Sailing into August?

  

Just a quick note that there are lots of very large By-the-wind Sailors (Velella velella) washing ashore right now.  Many are in the range of 7-10 cm long.  Photo from 30 July 2025.

From Kamchatka

 

Shown above are the water levels as recorded at the Point Reyes tide gauge on 30 July 2025.  The blue line represents the predicted tide levels.  The red line shows the recorded levels with marked fluctuations,  both higher and lower than the predicted levels, revealing the effects of the Kamchatka tsunami.

 

I posted about the Tonga tsunami back in 2022, so you might have seen a graph like this before.  The basic idea is that the tsunami is a series of water level fluctuations that can continue for hours or days.  The duration of the fluctuations surprised me during the Tohoku tsunami in 2011, but I was ready for them in 2022, and again this time.

 

You can see that most of these water level deviations are less than 1 foot (with an exception at ~3 a.m.).  But the water levels rise and fall very quickly (hence the steep, jagged line).

 

What does this look like in the field?  I've learned that it's easiest to see these tsunami-influenced water levels in Bodega Harbor because the elevation change is so gradual.  It's fairly straightforward to see the water levels rising and falling as the water flows across the mudflats.

 

I only had about an hour this morning, but I took a series of photos between 9-10 a.m. to document the tsunami.  This is a little tricky to describe, but here's the basic scenario of what I captured (below).  It's important to compare the water levels in each photo, especially along the left side of the image. 

 

First photo, 9:02 a.m.  Note the water level on the left side of the photo and where it is relative to the wooden post/sign.
 

 

 

Second photo, 9:25 a.m.  The water has flooded in from the left side and spread across the tidal flats to the right of the sign.  Importantly, low tide was at 9:28 a.m. this morning, so the tide should have been dropping, but the water was rising quickly:

 

 

Third photo, 9:30 a.m.  Only 5 minutes later, the water levels have now dropped back almost to the left of the sign again.  (They should have been rising after the low tide.)

 

 

 

Fourth photo, 9:52 a.m.  About 20 minutes later, the water starts to rise for a second time.  It's spreading to the right of the sign again:

 

 

 

Fifth and sixth photos, 9:58 a.m. and 10:08 a.m.  Although the tide should be coming in at this point, the water levels are dropping again.  They are receding to the left of the sign:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Seventh and eighth photos, 10:12 a.m. and 10:16 a.m.  Only four minutes later, the water levels are rising for a third time within a 75-minute period:

 

 

 

 

 

 

I think the area in the green box below shows the period when I took these photos:

 

 

It'll be interesting to see how long the water level fluctuations continue.  You can check the Point Reyes tide gauge yourself here.

 

Amazing to see how these waves cross the entire Pacific Ocean basin!  

 

P.S.  I'm thankful to NOAA for maintaining these tide gauges and helping us understand this phenomenon.

 

Swimming north rapidly

  

This was a little unexpected, but as I was watching the Humpback Whales yesterday (26 July 2025), I caught a glimpse of a fin much closer to shore and realized it was a Bottlenose Dolphin (Tursiops truncatus).

I wasn't quite ready and didn't get a great photo, but I thought one photo was possibly good enough to identify the individual.  So I sent it off to Bill Keener at The Marine Mammal Center.  Sure enough, Bill was able to match this to a known female in their catalog.  "Cepat" has been seen in Sonoma County before, and as far north as Sea Ranch. 

Here's a few of her heading north:

 

 

By the way, Bill mentioned that Cepat doesn't usually travel alone, so it's a good time to keep an eye out for other Bottlenose Dolphins in the Bodega Bay area.  Let us know if you see any!  

P.S.  I was curious about the name "Cepat," so I looked it up.  Sounds like it's an Indonesian word meaning rapid, quick, or swift.

P.P.S.  Many thanks to Bill for providing the background information about Cepat and for monitoring local marine mammals!

ADDENDUM (31 July 2025): Some people have inquired about how Bill identified Cepat.  Individual Bottlenose Dolphins have distinctive markings on or near their dorsal fins.  So if you get a good enough photo and the dolphin is a known individual in the photo catalog, you can match the markings.  Here's a close-up where you can see a couple of distinctive notches at the base of Cepat's fin:

 

 

Splash dance

  

Whale activity continued off of Bodega Head today (26 July 2025).  This afternoon I tried to get a few photos of breaching.  The whales were pretty far off (perhaps 1.5-2 miles), so these photos aren't the sharpest, but I'm sharing several for the record.

 

 

 

Lobtailing (slapping the flukes against the surface of the water), too :

 

 

 

 

And a view of splashes out near the horizon:

 

 

  

 

 

Casualty of the fog?

 

 

Today (24 July 2025) I noticed a somewhat unusual roadkill along the side of Highway 1 in Bodega Bay.  It's a bird you don't get to see up close very often, so I circled back to take a few photos.

This is a Sora (Porzana carolina), a type of rail.  Soras are somewhat secretive marsh birds, spending most of their time among wetland vegetation. You're more likely to hear one calling at night than to see one.

Here's a view showing the entire bird:

 

It's always a learning experience to see animals up close, so here are a few images.

 

Close-ups of the feathers, including the barred flanks (second photo below):
 

 

 

Short yellow bill: 

 

 
Yellowish legs and long toes:

 

 

And one more of the feather details: 

 

 

 

I don't know what happened, but perhaps the Sora was dispersing and dense fog overnight led to confusion, or to the Sora being in a place where you wouldn't normally expect it. 

What a day!

  

Every where I went today (23 July 2025) I heard people saying, "What a day!"  The weather was beautiful at the coast, and it appeared that the whales were enjoying it, too!  Every time I scanned the horizon from Bodega Head today there were at least 8 or more Humpback Whales in view.

I took a few photos here and there, and several seemed to show the whales feeding at the surface, with mouths open:

 

 

Must be some baitfish around! 

Sunset wave

  

Sunset from Cotati on 21 July 2025.

View from above and below

  

As part of my job, I sometimes receive requests from researchers to check on the status of local species, e.g., whether a plant is flowering now or going to seed.  Recently there was an inquiry about an interesting parasitic plant, California Orobanche (Aphyllon californicum).

I couldn't find any at first, but I didn't give up, and in the end I found a few orobanche in flower.  

From above (first photo) the plant is intriguing, but it gets even more interesting if you lie down for a side view:

 

 

And when you look even closer, there are lots (lots!) of glandular hairs  all over the petals.  Look for the tiny hairs with golden tips:

 

 

 

I read that the glandular hairs might be protective against herbivores or pathogens, but it sounds like there are other possible functions, too. 

White on gray

  

We were on a field trip to the Fort Ross/Salt Point area today (16 July 2025).  I didn't have a chance for many photos, but there was lots of whale activity visible offshore (mostly humpbacks), so here's a photo for the record. 

Breathe in, breathe out

  

An unexpected surprise this morning (11 July 2025), a beautiful octopus in the low intertidal zone.  I only had a minute or two before it continued on, but it was a magical minute!

I managed a short video clip (see below, or click on the title of the post above to go to the NHBH web page to see the video player).  The octopus is drawing water into its mantle cavity (where it will then pass over the gills) and expelling water through its siphon.

Many thanks to Eric for editing the video clip!

End-of-the-day treat

  

A Bushtit for you!  This one was searching for prey among the moss, bark, and leaves on a tree in the Oliver's parking lot in Cotati. 

Offshore fog

  

This isn't a recent photo, but it's been foggy at the coast lately, and I came across this older photo of offshore fog while doing some photo organization, so here you go!  Photographed from Bodega Head on 29 March 2013.

P.S.  Bodega Bay can be pretty foggy, leading to some nicknames for the foggiest months, e.g., June Gloom, No Sky July, Faugust.  It isn't foggy all of the time, but I'm intrigued by all of the different forms of fog.  What's your favorite form of fog?

Blue background

  

Last week I came across an Ochre Sea Star (Pisaster ochraceus) that was noticeably blue.  It's a little hard to tell from the photo above, but hopefully you can see the blueish background coloration among the clusters of white spines.

We've been monitoring Pisaster for over a decade and have observed thousands of individuals during that time, but I can't recall seeing a blue adult sea star until now.  The most common colors are orange, brown, and purple, but this blue individual seemed unusual, so I took a quick photo for the record.

That said, we often see juveniles with blueish coloration — see photos below from this past winter:

 

 

 

I've often wondered if the blue juveniles gradually turn purple, and perhaps some do, but the blue adult in the first photo shows that sometimes the adults can be blue, too! 

Featherduster fireworks

  

Eric photographed this beautiful featherduster worm (Eudistylia vancouveri) in Bodega Harbor earlier this week.

Happy Fourth of July! 

Flecktones?

  

A nice little chiton for you — a juvenile Lepidozona radians.

Photographed in the low intertidal zone on 29 June 2025.