Orange mystery fish

  

A couple of days ago I noticed a large group of cormorants, gulls, and pelicans just offshore from Salmon Creek Beach.  It appeared to be a feeding flock (lots of diving and splashing), but I couldn't tell what they were catching at first.  Then I started noticing some birds with fairly good-sized orange-colored fish.  

I've been having some trouble with my camera lens not focusing properly, and this flock was distant, but I'm hoping the photos might still be good enough to identify the fish they were eating.

Other times when I've seen flocks like this, they've been eating smaller silvery bait fish, so I'm not used to seeing them catch a larger orange fish.  Although they caught a lot of these fish, they seemed to have trouble swallowing them.

I'm not sure about the identification of this fish, but my first guess is Striped Surfperch (Embiotoca lateralis).  If you can help with the i.d., I'd appreciate it!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Learning to fly

  

Young Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus), 11 September 2021

Cloud progression

  

Interesting clouds in the afternoon today (9 September 2021)...looking a bit like mountains!

And nice colors in the sunset over Bodega Harbor in the early evening:

 

 

 

Reaching for the...

...flies!

 

 

 

Near the Bodega Bay Post Office this afternoon (7 September 2021), I noticed several Red-necked Phalaropes (Phalaropus lobatus) feeding near the shoreline in Bodega Harbor.  It must be a good spot for catching flies.  I'm guessing this site is in a bit of a lee and that the flies are concentrated here and perhaps easier to catch.  [Dragonflies do this, too — feed on flying insects in the lee of trees and shrubs.]

I have some more questions and perhaps some video of this fly-catching behavior, but I'm running out of time tonight, so here are a couple of photos for now.  

 

Above, I'm guessing you'll be able to spot the fly just ahead of the phalarope's bill.  And below, note the fly that's just been caught and is visible at the tip of the phalarope's bill.  [You can click on the images for larger versions.]

 

Wide-eyed

  

Pacific-slope Flycatcher (Empidonax difficilis), 4 September 2021

Feathers like fog

  

Wandering Tattler (Tringa incana), 4 September 2021

 

 

Coming in to roost

  

I went out to check on the grill tonight and looked up to see some White-tailed Kites (Elanus leucurus) flying overhead.  If you've been following this blog for a while, you might recall that in some years we've seen kites roosting in our neighborhood.  We haven't seen this roosting activity in a while, but maybe this will be one of those years?

Around 7 p.m., there were several young kites flying east to west.  Here's a close-up showing the rust-colored feathers across the breast:

 

 

I was also somewhat surprised to see a darker looking raptor around the same time.  When I saw it out of the corner of my eye, I could tell it wasn't a kite, but I wasn't sure about the i.d.  I only had my camera (no binoculars), so I took a couple of quick shots.

I think this is the first time I've photographed a Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus) flying over our house in Cotati (see below).

 

A fun few minutes in the backyard — and I'm lucky I didn't burn the fish!

 

 

P.S.  To see more photos of kites coming to roost in our neighborhood in previous years, you can search for "kite" or "kite roost" in the search box at the very bottom of the NHBH website.