We're working down in Monterey County for a couple of days.  At the end of field work this morning (11 August 2022), a Sea Otter (Enhydra lutris) swam by, diving and coming up with Purple Sea Urchins (Stronglycentrotus purpuratus).  (The otter is holding an urchin between its paws.)

Eric spotted this Bull Kelp (Nereocystis luetkeana) holdfast washed up on the beach recently.  The holdfast was still attached to a sizable piece of rock.  And it was interesting to see both Giant Barnacles (Balanus nubilus) — the large white barnacles in the center of the image — and pelagic gooseneck barnacles (Lepas sp.) — the small grayish clusters of barnacles along the left edge of the image.  

Giant Barnacles can be found in the low intertidal zone and subtidally, but pelagic barnacles are generally found offshore in the open ocean.  I'm not sure how often these two species of barnacles are found growing in the same place.  And seeing Lepas on this holdfast means the kelp and the rock it was attached to have been floating around offshore for a while before washing ashore.

Semipalmated Plover (Charadrius semipalmatus), Salmon Creek Beach, 8 August 2022

Eight plates for 8/8!

This is a large chiton photographed at Point Arena on 3 June 2022.  I think it's a species of Stenoplax (perhaps S. heathiana?), but I haven't seen this group of chitons that often.  I loved the salmon color of the plates!

At Point Reyes on 6 August 2022

I know it would be better to see this animal alive, but we don't get to see Sperm Whales (Physeter macrocephalus) in this area very often.  This one washed up in Mendocino in late July.  I heard about this observation from Alisha, and Abbey kindly shared photos from 29 July 2022.

Abbey mentioned that folks at the Noyo Center in Fort Bragg recorded this as a 27-foot long male.  The tongue was missing and the scratch marks on the whale's skin indicate a possibly attack by Orcas.

Here's a closer view where you can see the large, square head and the narrow lower jaw.  Sperm Whales can have 18-26 pairs of teeth.  [You can click on the image for a larger version.]

 

Sperm Whales are more often found in deeper waters — over the continental slope and far offshore, so we don't get to see them near shore that often.  (I've seen a small group of Sperm Whales once on a pelagic trip to Cordell Bank and beyond — a memorable experience, but regrettably I didn't have a camera at the time.)  

A few fun Sperm Whale facts: They can dive as deep as 3200 m (2 miles!) and for more than 2 hours.  They can live for 70 years and possibly longer.

With many thanks to Abbey for taking the time to document this Sperm Whale and sharing photos with us!

Some of you might recall that we observed some iridescent clouds last summer (see the post called "Iridescence in the air?" from 7 June 2021).  Around noontime today (2 August 2022) we saw something similar but a little different — dramatic "rainbow clouds" over Bodega Bay.  I think this is officially called a circumhorizon arc.

At first we noticed an unusual cloud lit up with blue and violet:

 

 

 

Note that the colors appear in bands following a rainbow pattern, i.e., red/orange/yellow/green/blue/violet.

I'm not an expert, but I read that in iridescent clouds the colors are generally paler and random, while in circumhorizon arcs the colors can be quite bright and are organized in a classic rainbow color pattern.

 

Here are two photos showing closer views:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 And two more highlighting some interesting features:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Apparently circumhorizon arcs can appear when there are ice crystals in cirrus clouds and the sun is high (> 58°) above the horizon.

 

Sure made for a dramatic lunch!

 

Crescent moon from Cotati on 1 August 2022.  

Perhaps I've just been missing it lately, but I feel like it's been a while since I've seen the moon.  Lucky that Eric looked west tonight.

Three-lined Nudibranch (Coryphella trilineata) strolling among a forest of Orange Hydroid (Garveia annulata) polyps.  Photographed in the low intertidal zone on 14 July 2022. 

P.S.  I couldn't help hearing the Robert Frost poem when I looked at this photo, but instead of "The woods are lovely, dark and deep..." I heard hydroids instead of woods!

A Gray Whale (Eschrichtius robustus) has been observed fairly close to shore off Bodega Head during the past few days.  (And a few days ago I could also see quite a few Humpback Whales farther out towards the horizon.)

Here's another view of the Gray Whale heading away:

 

Last night I mentioned that I had seen a couple of Rhinoceros Auklets close to shore.  Those were adults, but today I noticed a different individual that appears to be a juvenile.

Although there have been observations in previous years hinting that Rhinoceros Auklets might have nested on Bodega Head, I don't think there are any definitive records.  

Seeing a juvenile close to shore in July hints at the possibility of nesting locally, although the alternative is that this juvenile originated from a nesting site elsewhere (e.g., the Farallon Islands or a site farther north) and then dispersed to our area.

 

 

 

P.S.  I came across a fun audio recording of Rhinoceros Auklets — adults and a begging juvenile.  If you want to hear what they sound like, here's the link to the recording.

 

Not a great photo, but a fun story.  I've been having some trouble with my camera/lens.  Today I noticed some guillemots close to shore, so I started testing my lens by practicing focusing on guillemots flying by.  I would see a bird approaching from a distance, raise my lens, and try to focus.  

I had done this several times when I looked through and noticed not guillemots, but auklets!  I don't see Rhinoceros Auklets (Cerorhinca monocerata) from shore that often, especially during the summer, so it was a nice surprise.  Not sure if they'll stay around, but if you're interested in seeing auklets, it might be worth scanning nearshore areas off Bodega Head.

I was doing some yard work after dinner tonight (20 July 2022) and kept hearing a young Cooper's Hawk (Accipiter cooperii) calling -- a high-pitched, descending wheeeer.  When I took a break, I looked around a spotted the hawk perched in a fir tree, probably a few blocks away.  The sound really carries!   

The hawk didn't come much closer, but here are a few more quick images.  I'm guessing this bird fledged from a nest somewhere nearby, but I'm not sure where.

 

 

 

P.S.  I didn't record the calls of this bird tonight, but if you want to hear an example of a Cooper's Hawk juvenile calling, check out this species account on Cornell's All About Birds page.

A little surprising, but Abby observed this Hopkins' Rose nudibranch (Okenia rosacea) near Dillon Beach on 16 July 2022.  The last time this species appeared in this area was during the marine heatwaves of 2014-2016.  With seawater temperatures so cold this year, I wouldn't have had this nudibranch on my radar, but so it goes!  If you come across this species this year, I'd love to hear about any additional sightings.

And here's another nice nudibranch sighting: Eric spotted this gorgeous Diamondback Tritonia (Tritonia festiva) this past weekend:

 

Recently we were noticing some beautiful green sculpins hanging out near some green algae in a high intertidal zone pool.  

After looking around a bit, I think we found three different ages.  Below are two more individuals that I think are likely the same species, an older and younger individual:

 

 

 

Once again, I'm not sure which species of sculpin this is, but some day I'll figure it out.  (I'm not totally sure of the total number, but there could be something like 16 species of intertidal sculpins in this area!)