Snake eyes

  

Walking through the dunes today (29 April 2023), I was pleasantly surprised to come across this beautiful Western Yellow-bellied Racer (Coluber constrictor mormon).  It was curled up below a shrub and eventually turned and moved off in the other direction, but I managed a few photos for the record.  I don't see racers that often on Bodega Head, so it was a highlight on a cool day at the coast.  Here's a close-up showing the scales (and a reflection of me in its eye!).

 

 

I posted about racers way back in 2012, so if you'd like to read a little more about them (and see a photo of a juvenile), see "Color shift" on 15 October 2012.

 

Winter scenes

Winter scenes from the last few days in New England...

Salt marsh in Duxbury:

 

Snow Bunting habitat:

 

 

Frozen ripples in a stream:

 

 

 Icy sea dragon?  :)

 

Happy holidays, everyone!

Coastal scenes

A few more coastal scenes from our visit to Cape Cod and the South Shore of Massachusetts:

From Chatham:

 

 

From Provincetown (including wild cranberries):

 

 

From Humarock:

 

Dangerous droplets

 

Close-up of a Spatulate-leaved Sundew (Drosera intermedia).  Photographed in the dunes near Race Point in Provincetown, Massachusetts, on 2 October 2019.

A welcome sight

 

Rainbow over the Bodega Dunes, 2 February 2014

It finally rained.  Instruments measured about 1 inch in Bodega Bay today.  I woke up to the sound of raindrops on the roof.  And when the sun broke out from behind the clouds in the late afternoon, it seemed like a perfect setup for a rainbow.  Sure enough, there was an almost complete arch over the Bodega Dunes.  (The photo above is the more southerly end.)

It had been so long since I had heard the sound of a good solid rain, and since I had looked up at a clearing sky and thought a rainbow might be possible.  Both were so very welcome today.  We're all hoping for more rain soon!

Tale of a trailing tail trail

 

Another interesting track in the dunes.  Sadly, this one was harder to photograph, and I was working at the time, so I only took a few shots which didn't come out great.

I'm not sure whether there's enough here to identify the animal responsible for these tracks.  See what you think.  It looks like there's a tail trailing behind the animal, creating a gentle wave-like pattern through the middle of the track. 

 

And it appears that there are feet pushing off to either side of the tail drag.

 

 

Here's another view from a different angle.  Do you have a guess?

 

I'm wondering about lizard.  (Claudia, can you help?)  My first guess was Northern Alligator Lizard, because they're the most common lizard in the Bodega Dunes.  But I searched for pictures of alligator lizard tracks on the Internet and found a few images that don't look like this.  

Then I wondered about Western Fence Lizard, since they're uncommon to rare in the Bodega Dunes.  But I couldn't find good pictures of their tracks.  So for now I guess I'll wait to see if anyone has more experience with their track patterns and can confirm or deny that these are a possible match. 

For the record, since I haven't shown this species yet, here's the only Western Fence Lizard (Sceloporus occidentalis) that I've photographed on Bodega Head.  This picture is from 24 June 2006.

 

To truly appreciate the beauty of this lizard, I zoomed in on the scales (this also allows you to see a hint of the "blue belly"): 

 

Bounding

 

A nice set of tracks in the Bodega Dunes.  Each footprint was very small — I didn't measure at the time, but I'd estimate less than 1 cm long. 

Note that the prints occur in sets of four with gaps in between (follow them diagonally from the lower left corner to the upper right corner of the picture).  This pattern indicates that the animal was bounding across the sand, rather than walking.

Here's a closer view of two sets of tracks (below).  Although subtle, you should be able to see that in each set, two prints are slightly smaller than the other two.  Which ones are smaller — the two in front that are side-by-side, or the two in back that are one-in-front-of-the-other (a bit offset)?

 

It's the two in back that are one-in-front-of-the-other that are smaller — and these are the front feet.  When bounding, the animal planted its front feet first, and then placed its hind feet ahead of the front feet.

The individual toes are visible in the picture below (there should be five toes, but they don't always register in the sand).

 

You can probably tell that this is a small mammal.  I'm guessing it's either a mouse or a vole.  I haven't learned to tell their tracks apart yet, but based on the bounding behavior, I'm leaning towards mouse (Peromyscus sp.).  What do you think?

Lilliputian

Dune lichens photographed during a light rain on 8 November 2012:

 

 

 

P.S.  There are lots of books on lichens, but I've always enjoyed the title, Forests of Lilliput: The Realm of Mosses and Lichens (by John Bland).