Chilly

  

This one's for Mazie — snow to the east looking towards Mount Saint Helena this morning.  Photographed from Stony Point Road on 19 February 2026.  [You can click on the image for a larger version.]

The shortest day

  

  Happy Solstice!  

(Snowman from last weekend in Massachusetts.) 

More on the way?

  

Not much time for photos today, but here's a quick shot of Mount Saint Helena taken from Cotati in the early evening.  Still a little snow at ~4300 feet.  Sounds like there might be more snow up there this weekend!

Snow Day

This morning (24 February 2023) we decided to take a look at Sonoma Mountain from a distance...if there was snow up there, then we'd drive up for a brief visit with the snow before work. 

Snow is rare in western Sonoma County, so this morning was pretty exciting.  I think you'll be able to tell from my voice!  

Here's a quick video showing the snowy scene.  Sonoma Mountain is ~2400 feet high, and we were a bit below the peak, so probably at ~2000 feet.

Enjoy!

[P.S.  The sounds starts about 20 seconds in.  Also, if you can't see the video player in an e-mail message, click on the title of the post to see the video on the NHBH web page.]

Winter white

  

When we first moved here ~19 years ago, there was a brief but beautiful snowfall.  At the time we didn't know the area very well yet, but we drove around and ended up on Joy Road where there was snow on the redwoods.  I've always wanted to see it again, so this morning I drove Joy Road on my way to work.  There wasn't a lot of snow, but there was a little here and there.  (I'm not totally sure whether it was snow or graupel, but the visual effect was similar.)  Will there be more tomorrow?

A little further down the road, I noticed a Western Trillium (Trillium ovatum) in flower.  A different kind of white!

 

 

Snownoma

This morning I was driving from Sebastopol to Cotati when something off to the east caught my eye.  Was that snow on Sonoma Mountain?  After doing some chores, I decided to go take a look.

 

Sure enough, there appeared to be remnant patches of snow at higher elevations.  (Not having been there when it fell, I don't know if this could have been accumulated hail.)  The patches were still substantial, so I could gather enough to make small snowballs!  By the way, Sonoma Mountain reaches an elevation of ~2400 feet (~730 meters).  It was ~10 degrees colder up there; my car thermometer read ~43°F (~6°C).

It was a beautiful day to be on Sonoma Mountain.  Scanning to the north, there were quite a few snow-covered peaks.  Below are two examples:

 

I have to admit that I spend so little time in the inland portions of Sonoma County that I'm not totally sure about identifying all of the peaks.  Perhaps some of you can help?

My best guess for the above is Cobb Mountain.  Cobb Mountain is at the Sonoma County/Lake County boundary.  At 4483 feet (1366 meters), Cobb Mountain-Southwest Peak is the highest point in Sonoma County.  Here's a closer view (with two ravens flying by in the distance):

 

I learned something fun about Cobb Mountain today.  Both sides eventually drain to the Pacific Ocean, but they do it in very different ways.  The western slopes feed into the Russian River (via Big Sulphur Creek), while the eastern slopes feed into the Sacramento River (via Putah Creek) and then to San Francisco Bay.

Now here's a different peak:

 

My guess for this one is Mount Saint Helena.  It reaches an elevation of ~4342 feet (~1323 meters). 

While snow-watching this afternoon, I caught a glimpse of what appeared to be a Golden Eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) in the distance:

 

Let me know if you can confirm or correct the identifications of these snowy peaks!

 

Magical

 

 

 

So happy to see some snowflakes today.  Photos taken in Walpole, Massachusetts, on 24 December 2018.

Happy Holidays, everyone!

 

East of the Sierras

I'm at a meeting near Mammoth Lakes, CA, for a couple of days.  Here are a few pictures from the drive yesterday (taken from Route 89 and Route 395):

 

I stopped briefly to stretch at ~8,000 ft. along Route 89.  When I stepped out of the car, I heard Townsend's Solitaire's (Myadestes townsendi) singing!  (See one perched above.)  The next bird I heard was a Clark's Nutcracker (Nucifraga columbiana), and then a Mountain Chickadee (Poecile gambeli).  A nice trio!

 

Cloud shadows

 

 

This damselfly flew in and landed in the parking lot at a rest stop in Antelope Valley (Mono County).  It's either a Great Spreadwing (Archilestes grandis) or a California Spreadwing (Archilestes californicus).  It flew off, and I couldn't find it again, so I'll need to check in with some experts to see if they can identify it from this photo.

 

 Mountain snow 

 

Mono Lake

Triggered by rain (or snow!)

 

I'm at a meeting in southern California this week, near Idyllwild which is close to 6,000 feet elevation.  It rained for most of the day and then started snowing around 5 p.m.  The photo above and the one below were taken looking up into the night sky.

 

Earlier in the day, when it started to rain, one of my colleagues found a very interesting beetle and kindly shared it with the rest of the group (Thanks, Paul!).  Upon seeing it, other people mentioned they had just encountered similar-looking beetles flying by.

These beetles are commonly known as "rain beetles" because they emerge with the first fall rain or snow.  They're in the genus Pleocoma.

They look a lot like June Beetles, but note the enlarged and spiny or rake-like front legs; the forked "horn" on the front of the head; the long and dense hairs on the underside; and how the antennal clubs are divided into distinct segments.  All of these features are visible in the next two pictures.  (And keep in mind that it's not June!)

 

 

These beetles have a fascinating life history.  The larvae live below ground for a long time — up to 13 years!  They emerge as adults for a brief time only when the conditions are right (the adults don't feed).  The males fly around searching for females, but the females are flightless and are waiting for the males in burrows (hence the broad antennae of the males for detecting the scent of a female and the mole-like front legs for digging).

There's a lot more about these beetles that kept me saying, "Wow!"  You can read more about them here.