Ocean art

  

 Early morning sand patterns in the swash zone, 6 May 2026

  

Drop after drop

  

We went for a short walk in Petaluma this morning (22 December 2025).  One of the plants there had water droplets at the tip of every branch — a field of droplets as far as you could see! 

Ripples of light

  

While walking at Point Reyes yesterday, Eric and I came across a wonderful setting for photographing patterns of water and light over sand.   

It was hard to choose which images to share, but here are several of our favorites.  Which one do you like?  [You can click on the images for larger versions.]

 

 

Ever since I can remember, I've been drawn to these elemental scenes.  Perhaps the photos provide a sense of what it was like to be there?

Eric captured these images with the camera just above the surface of very shallow water. The water was exceptionally clear, and the sand ripples below were well developed.

 

 

The water was receding with the tide, so after a brief time the conditions changed and the sand was no longer covered by water.  I felt grateful for a little serendipity!

Ripples in blue

 

 

Ripples in blue, 12 August 2022

[You can click on the image for a larger version.]

Flow

 

Flow patterns in the sand, 20 March 2020

Dalí droplets

While walking through the woods this afternoon, this series of droplets caught me eye.  From a distance, I couldn't quite tell what was going on.  It looked a bit surreal — How could the droplets at the lower edge be rising up?

 

Then I realized that the entire lower portion of the scene was a reflection of a narrow icy ledge that was now elevated above the surface of the stream.  So the lower droplets are reflections of the upper droplets.  If you're interested, here's a broader view (below).  The surface of the stream was quiet enough that the reflection was just about perfect!

 

 

In the sun and the shade

So many interesting pictures from The Cedars, it's been hard to choose which to show!  Here's another view of a creek surrounded by the dry, rocky landscape:

 

And Sagebrush Lizards (Sceloporus graciosus) in the sun (Check out those toes!):

 

 

And back to the water, with some columbine, too:

 

More to come! 

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!

Zephyr

 

A light west wind this afternoon created interesting patterns on the water.  (Click on the image for a larger version.)

P.S.  Did you know?  The word zephyr — a gentle breeze, especially from the west — refers to Zephuros, the god of the west wind.

Summer foam

 

Summer foam off Bodega Head on 12 July 2017

 

Break from the past

 

I've been trying to catch up with some photo organization, so here's a wave from the archives (November 2014).

Pinks and purples in the low zone

 

Not sure exactly why, but I couldn't resist this view — moving water and reflected light with the pinks of the hydrocoral and the purples of the urchins.

Photographed in the low intertidal zone in northern Sonoma County on 24 February 2017.

Reflections for the New Year

 

The Pacific Ocean on a calmer day in October 2012.  Click on the image for a larger version.  (I spent some time organizing photos today, so this one is from the archives.)

Light and water

 

I've always loved the interplay of light and water.  

Ripples along shore at Dillon Beach, 2 October 2016.

Winter waterbirds

Thanks to Audubon Canyon Ranch, I spent some time helping with a winter waterbird survey in Tomales Bay this morning.  Although we were very busy counting for most of the trip, I snapped a few photos to document the day.  

Green water along the shoreline of Point Reyes:

 

Low clouds among the trees:

 

A Red-necked Grebe (Podiceps grisegena) — just one of many:

 

It was fun to see a nice variety and good numbers of waterbirds out there.  If you'd like to learn more about these long-term waterbird surveys (conducted since 1989!), check out ACR's web page here. 

You know the Pacific Ocean is calm when...

 

...you see a Belted Kingfisher (Megaceryle alcyon) fishing in the surf zone! 

Here's a slightly closer view of the hovering kingfisher (below).  Can you tell if this is a male or female?  (Click on the photo for a larger version.)

 

Females and males can be told apart by their pectoral bands.  Males have one slate blue band across their chest, while females have two: one slate blue band and one rufous band (as well as rufous sides).  

She picked a nice day to explore the outer coast! 

 

Two different views of the unusually calm ocean on 12 August 2015:

 

 

Flow

It was fairly hot this afternoon, so I was looking for some place cool at the end of the day.  I spent a few minutes rock-hopping along Copeland Creek.  It was shady and breezy, with nice views and sounds of running water, and a few damselflies that were rock-hopping, too.

  

Female Vivid Dancer (Argia vivida)

 

Flow around rocks and leaves

Here are two short audio clips so you can enjoy the sound of flowing water.  You might need to turn up the volume of your speakers.  [If you can't see the audio files in the e-mail, click on the title of the post above to go directly to the web page.]

 


 

Songs of The Cedars

We'll wrap up The Cedars Series with a few miscellaneous shots:

 

An ultrabasic spring (pH > 11) where calcium carbonate is a byproduct of serpentinization.  [Serpentinization as defined by Roger Raiche = "a process where igneous ultramafic mantle rock (peridotite) is metamorphosed into secondary serpentine minerals.]

A water strider (and its more obvious shadow) on the surface of the pool downstream from the spring:

 

Mineral Falls (~20-feet high):

 

At the top of the falls, I couldn't help exclaiming, "What sedge is that?" upon encountering this showy inflorescence:

 

When David answered that it was Cotton Grass, I smiled, and thought to myself, "Of course."  I recognized the genus from seeing it in New England and Canadian bogs, but hadn't seen it yet in California.  Be forewarned: the first half of the common name is accurate (it does look like cotton), but the second half is misleading, i.e., it's not a grass.  Perhaps it should be called Cotton Sedge?  [This is Calliscirpus criniger, formerly Eriophorum criniger.]

And one more image from The Cedars, although I wish I had an audio recording to share.  Some of you know how much I appreciate listening to the sounds of landscapes.  While listening to The Cedars, the sounds I will remember most will include the piercing scream of a Peregrine Falcon, the distant call of a raven...and the most common sounds — running water, sometimes close, sometimes far, running over rocks...and singing Black-throated Gray Warblers (Setophaga nigrescens).  I like thinking about their songs carrying across that open landscape, connecting the stands of cypress trees on the slopes and in the ravines.

 

Bands of blue

 

After a day (or more) of strong northwest winds, we often see a distinct band of lighter-colored water near shore.  Here's a picture of that phenomenon taken from Bodega Head on 4 April 2015.

Patterns

 

Neat patterns on the water today.  The ocean was very calm, with southwest winds at ~5 mph.

When I went to look at the ocean, I noticed a pair of ravens on the bluff, one of which was gathering nesting material.  I love the patterns made by their feathers: