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 Coast Garter Snake (Thamnophis elegans terrestris), 30 June 2019

Morning silk

I wandered into the backyard again this morning to look for spider web strands.  Below are a few close-ups from 29 June 2019.

Strand with satellite:

 

A colorful intersection:

 

Most of the time when I photograph spider web silk, the color order seems random.  However, this morning I captured one strand with colors that were very close to being in "rainbow order" — that is, the colors were almost displayed in the same order you'd expect in a rainbow (starting from the right and running to the left) = red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet: 

 

Into the sunset

 

Sunset from Cotati, 27 June 2019

 

Too hot -- Part 3

 

Remember the mussel mortality event that I mentioned last week?  (See posts called "Too hot" and "Too hot -- Part 2")  

Eric Simons wrote an informative article about this event for Bay Nature magazine.  You can read the article online here.

The photo above was taken on 18 June 2019 and the photo below was taken on 19 June 2019.  

In the first photo you'll notice that some mussels are empty, but others still have their adductor muscles — the white muscle that holds the two shells together.  In the photo below, the majority of mussels are empty, but in a few you can see the orange internal tissue (before it washed away or was eaten by other animals).  At low tide, healthy mussels are normally closed up tightly, so you can't see the internal tissue or the inside of the shells.

 

 

Resting among the rocks

 

Recently I was checking on some Black Oystercatchers to see if they might be nesting this year.  

Can you spot the small oystercatcher chick in the photo above?

The chick looks just like the surrounding rock, so check carefully.

If you need some help, I've circled the chick in the image below.  It has a short, dark bill and its head is facing left.

 

P.S.  I took this photo with a large lens from far away so as not to disturb the birds.  The original image has been heavily cropped.

Foam studies

 

Interesting patterns in the foam near shore yesterday, 23 June 2019

 

 

Summertime rays

 

A beautiful sculpin in a shallow pool near Pinnacle Gulch, Bodega Bay, 22 June 2019.  [You can click on the image for a larger version.]