New oystercatcher chick with mom, 27 June 2025
[You can click on the photo for a larger version. Note that the chick has a short, brownish bill and mostly gray feathers.]
New oystercatcher chick with mom, 27 June 2025
[You can click on the photo for a larger version. Note that the chick has a short, brownish bill and mostly gray feathers.]
Summer classes started at the Bodega Marine Laboratory this week, and with all of those keen eyes around, special things are bound to be found!
Above, a small Red Octopus (Octopus rubescens) discovered this morning.
Thanks to James for spotting the octopus, which was observed for a short time in the field and then released.
A commenter on last night's post mentioned Cazadero, and that made me reminisce about visits to The Cedars. Sadly, I haven't been there since 2019, but I posted about several visits back in 2015, 2016, and 2019. So if you're interested in learning more or reviewing those photos, check out these posts:
Among the rocks (25 April 2015)
Warming up (26 April 2015)
Slippers and streams (28 April 2015)
Checkers and streaks (29 April 2015)
A hardy Sargent (30 April 2015)
Songs of The Cedars (1 May 2015)
Greenish sheen (8 April 2016)
Jewels, streaks, petals, and rocks (11 May 2019)
Wavy margins (12 May 2019)
Land of contrasts (14 May 2019)
In the sun and the shade (15 May 2019)
Stellate (17 May 2019)
Western beauty (19 May 2019)
I was working on some photo organization tonight. Here's a photo from early March -- a view from the Chimney Rock area.
Stopping to pick up sandwiches in northern Sonoma County today and noticed a handful of Vaux's Swifts (Chaetura vauxi) flying overhead. Photo for the record on 15 June 2025.
I've realized I don't share scat photos very often, but here's an interesting one — an example of Harbor Seal (Phoca vitulina) scat.
Black Oystercatcher nest, 12 June 2025
(Photo taken with a zoom lens from a distance and then cropped.)
Black Oystercatcher (Haematopus bachmani) with Sea Palms (Postelsia palmaeformis) in the background, 31 May 2025.
We were focused on other species while doing surveys along the coast in Mendocino County last weekend, but along the way Eric spotted several nice chitons. Above, meet Tripoplax regularis. (Also refer to the post called "The original sequins" on 26 February 2017.)
Below, this looks like a species of Mopalia, but we're not sure which one. We wondered about Mopalia imporcata, a species we're not familiar with. If anyone has thoughts about the identity of this chiton, we'd be interested!
A tiny Six-armed Sea Star (Leptasterias sp.) photographed in Mendocino County on 31 May 2025. This juvenile sea star was only ~3-4 mm across from arm tip to arm tip.
If you look carefully, you can see some of its tube feet extending away from its arms. And the small red eye spots at the tips of the three arms in the foreground are also visible.
Rather than releasing eggs into the water column, Leptasterias broods its embryos and the young sea stars crawl away from the adult. Back in 2012, I shared photos of an adult Leptasterias with its brood of embryos and an image of an adult with many juveniles in the surrounding area (it's likely the juveniles recently crawled away from the adult). To review those photos, check out the post called "Four brooders in one" on 29 February 2012.
P.S. Thanks for the great photo, Eric!