Looking out

  

 The eye of an abalone (the dark spot at the base of the tentacle).  

What do they see? 

ADDENDUM (9 July 2024): P.S.  I've received some questions about where the eye is exactly, so here's the same photo with the eye circled:

Kermit?

  

An up-close and personal view of a sculpin in the intertidal zone, thanks to Eric. 

Here's a broader view:

 

 

Perhaps it's the greenish tint and the large eyes, but I was vaguely reminded of Kermit the Frog, so I present to you, Kermit the Sculpin!

Seeing eye to eye?

  

This wonderful sculpin was peeking out from behind a large sea anemone.  At first I wasn't sure about taking a photo because I couldn't see the entire fish.  But then I crouched down and looked more closely at its eye and the markings on its face, and I gave it a try.  I'm glad I did!  Check out this close-up:

 

 

P.S.  I'm going to be giving an online presentation for the Sonoma Land Trust this Thursday night (June 17).  The talk will be about developing a sense of place, using my experiences on Bodega Head as an example.  If you're interested in joining in, a registration link is available here: https://sonomalandtrust.org/outings/

 

Rainbow eyes

  

When I first saw this fish's eye, all I could say was, "Who has eyes like that?"  So beautiful!  A rainbow of colors in the eyes of a sculpin.  Photographed on 16 November 2020.

 

Gr-eight-ful

After some field work this morning, Eric joined me at a different site, and no joke, within a minute he said, "Octopus!"  We hadn't seen an octopus since 2018, so we were excited to see one.  Below are several of my favorite shots from today (25 June 2020).  [You can click on the pictures for larger versions.]

Stretching out:

 

"Eye" see you (check out the beautiful chromatophores!):

 

Blending in (with coralline algae):

 

Tentacle spiral:

 

Suckers up-close (and once again, check out the amazing chromatophores just below the pink suckers — they look like freckles in this photo): 

 

We are feeling very grateful for a few moments with a Red Octopus (Octopus rubescens) this morning.

Keeping an eye out

I've been sitting outside tonight and just listening, so I haven't had much time to think about a post.  But here's a recent Black Oystercatcher photo.  I liked the morning light on the high intertidal seaweeds.  [You can click on the image for a larger version.]

 

Please keep an eye out for each other.

The eyes have it

Well, Eric had fun pulling out last night's fish photo, so he gathered a few more for your viewing enjoyment.  A selection of some of our local sculpins:

 

 

 

P.S.  Thanks again, Eric!

 

Rainbow-eyed

There are some nights when it's hard to decide what to post on this blog.  [But most of the time it's not, because something turns up during the day that really stands out. Honestly, I'm still somewhat surprised how often this is true.  When I first started the blog, I wondered if I would have enough material, but I quickly learned that there are more fascinating natural history observations in the world than I could ever post.]

While we discussed possible photos that we could share tonight, Eric thought you might enjoy this beautiful sculpin eye.  This fish was photographed hiding among some red algae in a tidepool.  A rainbow-eyed sculpin!  (That's our name for it, not an official name.) 

Personally, I'm drawn to the purple crescent at the lower edge of the fish's eye, but the entire combination is stunning, isn't it?  (And that's not a bad pair of lips, either.)  A marine rainbow just for you!

 

P.S.  Many thanks to Eric for sharing this photo! 

 

Amber eyes

 

The amber eyes of a sculpin, photographed in a tidepool on 6 February 2020.

 

Summertime rays

 

A beautiful sculpin in a shallow pool near Pinnacle Gulch, Bodega Bay, 22 June 2019.  [You can click on the image for a larger version.]

Oregon eye

Well, I'm still having some computer issues (and some catching-up issues), but here's a nice fish from our Oregon trip.  About a week ago, I posted a sculpin that looks quite similar to this individual, but that was from a local site.  This one (below) is from Cape Arago, and it's a much better view of the beautiful eye coloration:

1000!

This is my 1000th post!  It's a little hard to believe.  

I knew this day was on the horizon, and I had been contemplating what type of photo might be appropriate for the occasion.  To be honest, I wasn't coming up with any ideas that I was happy with.  

And then Eric thought of a photo mosaic.  I could create a picture made up of 1000 images from previous blog posts.  That sounded like a great way to celebrate, and luckily there's software available to help.

I think you'll be able to tell that the first mosaic is an aerial view of Bodega Head.  You can click on the image for a slightly larger version.  But because it's so much fun to scroll around and reminisce about all of the individual photos, I've uploaded a full-size version of this mosaic to Flickr.  Click here to download a full-size version of the Bodega Head mosaic.  When you're on the Flickr page, use the download button in the lower right corner and choose "Original Size."

 

The Bodega Head mosaic came out well, and included some nice photos, but the original image lacked certain colors, which meant some blog photos were left out.  So I chose another image that included warmer tones (oranges and pinks).

The next mosaic is a sunset from Bodega Head.  It's a little abstract, but very pretty, don't you think?

And once again, if you want to have fun checking out close-ups of the individual pictures making up the mosaic, you can access the full-size version on Flickr.  Click here to download a full-size version of the sunset mosaic.

 

And I couldn't resist including one more mosaic.  Eric suggested a good title for this one — "eyeNaturalist."

 

When the final rendering was revealed, I wasn't sure what to think at first, with my eye surrounded by lots of figures and text, along with all of the plants and animals and landscapes and seascapes.  Then I thought that it was quite appropriate.  I'm always looking for interesting things, trying to learn more about them, and thinking about the best ways to share information.  This isn't a bad visual representation of that process!

Click here to download a full-size version of the eye mosaic.

And remember, all of the images in these mosaics are from previous blog posts.  It turns out that I've used a little over 4,000 images on the blog so far, so there were plenty to choose from!

It took me longer than expected to make these mosaics, so it's pretty late (at least for me).  However, at this significant milestone, I wanted to express my thanks to all of you who read this blog and discuss natural history with me.  It's all more meaningful than I can say.

I listened to an interview with Mary Oliver today.  In it, she said, "Attention is the beginning of devotion."  I've been trying to pay attention to the natural history of Bodega Head for a little over a decade now.  I know learning about it is endless, but after 1000 posts, I think I can say I am devoted to it.   ;)  So on to 1001!

The Eyes of March -- Answers revealed!

Okay, here we go!  The answers you've all been waiting for.  To review, below is the collage from the "Eyes of March."  The game was to try to identify as many of the 12 animals as possible.

 

Most of these animals have been featured in previous blog posts.  So I'm going to include an active link to those posts with their names.  Click on the name to see the full picture of the animal.

From top to bottom and left to right:

Row 1: Red-legged Frog, Short-eared Owl, Red Octopus

Row 2: Harbor Seal, Ochre Sea Star, Acmon Blue Butterfly

Row 3: Crab Megalopa, Sculpin, Ensatina (Salamander)

Row 4: Racer (Snake), Red-backed Jumping Spider, Common Loon

The two pictures that haven't been featured on the blog before were the Harbor Seal and the Ochre Sea Star, so I'll show those below.  If you didn't know it before, I think you'll remember it now — sea stars have tiny red eyespots at the tips of their arms!

 

 

It was so much fun to put this game together...and even more fun to hear from everyone who played!  I was so impressed with all of the entries.  I didn't want to make this too easy, but it was harder than I thought, so I'm thankful for everyone who rose to the challenge.  This game tested a very broad natural history background, and I can tell and am very proud to say that there are many excellent naturalists among us!

For those of you who are wondering about the winner.  There were many entries that came extremely close to the highest total.  It's hard for me not to list everyone as a winner!  But in the end there were only two that correctly identified all 12 animals — Kristin A. and Kitty B.  Because of the "tie," I drew randomly from a hat.  Congratulations, Kitty!  (And Kristin, I'm sure you'll win another one in the future!)

Thanks again to everyone for playing!  I hope it was fun for you, too.  And that you simply enjoyed the beauty of the animal eyes around us.

Beware the Eyes of March

Ready for something a little different?  Here's an image to celebrate March 15th and the "Eyes of March."  ;)

It's a collection of animal eyes that I put together from the last few years.

I won't reveal their identities tonight...especially for any of you who like to play games.  This is the first Natural History of Bodega Head write-in game, with a prize offering (I'm serious!).  

If you want to play, write to me with the identities of the 12 animals in the collage below.  The person who identifies the most animals correctly will win the prize.  Or, if there is more than one person with this total, I'll enter the names in a random drawing for the prize (yup, you read that right again, a prize!).

There are four rows, so let's say from top to bottom it's rows 1-4.  And then there are 3 animals per row, so list them from left to right.  You should end up with something like this: 

Row 1 (Top Row): Left Animal, Middle Animal, Right Animal 
Row 2: Left Animal, Middle Animal, Right Animal
Row 3: Left Animal, Middle Animal, Right Animal
Row 4 (Bottom Row): Left Animal, Middle Animal, Right Animal

If you know the species, that of course makes you a star.  But I'm guessing that will be very challenging.  So you can list the type of animal, but you should do better than vertebrate or invertebrate!

Send your answer to me before 5 p.m. Pacific Time on Monday, March 17th.  Use this address: naturalhistoryphotos(at)gmail.com.  And don't worry — I'll tell everyone the answers no matter what (on Monday night).

Good luck!