Tomales Bay Triptych – Black-crowned night heron style

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Happy holidays.

The weather has been sublime of late.

Water in the creeks bringing a variety of salmon, Reservoirs filled, clear atmosphere with all the dust and smoke washed out.

This bird calls the area just north of Chicken Ranch its home. I never tire of seeing it roosting in the bayside trees or perched on a piling or the rocks below.

As always, click on an image to see a larger version.

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Tomales Bay Triptych – Western sandpiper style

Click on the words “Tomales Bay Triptych” above to see this post how it was meant to be seen.

As always, click on an image to see a larger version.

Put in at Chicken Ranch and paddled south nearly to White House Pool. Since I usually see these birds on a background of sand, they really look out of place on this large log in the bay.

Poetry in motion fairly describes their winged wandering.

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Osprey over Drakes Estero, new cetacean species discovered

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This osprey snatched what appears to be a smelt out of Drakes Estero in front of me today. The fish was not at all keen on the events as they unfolded. Osprey circled overhead, attempting to re-arrange the fish into an aerodynamic package for transport back to the nest.


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Osprey landed on a post nearby and struggled for a few minutes in a strong and steady breeze, reaching back with beak, trying to move this fish. With talons so long, sharp and curved, it is difficult if not impossible for the bird to let go of prey.


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After a few minutes of pecking, floating up, landing back on post, more struggling, fish was nearly out of energy. Properly packaged, osprey lifted off to deliver this meal to a hungry brood or mate.


Later, I happened upon this never before seen species of cetacean that had beached itself upon South Beach.

I gave it the name Fauxkinghumansea dropmoreplastica. Commonly known as, Blue-bodied toxic reminder

Fauxkinghumansea dropmoreplastica (Blue-bodied toxic reminder)

Fauxkinghumansea dropmoreplastica
(Blue-bodied toxic reminder)

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Oh, after contacting Marin County Parks people to let them know I found one of their swim area buoys, they came out and picked it up. That thing costs over $500. The decals alone are over $100. They used to gather them up each year at the end of swim season, then set them out again after winter. They stopped doing that, though I am not sure why.

Tomales Bay Triptych – Osprey Style!

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It is that time of year. The osprey are back and the sky is full of birds and the sounds of birds.

It was pretty windy so these are not the finest images, but you get the idea of how beautiful these birds are.

Last week I counted 13 birds at one time over my place. Talk about some noise!

Those are not jesses in two of the images below. That bird has one talon draped with eel grass, surely picked up after a dive for dinner.

Yesterday a neighbor of mine that lives across the street from a nest recounted a story from last year.

An adult returned from fishing and dropped a fish into the nest. Both well developed chicks grabbed onto said fish and a struggle for complete ownership ensued. After a while, both birds spilled out of the nest, each firmly grasping the fish in question. After a brief fall, they both started flying away, tethered as one by the none-too-happy fish. After more struggling in mid-air, one of the birds let go and the other bird took off to find a table for one to enjoy the prize.

Osprey (Pandion haliaetus)

Osprey (Pandion haliaetus)

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Osprey (Pandion haliaetus)

Osprey (Pandion haliaetus)

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Osprey (Pandion haliaetus)

Osprey (Pandion haliaetus)

Views of Tomales Bay, bobcat butt and tennis balls

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After the sad event of the first day of the year, I took my boat up to Nick’s Cove and went for a paddle.

As I walked around picking up trash on a tiny Tomales Point beach, I turned a corner and found myself 20 feet from a small bobcat with it’s back to me, tearing apart a hawk it had just killed. Another hawk on the ground nearby lifted off, leaving me with the wind and a hungry cat that did not know I was near. I dropped down and began quickly to pull my camera from its’ bag. Not quickly enough. The cat turned and proceeded to stare right through me.

For a moment I thought it was going to come after me. Its’ eyes were fixed on me. Each with a dark black iris, ringed by bright yellow. Two black moons transiting two bright suns. A pair of solar eclipses. Both locked on me as it stood over the kill, feathers pasted to its’ chin and face. It seemed to wonder for a brief moment if I were prey or predator. I wondered, too.

All the while, I kept sliding my camera up and out as I asked in my mind for it to hang around for picture or two.

It was having none of this. Dropping its’ head, it grabbed the bird in sharp teeth, gave me one last icy stare and quickly turned to slide up the steep brush covered hill.

Upon walking a few hundred meters north, plucking plastic off the beach, I found three other large piles of feathers. I now call this beach, Bobcat buffet beach.

Bobcat butt

Bobcat butt

Kayak loaded with plastic

Kayak loaded with plastic

Kayak loaded with plastic

Kayak loaded with plastic

Marbled godwit near Walker Creek

Marbled godwit near Walker Creek

Hog Island behind  narcissus

Hog Island behind narcissus

Narcissus covering a hillside on Tomales Point. In January!

Narcissus covering a hillside on Tomales Point. In January!

Brant on the wing, Tomales Bay

Brant on the wing, Tomales Bay

Here are some images from a different paddle from Chicken Ranch nearly to Point Reyes itself during a high tide.

Great egret

Great egret

Bufflehead

Bufflehead

Brown pelican and some gulls at the club

Brown pelican and some gulls at the club

Lone pintail

Lone pintail

The dacha

The dacha

One days' haul. There was much more, this was all that would fit on my tiny kayak. That is my new spare paddle, with my new pet decoy pintail behind it.

One days’ haul. There was much more, this was all that would fit on my tiny kayak. That is my new spare paddle.

Mickey Mouse lawn sprinkler, pintail and two sandals atop oyster grow-out bag. I thought I had snuck up on the bird so I made a picture. Only when I had a look on my camera did I realize I'd been duped. Not the first time.

Mickey Mouse lawn sprinkler, pintail and two sandals atop oyster grow-out bag. I thought I had snuck up on a live bird so I made a picture. Only when I had a look on my camera did I realize I’d been duped. Not the first time.

Nearly fifty tennis balls and only one shotgun shell found. Maybe it is not the duck hunters we need to worry about. Rather, those renegade tennis players. I traded that new quart of 20-50 for a dozen kumamotos. Yum!

Nearly fifty tennis balls and only one shotgun shell found. Maybe it is not the duck hunters we need to worry about. Rather, those renegade tennis players. I traded that new quart of 20-50 motor oil for a dozen kumamotos. Yum!

Speaking of tennis balls, I picked out the best tennis balls from the pile I have gathered over the past 3 years and brought 500 to the humane society of Novato for their guests. That’s right, 500. I likely have another 300-400 in poor shape. They were very happy to get them and assured me they would not let them get into a creek, nor the ocean. After telling them of the large number of irresponsible, sometimes very hostile dog owners that run their dogs off leash at Point Reyes, especially in endangered Snowy Plover habitat, they also assured me that they teach responsible dog ownership at the humane society.

I am told there are about two thousand snowy plovers left along the Pacific coast, perhaps five thousand world-wide. Five thousand! According to the humane society web site, there are approximately 78.2 million owned dogs in the United States. The beaches of Point Reyes are one of the few places where Snowy Plovers attempt to breed and keep their numbers from reaching zero.

Unconditional love. Isn’t that a big reason why humans “own” a pet? Coming home to a face happy to see you no matter what. Who can argue with that? Well, think of all the love and appreciation of those plovers, humans and other species that come after us for keeping one more species from becoming extinct. Ceasing to exist.

I am well aware that not a single dog in the West Marin area chases birds. Their owners have told me so, again and again. But, when people from out of the area bring their pets here and see the locals running their well-behaved dogs off-leash, guess what? That’s right, lots of paws and noses scurrying over the sand. The same sand that is home to precious few endangered plover nests for a few months each year. Nests so tiny and well hidden, neither you nor your dog would know you just stepped on it.

Three Western Snowy Plover eggs in a scrape (nest)

Three Western Snowy Plover eggs in a scrape (nest)

Many, if not all of us out here are here for the beauty of the place. Please try to enjoy that beauty in a non-destructive way that all of us, humans, as well as non-domesticated critters included can live with.

A link to the rules regarding pets at Point Reyes National Seashore can be found here.

I am off to go visit my five pet white sharks now. They prefer to live in the sea, off-leash. We have a long-distance relationship that is working so far. I love them out there, knowing they are being sharks. And they love me here on land, trying to not destroy the place quite so quickly as many humans seem hell-bent on doing.

Birds of Tomales Bay

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The bay was flat and the wind was light. A great day to paddle around and see what is going on.

Black-crowned night heron

Most of the birds spook rather easily, even when I am hundreds of feet from them. So I am learning to keep far away from the large groups of what I think are a mix of sea-ducks, else they lift with a great roar and move to a new location.

Black-crowned night heron

A group of grebes took flight, though one remained, committed to finding food. So I tagged along for over an hour watching and making pictures and video. At first I kept back 30-40 feet and kept my paddle noise to a minimum. Over time that distance shrank and shrank. Eventually the tiny bird would paddle right up to my boat, nibbling at my paddle and the boat to see if it was edible. It was fearless as it swam along. Eventually I had to leave this adorable bird and head over across the bay. It would have been easy to spend the rest of the day watching this tiny bird paddle around and dive for food.

Horned grebe

Horned grebe

Horned grebe….well, it was there a moment ago.

A few boats were out and about, as well as many small to medium sized planes. One large, vintage military twin-radial completely dominated the landscape and shut down any idea of gathering video footage. The cold, dense, calm winter air makes for great flying if you are inside the plane. For anyone outside the plane near, or far, not so great.

Brown pelicans in flight

I came upon a large water-logged log, perhaps eighteen feet long, bobbing in the water smack dab in the middle of the bay. Surely not a good thing to hit with a small Boston Whaler at 30 MPH. Having never towed anything with my kayak yet, I tied a rope to it and tried to pull it out of the shipping lanes. I may as well have tied my boat to a living tree, firmly rooted in the ground. After 2-3 minutes of pulling hard and going essentially nowhere, I untied my rope and wished the log, and all boats venturing near it a good day.

Here is a one minute video of some of the bouncy footage I recorded from my boat.

Pelican yoga, moment of silence for Sandy Hook

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Pelican yoga on Tomales Bay – ©Richard James

This pelican had been sitting on a dock for some time when I floated near and disturbed it. It eyed me for a while before it stood up, defecated, then proceeded to do the amazing stretches you see.

Even pelicans get stiff necks.