A fan of phoronids

It's getting late, but here are a couple of quick photos of phoronids (Phoronopsis harmeri) from pools on the tidal flats in Bodega Harbor this week:

 

 

I've always been impressed by the elegant feeding tentacles (lophophores) of these fascinating animals.  For more information about phoronids, you can review the post called "Ebb and flow" on 26 July 2017.

P.S.  Hi, Amy!

Top dollar

Recently I experimented with taking extreme close-ups of a Pacific Sand Dollar (Dendraster excentricus).  The spines on the top (aboral) surface are club-shaped, which creates very interesting patterns:

 

 

Beautiful, aren't they?

P.S.  I've written about sand dollars on the NHBH a few times, but the first post called "Petals and grooves" is a good introduction if you'd like to learn more about these fascinating relatives of sea urchins.

 

Nearshore bloom

If you've been near the ocean recently, you might have noticed that the water looks very brown.  To document this algal bloom, I took a few photos tonight (28 August 2018):

 

 

 

I haven't heard which species of phytoplankton are dominating this event, but if I learn more details I'll add some information to this post.  

If you're interested in learning about algal blooms in general, this document "A Primer On California Marine Harmful Algal Blooms" from the Kudela Lab at UC Santa Cruz is a good place to start.

 

Up-and-coming star

 

A beautiful juvenile Bat Star (Patiria miniata) in the rocky intertidal zone on 12 August 2018.  It was only ~6 mm across!  We don't often see them quite this small.

Blending in with the crowd

I'd been hearing about a few Baird's Sandpiper (Calidris bairdii) observations recently, but I hadn't seen one myself yet this summer.  So I decided to try to find one in Bodega Harbor today (25 August 2018).

To make a long story short, after a couple of hours of searching, I finally found one!

My first view was on the tidal flats.  I had been scanning through thousands of Western Sandpipers (Calidris mauri) and Least Sandpipers (Calidris minutilla).  A few times I thought I heard a Baird's Sandpiper calling, but I couldn't find it.  Just when I was about to give up, I spotted it in the distance.

Below, you can see all three species of sandpipers:

 

The Baird's Sandpiper is on the left, a Western Sandpiper is on the right, and a Least Sandpiper is in the center foreground.

Here's another comparative view, with a Baird's Sandpiper and a Western Sandpiper:

 

This time the Baird's Sandpiper is on the right.  Note the much browner coloration overall, especially on the breast.  One of the most helpful characteristics to look for to separate Baird's Sandpipers from Western and Least sandpipers is the primary projection, i.e., how far the wing tips (the primaries) extend beyond the tail.  Although it can be subtle at first, Baird's Sandpipers have a noticeably longer primary projection, giving them a long, tapered appearance.

The birds flew off, but when I was walking back to the car, I found the Baird's Sandpiper again.  This time it was feeding along the wrack line:

 

This is a juvenile bird, so it's looking quite "sharp"— the feathers have nice neat edges, producing a scaly appearance on the back.

 

The Baird's Sandpiper was feeding very actively.  One time it caught (and ate) a large beach hopper (see below)!

 

P.S.  These smaller sandpipers can be hard to identify.  If you're interested in practicing, here are a few more photos and hints.  

First, a Western Sandpiper.  Note the (1) black legs; (2) relatively long, thick bill; and (3) overall gray appearance, with reddish highlights, especially on the scapulars (where the wing meets the back) and the mantle (back).  (There's quite a bit of variation in Western Sandpiper characteristics, but these are good ones to look for.) 

 

Second, a Least Sandpiper.  In contrast to the Western Sandpiper, note the (1) yellowish legs; (2) shorter, relatively narrow bill; and (3) overall brown appearance, especially on the neck/breast. 

 

Now here's a quiz (below) — which is the Western and which is the Least?

 

 

That's correct!  The Western Sandpiper is in the foreground and the Least Sandpiper is in the background. 

I can still remember the first time I was with a birding group that was identifying small sandpipers.  They all looked the same to me then, but after you look at enough of them, it gets easier to tell them apart.  If you focus on each bird and finding all of the important characteristics, with time and practice it will get easier to identify them. 

P.P.S.  For more photos of Baird's Sandpipers, you can review the post from 22 August 2016.

 

Preening

 

Red-necked Phalarope (Phalaropus lobatus) at the entrance to Doran Regional Park on 18 August 2018.

 

2001: A Natural History Odyssey

It's hard for me to believe, but this is post #2001 on the Natural History of Bodega Head!  

Some of you might remember that I created a few mosaics for post #1000, so here's another for post #2001.  This photo is made up of a combination of many of the photos used previously in the Natural History of Bodega Head posts:

 

You can click on the image above for a slightly larger version.  But since the individual images are small, it's fun to look at an even larger version of this mosaic and to scan around to remember different pictures from the past.  To do that, you can either view the 2001 mosaic on Flickr and use the magnifier to look around...or, the best option is to download a full-sized version of the 2001 mosaic from Flickr (click on the download arrow at the lower right corner and choose "Original" size) and then zoom in to look at the pictures up close.

The past 6.5 years with the Natural History of Bodega Head have been quite an odyssey!  I'm so thankful for all of your support during this journey.  Maintaining this blog is more meaningful because of all of you.  I hope that it has opened your eyes to both familiar and new plants and animals, and that it has offered a celebration of the place where we live.  

With gratitude,

Jackie