Successs

  

Leaving work tonight (17 September 2025), we noticed a Great Horned Owl (Bubo virginianus) perched on top of a telephone pole.  I turned around and pulled off the road nearby.

We watched for a few minutes and then the owl crouched and took off, gliding down towards the ground:

 

 

 

It landed among the grass, but at first I couldn't tell if it had caught anything:

 

 

  

But then the owl looked up and I could see something in its bill.  This happened quickly, and looking through the camera I couldn't tell what it was, but zooming in later, the prey was visible:

 

 

 

A garter snake!  

It didn't take long for the owl to swallow the snake.  

The next views showed off those large yellow eyes:

 

 

 

 

 

And then the owl flew up to a nearby cypress tree.  The light was just right for a great view of its talons:

 

 

An unexpected encounter!  You never know what you'll see on the way home from work.

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. 

Orange moustache

 

 

Well, I've been having a lot of computer issues lately, so I'll admit that I'm not too keen on spending time on a computer at night.  I apologize for the infrequent posts this month!  But here is a nice nudibranch photo that Eric took on 23 June 2023.  

This is Phidiana hiltoni at Pinnacle Gulch.  We're still tracking where and when this more southern species shows up in Sonoma County, so if you happen to see any, let us know! 

(Refer to the post "A new home for Hilton's" back in 2015.)

Trio

  

A quick shot, but it's always useful when you can compare several species in one photo.

From left to right: Greater Yellowlegs (Tringa melanoleuca), Killdeer (Charadrius vociferus), Long-billed Dowitcher (Limnodromus scolopaceus).

Photographed in Bodega Bay on 13 May 2023.

Dusky purple

 

 

Close-up of a Band-tailed Pigeon (Patagioenas fasciata) in Bodega Bay on 22 April 2023.  Note the pale purple coloration overall, and the white crescent and iridescent feathers on the back of the neck.  Band-tailed Pigeons occur along the Pacific Coast from southeast Alaska to Baja California (and farther south).

 

P.S.  Many thanks to Peter for letting me know that these pigeons have been visiting his yard!

Golden-fronted and golden-bellied

 

 

I encountered a small flock of Bushtits (Psaltriparus minimus) in a willow thicket in the late afternoon today (20 February 2023).  They were so covered in pollen that at first glance I thought they might be warblers!

 

Here's another individual:

 

 

 

 

And the Bushtits weren't the only ones — here's a Chestnut-backed Chickadee (Poecile rufescens) dusted with so much pollen that its belly is golden:

 

 

 

Birdie or...

...an eagle...or both?

 

 

Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) in Bodega Bay on 16 February 2023.

P.S.  Okay, so I was playing off golf terms with the title and intro to this post, and I don't play golf myself, so I thought I'd double-check the definitions of a birdie vs. an eagle, and I was surprised to learn that there are two other golf scores with bird names!  Sounds like they're quite rare, so if you ever score an albatross or a condor, you'll be in the history books!  https://www.pga.com/story/odds-of-a-hole-in-one-albatross-condor-and-golfs-unlikely-shots

Front and back

  

Two Bald Eagles perched in a cypress tree near the Bodega Bay post office today (29 November 2022).

The eagle on the left was often looking out at the harbor, and in this position its white head feathers were splayed out in the back:

 

 

October sun

  

Air temperatures reached ~65°F (~18°C) in Bodega Bay this afternoon (17 October 2022).  With just a short time outside, I noticed six species of butterflies, including this beautiful Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta).

Other species included Monarch (Danaus plexippus), Acmon Blue (Plebejus acmon), Cabbage White (Pieris rapae), Orange Sulphur (Colias eurytheme), and an unidentified lady (Vanessa sp.).

Looks like it's going to be even warmer during the next couple of days, so it won't be surprising to see more insect activity.

A flash of gold

  

 Golden-crowned Kinglet (Regulus satrapa) in Bodega Bay in 18 January 2021

P.S.  There's a little more information about Golden-crowned Kinglets in an older post called "Grooves on the soles of her shoes" on 27 January 2013.

New Moon stroll

  

An Ensatina (Ensatina eschscholtzii) out for a New Moon stroll on 15 November 2020, just before the rain started.

Overlooking the harbor

Driving to work this morning, Kitty and I felt lucky to see this beautiful Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) flying over Bodega Harbor and landing in a cypress tree just off Highway 1.  

 

It seemed like an appropriate photo to share tonight on the eve of the election.  Remember to use your voice to vote on Tuesday!

Descending

 

Pygmy Nuthatch (Sitta pygmaea), Bodega Bay, 17 January 2020.  I wasn't sure what this bird was up to at first.  It flew down to a shrub very close to the ground, and then I realized it was descending from branch-to-branch towards  a small patch of open water, perhaps for a drink?

In the bay

These are somewhat distant shots, but I haven't shown photos of these species before.  Both were taken in Bodega Bay (in the water off Pinnacle Gulch) on 7 October 2018. [You can click on the images for slightly larger versions.]

 

Marbled Murrelet (Brachyramphus marmoratus)

 

Clark's Grebe (Aechmophorus clarkii) 

 

On the way to the post office

Some of you might remember last fall's posts about White-tailed Kites (Elanus leucurus) roosting in our neighborhood (see "Under and over the moon").  I haven't seen them yet this year, but I'm still hopeful they'll return.  

In the meantime, I've noticed a kite perching on a wire near Smith Brothers Road in Bodega Bay.  (Have you seen it, too?)  On the way to the post office today, I paused to take a picture:

 

Quite a beauty!

Crab trap surprise!

What fun to open my e-mail, to see a request for help with identifying a local animal, and then to see this photo:

 

This animal came up in Doug Wilgis's crab trap!  He was in Bodega Bay, off the Estero de San Antonio, on November 12th.  The trap had been set at about 25 fathoms (150 feet).  This curious animal was about 4 inches (10 cm) long.  Do you recognize it?

I've mentioned this type of animal on the blog before (a couple of years ago), but I haven't shown this stage — because I've never seen it!

This is the solitary stage of a salp (or pelagic tunicate) called Thetys vagina.  Note the two fascinating amber-colored projections — they're on the back end.  And I'm sure you can also see the banding in the mid-section.  These are muscle bands that the salp uses for swimming and pumping water for filter-feeding.

A salp spends its entire life in the open ocean.  Its life cycle includes two stages — a solitary stage and an aggregate stage.  [For comparison, on 30 July 2012, I showed a picture of a Thetys from the aggregate stage.]

The solitary stage shown in Doug's picture is asexual and produces chains of aggregates (shown in my July 2012 picture, and see below).  The aggregate stage is sexual and produces the solitary stage.

In late October, I found some small aggregate stage Thetys washed up on the beach, which made me wonder if there were some actively reproducing solitary stage individuals around.  Doug's observation confirms that there are!

Here are the small aggregate stage individuals that I encountered in October (see below).  They don't look like much after being washed up on the sand, but I thought it would be useful to document these smaller individuals.

You can see that the first is ~8 cm (3 inches) long, and the second is only ~4 cm (1.5 inches) long.

 

I'm very thankful to Doug for sharing his picture.  Not many people get to see these offshore animals, so it's fun to pass along this story to you!

Dreaming of green

 

I don't know about you, but I'm ready to see the landscape turn green.  I'm hoping for some much-needed rain.  I rummaged through some older pictures and this was one of the first "green landscapes" that I found.  I haven't shown this view before, so it seemed like a fun choice.  I'm guessing many of you will recognize this scenic vista.  (And if you don't, it's a nice one to be introduced to!)

This picture was taken from Tomales Point on the northern end of the Point Reyes peninsula.  The view is looking north across Bodega Bay towards Bodega Head and Doran Beach.  That's Bird Rock off to the left (or west) of the Point.

The image above was taken in December 2007.  Seven years later, I'm hoping that December 2014 will be as green or greener!

 

Mystery on the Rock

 

Bodega Rock, off the southern end of Bodega Head, on 20 June 2013.  On the far horizon, from left to right, are the sand dunes of Dillon Beach, the entrance to Tomales Bay, and the high bluffs of Tomales Point.

A little bit closer:

 

And even closer, so you can now see the nesting colony of Brandt's Cormorants on the upper right (west) side of the island:

 

I'll zoom in even a bit more for a view of the cormorants sitting on their mounded nests.  And also because there's a mystery object that I've been wondering about (see arrow in next image).  

 

There's a relatively obvious human-made object on the island — it's gray, somewhat rectangular, appears to made of concrete or something similar, and as you can see above, it's about as tall as a cormorant.  It seems like this is as good a place as any to ask if anyone knows the story behind this object.  Do you know what it used to be?  Who installed it and when?  Feel free to write in if you know anything about it, or can suggest any leads for me to follow. 

P.S.  And yes, those are California Sea Lions (brown) and Harbor Seals (gray) lounging on the rocks near the water line.

P.P.S.  Happy Solstice!