Fleet feet

 

I felt very lucky today (25 April 2025) when I noticed a Long-tailed Weasel (Neogale frenata) crossing the road and then spent a few minutes observing it along the Bodega Harbor shoreline.

The weasel was weaving in and out of the rocks, so views were fleeting, but occasionally the weasel would pop up and pause to look around:

I liked the way the color of the weasel's ventral fur (on its throat and belly) matched the color of the lichens on the rocks.

 

 

 

Once it perched on the upper edge of a rock:

 

 

But mostly it was lower, leaping from rock to rock, and zipping in and out of the crevices and cavities among the rocks:

 

 

 

Weasels are so fast that in many of my photos I only caught a portion of its body, especially the tail end.  These photos made me laugh, so I thought I'd share them, too:
 

 

 

 

 

Hidden treasures

  

Each spring, when Eric turns over the soil in our garden, he finds small, often shiny objects that had been buried in the soil.  Shown above is the collection of objects he discovered in the soil last weekend.

We think this is the work of local California Scrub-Jays (Aphelocoma californica).  Interestingly, some of these things aren't from our yard, but more likely from other yards in the neighborhood.

I tried to find more information about why jays might have a penchant for shiny objects like these.  Although I found quite a bit of information about jays caching food items like acorns (a note that we also find peanut shells in our garden), I couldn't find too much about hiding non-food objects.

Do you also see jays hiding shiny trinkets in your yard?

The ocean planet

  

To help celebrate Earth Day, a nice view of soft corals (Cryptophyton goddardi) from the rocky intertidal zone on Bodega Head.

P.S.  Thanks for the great photo, Eric!

Tucked under

  

I've gone many years without seeing a badger, so the last few months have felt unusual.  A badger has occasionally been spending time within view of where we often eat lunch at work.  I posted some photos back in February, but we had nice views this weekend, too, so I thought I'd share a few more.  All of the photos were taken from a distance with a large zoom lens and then cropped.

Above, this was our first view of the badger yesterday (20 April 2025).  From a distance, I wasn't completely sure what position the badger was in, but when it moved we could see that it had been resting with its head tucked under its chest. 

Here's the view when it unfurled and revealed its face (below).  (If you go back to the first photo, the white stripe is a continuation of the stripe running from the badger's nose, up and over its head, and onto its back.)

 

 

 

The badger changed position, and then rested while curled up on its side:

 

 

 

Several times the badger woke up and did some grooming.  I love this next photo because you can see the front and hind feet, including the foot pads on the hind foot and the amazingly long claws on the front foot.  [You can click on the images for larger versions.]

 

 

 

 

The badger eventually returned to its burrow, but here's one more photo — a nice side profile, showing the white "badges" on the side of its face and the grizzled fur:

 

 

 

Just in time for Easter -- lots of eggs!

  

We went out to the rocky shore early this morning to start some surveys.  Right away Eric noticed that the tidepools looked unusual.  All of them appeared cloudy or milky.  We were aware recent ocean conditions might trigger spawning in some marine invertebrates, and sure enough, this was a massive spawning event of California Mussels (Mytilus californianus), probably the largest we've encountered.

In the photo above, the orange coloration is eggs released by female mussels.  Here's another example, with clusters of eggs concentrated along the edge of a pool:

 

 

In other pools, the color was white or gray, clouded by vast quantities of sperm released by male mussels:

 

 

Nearly every tidepool we observed on Bodega Head appeared to have mussels spawning, so the extent of this synchronous mass spawning event was truly remarkable.  Even the largest pools were visibly cloudy:

 

 

 

The ocean temperature went up from 11°C (52°F) to 13°C (55°F) yesterday, and there was a phytoplankton bloom nearshore — both environmental cues that are thought to trigger spawning in some invertebrates.

Amazing!  Let us know (and send photos) if you notice local marine invertebrates spawning, too!

Dockside

  

Driving by Mason's Marina in Bodega Harbor today (16 April 2025), I noticed a Harbor Seal (Phoca vitulina) on one of the floating docks, but it looked like something else was there, too.  So I turned around for a better view and realized it was a small pup.  From a distance, I snapped a quick photo for the record.  Reviewing the photo later, I realized the pup still has an umbilical cord, so it's likely less than a week old.

Next to the nest

  

We've come across a couple of different Cooper's Hawks (Astur cooperii) at their nests recently.  This photo was taken a couple of weeks ago in Glen Ellen.  After taking off, the hawk flew up to a large nest at the top of a dense oak tree.  [You can click on the photo for a larger version.]

Cloaks, admirals, and angles +

  

It warmed up quite a bit in Cotati today — at one point our outdoor thermometer was reading ~80°F (~26°C).  Butterflies were definitely taking advantage of the sun. 

Above, a Mourning Cloak (Nymphalis antiopa).

Next, a Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta):

 

 

And, a Satyr Anglewing (Polygonia satyrus):

 

 

Also, we checked on the Anna's Hummingbird fledgling.  Eric spotted it very high, about 50 feet up in a tree adjacent to the nest site.  Mom flew in a couple of times to feed the fledgling, but only about every 20 minutes (see below).  In between feeding visits from mom, the fledgling probed nearby buds and leaves and practiced short flights among the branches.

 

 

The female might feed the fledgling for 1-2 weeks after they've left the nest, but it will likely be harder for us to locate them as time goes on and they spend time farther from the nest site.