Ancient Redwoods to Caspar Beach

 

We stayed at the Ancient Redwood RV Park for four days and explored the 25 miles of groves along the Avenue of the Giants.  These trees are over 350 feet tall and over 2,000 years old.  At least Ida looks really small next to these giants.

 Poison Oak is very abundant climbing up the trees, covering the ground, encountered everywhere.

Poison Oak turning red for Fall

Early morning at dawn is when the Varied Thrushes make their short appearance and are barely visable.

California Scrub-Jay

Blackberry bumper crop - great on cereal and ice cream.

Spotted Towhee juvenile

Sooty Grouse cock shows bright eye comb

Caspar Beach surrounded by Caspar Head on the Mendocino Coast across the road from our week stay at Caspar Beach RV Park

Fuchsia attracts Hummingbirds...

like Anna's Hummingbird male

and female Allen's Hummingbird

Steller's Jay

Seen commonly along the California coast

Western Song Sparrow are darker and have a very different song.

Red Admiral Butterfly

Acorn Woodpeckers are actively calling and hauling acorns into drilled holes in dead trees.

 

Eucalyptus seed pod

Heal-all

Shelf or Bracket Fungus

Black Phoebe

 

Banana Slugs all snuggled up

It's amazing how long they can stretch - 7-9 inches long

Land Snail - slime tracks

Western Red Cedar

Spike Buck - Black-tailed Deer

Buck shows off his beautiful Black Tail

Fawn Twins

Almost too big for Mom

Fawn Black-tailed Deer

Rest time!

Bushtit, one of many flittering around the park.

Close encounter on the beach.

This is what he is looking for - Beach Hopper

Striped Skunk get a drink from the stream flowing to the ocean

Oh Oh,  don't come any closer, or you will be sorry!

Western Bluebird

Look who's checking out the campsite?  Gray Fox

Hey!  What are you doing here?

We have company,  another Fox appears

Would you like me to pose?

They didn't leave very many crumbs!

The Harvest Moon sets over the Pacific - the full moon causes very high and low tides.

Brown Kelp washes onto the beach.

Common Mergansers enter stream to fish as high tide rolls in reversing stream flow.

Cabrillo Lighthouse

Cliff view from the Lighthouse!

Pelagic Cormorants cling to steep cliff walls

Large Brandt and smaller Pelagic Cormorants leave roost cliffs flying out to fish for the day.

We have spent the week with 65 degree days in spite of the heat wave in most of the state.

Many Californians have also come to the coast to cool off.

Love & Prayers,

Ty & Ida Baumann

Northwestern California

 

We entered California and took a side trip to the Jedidiah Smith National Forest and the beautiful Coastal Redwood trees on our way to Crescent City, California.  We spent a week at Lighthouse Cove RV Park.

We had many days of fog but it cleared for us to do some birding of the many nesting colonies on the rocks.  This is Castle Rock, a 300+ foot National Wildlife Refuge, home to Tufted Puffins, Cormorants, Common Murres, Brown Pelicans and 5 Gull species.  Visable by scoping but not a camera.  This young Glaucous-winged Gull photo bombed this image.

Common Ravens have been plentiful along the beach through the years.

Numerous Ravens were digging in the beach sand for worms,

Small prey in beak for large bird.

Juvenile Raven with a bad hair day!

Black Oystercatcher probing the rock jetty for oysters and clams.

What an eye for beauty!

Sea Fig or Hottentot Fig

Red-necked Phalarope feeding, twirling in circles.

Very noisy California Seals seranaded us day and night 

between blasts of the fog horn every 7 seconds.

Sea Lion playing "I spy"

Time to go fishing!

Noisy and animated!

Black Turnstone

Fireweed, pioneer plant on disturbed sites.

Dungeness Crabs 

Teasle in bloom with thick fog drenched Bumblebee

Western Gull

Glaucous-winged Gull dragging a Sea Star

 

Five of the ten Whimbrels that landed near us on the beach.

Whimbrel fly-by

Surfbird

How's this for camoflage?  A Wandering Glider.

Area towering Redwoods provide nesting branches for.....

these small Marbled Murrelet seabirds.

This species is threatened by Raven, Crow and Jay predation.

This Redwood Sorrel plant blankets the forest floor.

The large sorrel leaves are green above and dark red underneath.

 

Red-shouldered Hawk concentrates on the California Ground Squirrel below

So it is farewell to Lighthouse Cove and south to Humboldt Bay.

Enroute we drove through Elk Country and were rewarded with a resting herd by the road.

This Bull Elk seemed to be in charge!

Heermann's Gull at Humboldt Bay

Wandering Tattler wandering through large clam bed.

One of thousands of Marbled Godwits feeding at low tide.

A few Long-billed Curlews were also taking advantage of this fertile feeding area.

Large Land Snails were fairly common.

A few Whimble joined the feeding frenzy.

Elegant Tern catches a fish along the South Jetty, A new year bird for our growing list.

Common Murre

Common Murre shaking off water after diving.

Common Loons willl make their winter home here.

Back to the Giant Reedwoods and the beach as we head south.

It's wonderful to see the creative Hand of God everywhere we go.

Love & Prayers,

Ty & Ida Baumann