Revisiting The Birds?

  

Do you remember the scenes from Alfred Hitchcock's movie The Birds when the gulls are attacking?  Well, nearly 60 years later, they're still at it!  This morning (10 March 2022) they were mobbing a Bald Eagle on the tidal flats in Bodega Harbor.  The eagle wasn't that happy about it:

 

 

 

 

 

Ethereal

 

 

It's a good time of year for jellyfish polyps in Bodega Harbor.  Eric captured these ethereal images on 6 March 2022.  

To learn more about these polyps and how they fit within the jellyfish life cycle, check out the post called "The polyp that packs a wallop" on 25 February 2020.

 

 

 Many thanks to Eric for sharing these beautiful images!

On their way

  

This is an older photo from the Bodega Dunes, taken in May 2017, but I was in the dunes for a short time today (8 March 2022) and could see some of the wildflowers starting to appear.  I'll be hoping for more rain and watching their progress.

All dressed up...

 

 

A quick shot of a Bufflehead (Bucephala albeola) in Bodega Harbor on 6 March 2022.  I thought this Bufflehead was looking pretty sharp in his black-and-white "duxedo."  (A "duxedo," you ask?  You know, a duck tuxedo!)

Partially pigmented

  

This afternoon I was helping Eric look for a few invertebrates in Bodega Harbor for his class when he called me over to look at a small fish.  It was only ~3 cm (a little over one inch) long.

The fins were only partially pigmented, which made the fish look "rough around the edges" and very much like a little piece of kelp:

 

 

 

Here's a closer view of the fins:

 

 

 

 

And one of the tail:

 

 

 

We're wondering if this could be a juvenile kelpfish, possibly a Crevice Kelpfish (Gibbonsia montereyensis)?  If you have any thoughts about the identification of this fish, we'd be interested!

 

Above the western horizon

  

Crescent moon from Cotati, 4 March 2022

In the strawberries

  

I was checking on some wild strawberry flowers in the dunes recently (28 February 2022) and noticed this little bee (Sphecodes sp.?) emerging from one of them.

From this view you can see the red-colored abdomen:

 

 

Spending the afternoon in strawberry flowers...not such a bad idea!