric for sharp eyes and patience with the camera, and to Alan for assisting with the identification and taxonomy update.

Make way...

  

Mallard duckling (Anas platyrhynchos) along the Cotati Creek trail on 28 March 2025.

Light waves

 

 

Male Anna's Hummingbird (Calypte anna) stretching wing and tail feathers.

A second before the photo above, the hummingbird was turned to the left.  You can see how much the angle changes the color of the head and throat feathers -- bright pink/rose colored (above), darker and more purplish (below):

 

 

Photographed in Cotati on 26 March 2025.

The flip side

  

Last week I was watching a small group of Ruddy Turnstones (Arenaria interpres) along the shore of Bodega Harbor.  At first they were resting, but then they started feeding among the cobbles, actively flipping stones in search of prey.

Below is a short video clip showing the active turning-stone behavior.  [At ~12 seconds, a Black Turnstone (Arenaria melanocephala) enters the frame from the right.]

The turnstones appeared to be quite successful finding prey.  Sometimes it was hard to tell what they captured, but several times I could see small shore crabs in their bills:

 

 

Crab for lunch!

Warming up

  

Quick shot of a Mourning Cloak (Nymphalis antiopa) butterfly, high up in a tree catching the last warm rays of the sun.  Photographed in Cotati on 23 March 2025.

Feeding time

  

A quick update on the Anna's Hummingbird nest (20 March 2025): Tonight we saw the female feeding a small chick.  In the photo above, you can see the nestling's bill and mouth opened wide, highlighted by orange color.  Just in time for spring!

Dolphin surprise

  

I was working at my desk this morning (19 March 2025), when a lot of splashing offshore caught my eye.  I checked quickly with binoculars and realized it was a large group of dolphins passing Bodega Head, so I went to get my camera to try for photos.

They were pretty far out, so the photos aren't great, but because this doesn't happen very often, here are a few images for the record.  [You can click on the images for sharper versions.]

 

 

This was a large group of Risso's Dolphins (Grampus griseus).  My estimate was somewhere ~100 individuals, but I ran into Lisa who wondered about ~50, so somewhere in the range of 50-100 dolphins.

Look for the relatively large body size (8.5-13 feet), overall grayish coloration, and tall dorsal fin.

 

 

The dolphins were swimming south fairly quickly, but they were in view from Bodega Head for at least 30 minutes (between 10:30-11:00 a.m.). 

Remarkably, we also observed a large group of Risso's Dolphins under very similar circumstances last year on nearly the same date (21 March 2024) -- see post called "Splashes, fins, and leaps!"  Perhaps the week after St. Patrick's Day is a good time to be watching for Risso's from Bodega Head?

Feather detail and more

  

Cooper's Hawk (Astur cooperii) feeding while perched on a tree branch in Cotati on 18 March 2025.  [You can click on the image for a larger version.]

In addition to feeding on prey, this bird happened to be quite vocal as we were walking by.  The calls were not the more-often-heard cak-cak-cak variety, but instead what are sometimes described as whaaa calls, more often attributed to females.

If you're interested, I recorded a very short audio clip for the record -- see below.  [If you can't see the video player in the e-mail, click on the title of the post above to find it on the NHBH web page.]  The lighting isn't the best, but at the time I was more focused on trying to record the sound.  You might need to turn up your volume a little bit.

Spring is on the way!

Clearing showers

  

Clearing showers at the end of the day today (17 March 2025) produced a beautiful rainbow to the east.  And who was at the end of that rainbow?

The Anna's Hummingbird on her nest -- a little green (and a pot of gold?) for St. Patrick's Day!  ;)

Blue drift lines

  

Looking north along Salmon Creek Beach, with drift lines of By-the-wind Sailors (Velella velella).  There were so many Velella washed up tonight (14 March 20205), the beach looked blue as far as you could see. Here are a couple more views showing the high densities of Velella:

 

 

 

You can probably see that there were a variety sizes, anywhere from ~1 mm long to 70 mm long.  Below, a photo of small-medium Velella:

 

 

 

And, a couple of tiny (hard-to-see!) Velella. The first is at the end of Eric's fingertip for scale:

 

 

And the next one is so small its sail is barely visible:

 

 

If you've been to the beach lately, I'm guessing you're seeing Velella, too?

P.S.  For an introduction to Velella, see "Below the water line" on 18 March 2014.

Looking out from the nest

  

Some of you might recall when we followed a couple of Anna's Hummingbird (Calypte anna) nests last winter.  Well, we've been checking the same area during the last few weeks and tonight (13 March 2025) we spotted a female incubating in the exact same spot as the first nest last year!

The timing is later than last year, but we'll check on her every now and then to see what happens.

Last year's nest had lost a lot of material during the past year and it was barely visible.  But recently I noticed the nest cup was being built up and renovated with more mosses and lichens, so it was clear a hummingbird had decided to use the site again.

Here's another view from a different angle:

 

 

We'll keep our eyes open for any signs of chicks!

P.S.  You have probably noticed that I'm not posting as often right now.  A few things have come up that make posting a little more challenging, so I'm just including a reminder that you can sign up to receive e-mails when a new post is available (so you don't have to keep checking the website).  No pressure at all, but if you'd like to receive NHBH e-mails, just go directly to the NHBH website here, scroll down to the very bottom of the page, and then enter your address to subscribe.

Spring on the rocks

  

Quick shot of one of my favorite spring wildflowers on Bodega Head -- Coast Rockcress (Arabis blepharophylla).  Photographed on 11 March 2025.

Pile of pups

  

Thanks to a visit with Paul, we took a quick trip out to Point Reyes today and encountered some nice views of Northern Elephant Seal (Mirounga angustirostris) pups. 

Click here for more information about viewing elephant seals at Point Reyes.

In like a lion?

 

Did you notice this, too?  

The wind really picked up near sunset tonight (1 March 2025).  

Fun to see the clouds racing across the sky...