Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Saturday, January 21, 2012
gray whale ~ 01/21/12 ~ Rec Trail
gray whale
Eschrichtius robustus
for more information click here, here, and here
Eschrichtius robustus
for more information click here, here, and here
Yep, these are not the best pictures. It's really challenging to get decent photos of whales, btw, at least with my slow, poor-zoom, point-and-shoot. You can see the mottled back of the whale just to the right of the man in the second picture. This whale was incredibly close to the shore and was moving north around the Peninsula. Considering Nature ID is essentially my personal nature journal, I wanted to record the date and species of this particular whale sighting. I borrowed a marine mammal book from a friend that had cute little graphics of how one is supposed to distinguish between different cetaceans based on the shape of their spray. Ha! A couple times a year I spot various whales in the distance from home, mainly thanks to numerous whale watching boats that circle around any whales in the Bay like sharks. This time, it was thanks to a crowd of folks on the Rec Trail all pointing their cameras that we thought to stop and look. It's been a few years since I've seen a gray whale so close to the shore. The last time (unfortunately, I never recorded when), I was able to run alongside a close-to-the-shore gray from the Monterey Bay Aquarium all the way through Cannery Row, past the Plaza Hotel, and to San Carlos Beach. I've included numerous links above, because there seems to be some conflicting online information about the status of gray whales.
Thursday, January 19, 2012
sunrise ~ 01/19/12 ~ at home
sunrise from home
January 19, 2012
January 19, 2012
We had a lovely amount of rain off and on since Thursday ~4:15pm, the same day this sunrise picture was taken. By Friday night with help from the wind, our salty, ocean-mist covered windows finally had some cleaning. I really should park my car outside the garage so I can take advantage of nature's free car wash.
News, personal, and online stuff have been a bit... erm, different in the past week. I'd like to think I'm not the only one experiencing this. I've been wanting to update my indices and correct past blog posts, but blogger has been temperamental. Then, I'm still trying to find the right balance of what personal notes to share on Nature ID. Am I sharing enough to make a post interesting, or am I sharing too much (better known as TMI)? And, I won't even get started with the news.
Like the sunrise of a new day and like the declarations for a new year, it's comforting to believe starting fresh and new can actually happen. Here's a great time-lapse video of Yosemite to remind me and perhaps you, too, how the daily conditions of humans are truly insignificant compared to the larger picture: http://io9.com/5878091/this-time+lapse-video-of-yosemite-is-staggeringly-beautiful.
News, personal, and online stuff have been a bit... erm, different in the past week. I'd like to think I'm not the only one experiencing this. I've been wanting to update my indices and correct past blog posts, but blogger has been temperamental. Then, I'm still trying to find the right balance of what personal notes to share on Nature ID. Am I sharing enough to make a post interesting, or am I sharing too much (better known as TMI)? And, I won't even get started with the news.
Like the sunrise of a new day and like the declarations for a new year, it's comforting to believe starting fresh and new can actually happen. Here's a great time-lapse video of Yosemite to remind me and perhaps you, too, how the daily conditions of humans are truly insignificant compared to the larger picture: http://io9.com/5878091/this-time+lapse-video-of-yosemite-is-staggeringly-beautiful.
Monday, January 16, 2012
habitat ~ 01/16/12 ~ Garland Ranch - Garzas Creek
Garland Ranch Regional Park - Garzas Creek
January 16, 2012
January 16, 2012
posted 01/19/12 - I never thought I'd say this, but I need lots of rain to help pull me out of this year's winter doldrums. Sure, just about everyone else in the Northern Hemisphere would think this sunny warm weather we've had here on the CA coast is a blessing, but I'm feeling parched. Hopefully, we'll get some rain by this afternoon.
This was the biggest hill I've hiked in quite a while, and I'm still feeling some soreness in my thigh muscles. I'm fascinated that the slippery downhill was somehow more difficult than going uphill. I don't have many specific pictures to post, because the hike was its own reward for a change. I wanted to see Veeder Pond, which truthfully is actually a vernal pool. Compare how dry it is now to only 3 1/2 months ago on October 1, 2011. There's a fire tower on the highest hill in the first picture, and there's the Carmel Valley Village airstrip in the second picture, which was utilized as temporary housing for firefighters during the 2008 month-long Basin Complex Fire. In 2008 there were hundreds of fires across CA. I really hope we're not looking at another intense fire year for 2012. Most notable from our hike was an owl we saw fly right by us near the vernal pool. I also noticed dropped leaves on the ground from silver bush lupine, which I believe may be due to the lack of rain, and yellow blooms on CA bay.
This was the biggest hill I've hiked in quite a while, and I'm still feeling some soreness in my thigh muscles. I'm fascinated that the slippery downhill was somehow more difficult than going uphill. I don't have many specific pictures to post, because the hike was its own reward for a change. I wanted to see Veeder Pond, which truthfully is actually a vernal pool. Compare how dry it is now to only 3 1/2 months ago on October 1, 2011. There's a fire tower on the highest hill in the first picture, and there's the Carmel Valley Village airstrip in the second picture, which was utilized as temporary housing for firefighters during the 2008 month-long Basin Complex Fire. In 2008 there were hundreds of fires across CA. I really hope we're not looking at another intense fire year for 2012. Most notable from our hike was an owl we saw fly right by us near the vernal pool. I also noticed dropped leaves on the ground from silver bush lupine, which I believe may be due to the lack of rain, and yellow blooms on CA bay.