Cloud shadows

  

I was working on some photo organization tonight.  Here's a photo from early March -- a view from the Chimney Rock area.

Happy Solstice!

  

Moonglow Anemone (Anthopleura artemisia) 

Overhead

  

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.

Left behind

  

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.

Nestled among the granite

  

Black Oystercatcher nest, 12 June 2025

(Photo taken with a zoom lens from a distance and then cropped.) 

Dreaming of fish

  

Juvenile Harbor Seal (Phoca vitulina), 1 June 2025
 

Overhead

  

Nice to see a Black Saddlebags (Tramea lacerata) over our backyard this afternoon (8 June 2025). 

Coastal view

  

Black Oystercatcher (Haematopus bachmani) with Sea Palms (Postelsia palmaeformis) in the background, 31 May 2025. 

A hat trick?

  

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!

 

 

 

And, one that was fun for us —  a juvenile Katharina tunicata.  This individual was only ~1.5-2 cm long.  Katharina has become less common in the Bodega Bay area, so it's encouraging to see a young one starting out:

 

 

 

A wonderful trio, Eric!

Little one

  

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! 

Siblings

 

 

A couple of young Brush Rabbits (Sylvilagus bachmani) resting at the end of the day today (1 June 2025).  (There was a bit of a breeze ruffling the fur of the rabbit in the foreground.)

 

Intertidal volcano

  

Pink Volcano Barnacle (Tetraclita rubescens) on 31 May 2025.

 Thanks to Eric for another great barnacle photo! 

Thatched

  

Thatched Barnacle (Semibalanus cariosus) on 29 May 2025.

Thanks for the great photo, Eric!
 

Catch of the day

  

While out early working during the low tide this morning (27 May 2025),  we were in the middle of a survey when Eric heard a splash and turned to see a River Otter (Lontra canadensis) swimming not too far away from us.  (We were somewhat hidden by a rock.)  Eventually the otter caught a large fish and it climbed up onto a rock and starting eating.  

Although we only had a point-and-shoot camera, Eric was able to take a short video.  I think this is a Striped Surfperch (Embiotoca lateralis), but if you have a different opinion, please let me know!  [If you can't see the video player in the e-mail, click on the title of this post above to find the video on the NHBH web page.]

With gratitude for sharing coastal habitats with otter and fish!

Downy white

  

I ran into Laura outside of the grocery story today.  She told me a story about discovering a Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura) nest in an old tree stump on her property recently.  It reminded both of us of the time a vulture nest was found in the Bodega Dunes.  I didn't have a great camera setup at that time, so this is Haruka Wada's photo (I think).  

If I remember right, the vulture in the photo was ~20 days old.  Back then, I hadn't seen a downy juvenile vulture before, so I was surprised to see how white it was.  I think it takes ~60 days or so before all of their black feathers come in.

Photographed in the Bodega Dunes on 24 May 2006.  (Hard to believe this was 19 years ago!)

P.S.  Thanks to Laura for the memory and to Haruka for the photo!

High zone explorer

  

Last week, Eric snapped a great photo of Ligia occidentalis.  You can find this interesting isopod scurrying across rocks in the high intertidal zone.

More to come

  

Blue Coast Gilia (Gilia capitata subsp. chamissonis), with some open flowers and others just starting to emerge (look for the tiny purple petal tips below the open flowers).  Photographed on 21 May 2025.

Rising and setting

  

We've been working lots of very early morning low tides recently, so here's a sunrise/moonset photo from last week.

At the larger end

  

Quick shot of a large By-the-wind Sailor (Velella velella) washed ashore this morning (13 May 2025).  Strong west winds have pushed thousands of Velella onto local beaches recently.  Most have been smaller than this one, but I'm always keeping my eyes on the range of sizes.

Seascape at sunset

  

Didn't have a chance to take photos this week, so here's one from January 2025 — seascape at sunset along the Sonoma Coast.

Satyrs and dragons

  

 Satyr Anglewing (Polygonia satyrus)

 

 

 

Close-up of a California Darner (Rhionaeschna californica)

 

Both photos from Cotati on 4 May 2025

 

The color purple

  

Eric spotted this beautiful Striped Dogwhelk (Nucella ostrina) yesterday (2 May 2025).  This is a common snail in the rocky intertidal zone in northern California, but we can't recall seeing purple variants of Nucella ostrina, so here's a photo for the record.

More often, Striped Dogwhelks are versions of black, brown, gray, or white.  Here are some individuals feeding on barnacles:

 

 

 

Occasionally you'll spot an orange Nucella ostrina —they really stand out! 

 

 

Breeding experiments suggest that color variation in Nucella ostrina likely has a genetic basis (Palmer 1984).

May beauty!

  

Wow!  When Claire started to ask me if I could help with a moth i.d. today (1 May 2025), I had no idea she would be taking me to see this beautiful Ceonothus Silkmoth (Hyalophora euryalus)!

Claire and Emma spotted this amazing moth while they were eating lunch.  It was cool at the coast today and the moth was very still, so we were able to get some nice photos.

Here's a close-up of her very fuzzy body, including the wonderful striped pattern on her abdomen:

 

 

 

Eric captured a nice view of the markings along the wing margins:

 

 

 

 

Zooming in, it just gets better:

 

 

 

 

And here's the apex of the forewing, with pretty rose-pink coloring and the oval spot with its little crescent moon:

 

 

 

 

You can even see the scales making up the oval spot:

 

 

 

Welcome to May!

 

With many thanks to Claire and Emma for spotting this beauty, and to Eric for most of the nice close-ups!

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!