Listening

  

Longer story, but I haven't been able to take many photos lately.  So tonight I went back into the archives and came across this photo from 4 February 2013.  The distinctive silhouette of a Great Horned Owl (Bubo virginianus), along with some views of its beautiful feathers.  This is a good time of year to hear Great Horned Owls, so listen carefully for their deep hoots during these cold, clear nights and mornings.

Watching and listening

I heard through the grapevine that Evening Grosbeaks (Coccothraustes vespertinus) had been seen in Bodega on Sunday, so I stopped by to look around today (1 January 2019).  

I got lucky and found a few fairly quickly.  Although they were feeding among dense branches, here are a few photos for the record.  I was also able to record their call notes, so check out the audio files below. 

Occasionally the grosbeaks would fly down to Salmon Creek for water:

 

 This one was tugging on strands of lichen:

 

Close-up of the large bill:

 

And of a male eating a seed (Box Elder?):

 

It was a fairly quiet day, so I managed a couple of quick audio recordings.  The first file documents the typical call notes, while the second file is an interesting variant.  [If you can't see the audio files in your e-mail message, click on the title of this post above to go to the NHBH website.]

The typical call note is sometimes written as peeer or cheer.  [Note that there's also a frog calling (ribbit) in this recording.]

 

Now here's the second call type.  This two-syllable call note was from birds perched and foraging in a tree.  It sounds a bit like chew-ee:

We don't get to see Evening Grosbeaks often in Sonoma County, so watching and listening to these birds was a nice way to start the new year.   I'm looking forward to more natural history adventures in 2020!

P.S.  Tom Hahn has confirmed these as Type 1 Evening Grosbeaks.  These birds are usually in the Pacific Northwest and Northern Rockies, but occasionally move south.  Click here for more info about the different Evening Grosbeak call types.

On the pond

  

Recently Scott mentioned there was a Ross's Goose (Anser rossii) at the farm pond along the Bodega Highway just east of the town of Bodega.  So I pulled over on my way back from Santa Rosa on 7 November 2019 and scanned the pond from the side of the road.  The goose was on the far side of the pond, but here's a picture for the record.  Ross's Geese nest in the central Canadian Arctic and large numbers winter in the Sacramento Valley and San Joaquin Valley.
 

River from Hawaiʻi

Okay, so that was some rain today — an impressive atmospheric river event!  I drove out to work at the coast around 8 a.m. this morning, but it was a little sketchy — lots of water on the roads.  After looking at the precipitation pattern, it makes sense that the creeks were overflowing at that time.  Here's the rainfall data from the Bodega Ocean Observing Node:

 

Note the peak around 5-6 a.m., and that around that time it rained ~1 inch in 1 hour!  The total for the 24 hours around this morning's rain event was ~4 inches (!). 

I decided I didn't want to drive through more water on the way home.  So I took a few quick wave pictures for the record, and then headed east.  The offshore buoy was reporting swells of ~16 feet this morning.

 

 

On the way home, I stopped briefly in Bodega to take a few photos of Salmon Creek where it crosses under the Bodega Highway.

Here's the view looking downstream:

 

And two views looking upstream:

 

 

 

In the view above you can see that the water level in the creek was quite high relative to the road.  This photo was taken ~9:30 a.m.

More rain is coming tonight, and there's a Flash Flood Watch in effect until 10 a.m. tomorrow, so watch the forecasts and stay safe!

Wet weather

It's been a stormy week, with quite a bit of rain...almost 6 inches during the last 7 days.  

I stopped in Bodega this afternoon to take quick pictures of the high water levels in Salmon Creek.

Here's the view looking to the north:

 

And the view looking to the south (below).  Both photos were taken at ~12:30 p.m. on 10 January 2017.

 

During the last month we've received about 10 inches of rain, which is about 33% of the annual average.  Since October 1st, the total is about 24 inches — about 78% of the annual average.  We are potentially on pace to have an above average annual rainfall total — which I don't think has happened in over 10 years (since the winter of 2005-2006). 

In case you're interested, here's an "historic" photo from the end of the wet winter of 2005-2006.  This is a low spot in the Bodega Dunes that's normally dry at the surface (dominated by rushes).  It filled with water by April of 2006, creating an ephemeral wetland:

 

Double take

Driving to work early this morning along the Bodega Highway, I did a double take while looking out the window (Eric was driving).  Just outside of the town of Bodega, one of the utility poles didn't look quite right!

 

Can you see why?

Here's another view: 

 

 

And one of the top of the pole that's even closer and cropped:

 

A Bobcat was perched at the very top of the utility pole!  When we first saw it, the light was dim and the cat had its eyes closed much of the time.

 

But as the sun rose above the hills, the Bobcat started to look around:

 

Over the years, I've heard several stories of Bobcats being observed at the tops of utility poles.  Whenever hearing about it, or seeing pictures of them in this position, I've often wondered what this behavior is about.

During one incident, the observer thought perhaps the Bobcat had been chased up the pole by a Mountain Lion.  Other possibilities — Are they just looking for a place to rest?  Using it as a lookout?  Did the Bobcat chase something up there?  What do you think?  Why do Bobcats climb to the tops of utility poles?

If you haven't done so already, check out those large paws and handsome spots!

We continued on our way to work, leaving while the Bobcat was still perched on the pole.  But throughout the day I kept wondering about it.  What was the Bobcat doing up there, and when (and how) did it climb down?

 

ADDENDUM (2 January 2014): As a follow-up to John's comment below, I can't help but post one more image.  Just before we were about to leave, a pair of ravens came by and one bird swooped in extremely close to the Bobcat (see below).  The cat didn't seem to react, and the raven just flew off and landed on a nearby pole.  I don't know if they interacted further after we left.  I didn't share this picture because it's blurry (I wasn't quite ready and it happened very quickly), but now I can't resist...and perhaps it's appropriate, especially as this unfolded within sight of the former schoolhouse where a scene from The Birds was filmed.