Resting spot?

  

Recent badger digging, with an interesting area in the lower right corner.  In that oval patch you can see the soil is very smooth, with a couple of footprints.  Perhaps the badger lay down to rest there?

Glowing in the east

 

 

Sunrise from Cotati on 8 January 2024

 

Indicator?

  

I took these photos about a week ago, but wanted to share them since this is a species often associated with warmer water conditions.  

This is the nectophore (swimming bell) of Diphyes dispar, a siphonophore.  We recorded >50 individuals on Salmon Creek Beach on 1 January 2024.

The last time we observed this species was during the 2014-2016 marine heatwaves.  Recent water temperatures have been warmer than average for this time of year, hovering ~13-14°C (56-57°F), perhaps connected to this winter's El Niño.

Here's another photo with a ruler for scale:

 

 

I introduced Diphyes back in 2014, so for information about them, check out the post called "From the south" on 26 October 2014. 

A close eye

  

Marsh Wren (Cistothorus palustris), 31 December 2023

Beach tones

  

Eric gathered these little beach stones from the outer beach at Point Reyes so we could document the range of colors.  Each stone is quite small — only 2-3 mm in length, so right on the edge between sand and gravel.

Can you tell that they're resting in a crease in my jeans?  I couldn't decide which view was most interesting, so here are a couple more images, going back in time when we first started the mini-collection:

 

 

 

 

 

 

And here's one more, with a small sand dollar and the surrounding gravel.  The large grain sizes indicate a very high wave energy beach!

 

 

Four tri's!

  

Lottia triangularis

 

 

 

Rissa tridactyla

 

 

Tritonia festiva

 

 

Trifolium macraei

 

Well, I realize it might be hard to see the connection among all of these photos, but I needed something to celebrate NHBH blog post #3,333!  In previous years I noted when I crossed the 1,000 and 2,000 marks, so here's a post to observe crossing 3,000 with four tri's!  Whew!  Thanks for staying with me!

Opportunity

  

A beautiful male Northern Harrier (Circus hudsonius) turning to search for possible prey below.  Photographed on Bodega Head on 31 December 2023.  [You can click on the image for a larger and sharper version.]