King Boletes in spring - this is a strange year for wild mushrooms!

Susan Moore scored this huge Boletus edulis on a friend's property. It came up the latter part of March, which is very unusual. This delicious edible mushroom normally fruits in November and December.

This is one BIG Porcini mushroom!

I did see my first Black Trumpets - Horn of Plenty - up on our property yesterday. They looked great with all the rain to prompt them to bloom.

Thanks to Susan Moore for allowing me to share her photos with you here.

We had a wild storm with lightning, hail, rain, wind...and rainbows!

We have received a lot of blessed rain here on the Mendonoma Coast. Every drop is welcome. On Tuesday a wild and windy storm hit the Coast.

It is fun to watch showers over the ocean. Several of these showers reached us as they headed east.

Thunderstorms sweeping over the coast.

The next day, yesterday, the swells were big, creating big waves. Rick and I went to the Point Arena Lighthouse to watch for Gray Whales with friends and I photographed some of the beautiful wave action. You will have to imagine the sound of the crashing waves. And, yes, we did see some Grays!

 Swell after swell rolled in. It can be mesmerizing to watch the Pacific Ocean!

Today we await a smaller storm. The weekend is to be clear and warm. I'm wondering if abalone divers will be able to go on their first hunt for red treasure this year!

Ferne Fedeli's donkey, Jack, puts up with Common Ravens shearing hair right off his back!

Birds are gathering nesting materials on the Mendonoma Coast. But two brazen Ravens are taking their gathering of hair to a new level. Ferne Fedeli caught them biting/shearing the hair off the back of Jack, the donkey. The Ravens actually leave about 1/2 inch of hair on Jack, according to Ferne.

Below you will see the back end of Ferne's Icelandic Horse. The Raven has scored some nice soft horse hair though the horse wasn't pleased about it. While the donkey was fine with the harvesting, the horse tried to bite the ravens. Still this raven has a mouthful of hair for its nest and a rather smug look on its face!

Maybe it feels good to Jack, as if being groomed. We know Common Ravens are very intelligent. These two have found an easy way to gather nesting materials.

Thanks to Ferne for allowing me to share her fun photo.

Perhaps the loveliest of them all, Calypso Orchids are blooming in untouched forests.

Jinx McCombs is fortunate indeed. She has what she calls a messy forest. In that untouched forest is a group of Calypso Orchids. They won't grow just anywhere. They need a fungus in the soil to grow, hence they cannot be transplanted.

These exquisite wildflowers are very small. Here is one with Jinx holding a piece of bark. You can see by her thumb how small they are.

They have a slender leaf that is found growing on the forest duff - I more often see the leaf first, rather than the flower itself.

Always a joy to find, this delicate orchid is blooming now on the Mendonoma Coast. Thanks to Jinx for allowing me to share her photos with you here.

Two Rothchild Giraffes, as photographed by Emilie Raguso.

Giraffes in Point Arena? You bet! The B. Bryan Preserve has a group of these endangered giraffes. Emilie Raguso recently visited the preserve and took these photos. The first photo is entitled "Getting a leg up."

I so admire what the Mellos are doing here. Along with these giraffes, they have zebras and antelope, all endangered in their native lands. By appointment you can visit this wonderful place at feeding time. There are also guest cottages. To learn more about the preserve, here is their website: http://bbryanpreserve.com/ As their website states, Africa on the Mendocino Coast.

Thanks to Emilie for allowing me to share her photos with you here.

Allen's or Rufous Hummingbird? Only the experts know for sure.

Allen's and Rufous Hummingbirds look so similar that sometimes even the most experienced birder can't tell one from the other. I've been advised to just call them Selasphorus Hummingbirds and I'll always be right. Siegfried Matull recently photographed what he believes is an Allen's Hummingbird. Whatever you call them, they sure are beautiful!

These feisty, slightly smaller Hummingbirds migrate through the Mendonoma Coast in the spring and again in fall. They fight with our year round Anna's Hummingbirds, darting here and there like kamakazi pilots. When my chives are in bloom, one of these beauties likes to feed on the purple blossoms.

Thanks to Siegfried for allowing me to share his photo with you here.

The Stornetta Lands waterfall is back in all its glory!

There is a beautiful waterfall on the Point Arena-Stornetta Lands. However several years ago the waterfall "broke." The water no longer cascaded off the high bluff but it found a way down inside the rock. I'm happy to report that the waterfall is once again flowing over the bluff. In fact it is spilling off the bluff in two waterfalls. Margaret Lindgren recently photographed them.

To see this waterfall, which has been refreshed by the wonderful rains we are having this week, go down Lighthouse Road. Before you reach the pay station of the Point Arena Lighthouse, you will see a parking area to the left with a porta potty. Enter there and hike south along the bluffs. The scenery is magnificent there, with a sinkhole.

As you can see by the photo, with our golden retriever, Huckleberry, the sinkhole is huge!

Continue heading south - it might take fifteen minutes or so - and you will come to a seasonal creek. You need to hike down, cross the creek, and then climb back up. Go a little further south and look back. Here's a photo I took some time ago, before the waterfall disappeared for several years. You might be able to see the Lighthouse in the distance.

And below is a look at the waterfall when it fractured and the water went inside the rock face.

I am so glad the waterfall is flowing where we can see it. And because these lands are protected as the first land based part of the California Coastal National Monument, they are preserved for all of us to enjoy.

Thanks to Margaret for allowing me to share her photo with you here. Margaret leads hiking tours here on the Mendonoma Coast. Her website is: www.unbeatenpath.weebly.com