Photos from Petaluma



After my time in Alaska, I decided to save money and spend a few days living at the Point Blue office in Petaluma. This not only allowed me to concentrate on working on some job and PhD applications, and writing up a note for a journal and a poster for the ECS coming up next month; but it also allowed me access to the wetland right outside of the office with a wide array of birds!

 

Restless flycatcher

Canada geese

Black necked stilts

 

Snowy white egret

Turkey vulture

Red-winged blackbird

Black tailed jack rabbits

 

White-tailed kite

Anna's humingbird



The same bird from the front

Out of the frying pan, into the snow

For the second leg of my break, I left warm and dry California, for cold and icy Alaska to visit my sister in Anchorage. I'd visited before, but last time it was in late August before the snow. I knew what sort of scenery to expect, but it definitely improves even more with a dusting of snow!
The first night after arrival, me and Eloise and Jerami hiked a short distance along a trail to a yurt (a small structure made of a wood frame with fabric / plastic covering it). These are not insulated, don't have any water or electricity, but do come equipped with an outhouse and a wood burning stove. It was quickly getting dark as we arrived and consequently the temperature was dropping, so we stoked the fire and started the long journey to a warmer yurt. We ate reindeer hotdogs and cookies and drank whisky between replenishing the fire with wood.

The cold wasn't so bad once I had a long t-shirt, 2 warm mid-layers, 2 fleeces and a jacket on and was next to the fire. As it's winter we didn't see much wildlife, although we think a moose walked within a few feet of the yurt as we heard heavy footsteps going past. On the way in to the yurt, despite it only being a 40 minute walk, my beard froze, along with some things in my bag and batteries drained very quickly. I did manage to take some photos though, and have stolen some of Eloise's too.

My patchy ice face mid-hike in

Happy to be at the yurt

 

The view from the yurt in fading light

Our home for the night

The morning sun breaks into the valley (at 10am)

Walking back

A warm Isla

 On the second day we drove to a frozen lake. Eloise and I went for a walk around to see how it was, and decided it was too cold (-20C or so) for Isla (the dog), and my toes started to freeze. So we took some quick photos without falling through the lake or falling over and made it back to the almost-warm car.

 We went phat biking (basically using mountain bikes with very thick tires, built for riding over rock and snow), which I absolutely loved. We biked around 12 miles through forest trails using compacted snow, as if the tyres hit wind-blown snow, stability is lost very quickly! I really enjoyed the narrow trails where precision steering is required, and I only fell over once throughout the few hours we were out.

 

On my last day we walked 10 miles into a national park, giving some great views.

 



Looking out towards the "sleeping lady" mountain.

 

A frozen river, with water still running below

Monterey's coast

Wanting to save money, and based on the snippet I saw yesterday, I wanted to dedicate a day to walking along the coast. I am so happy that I came here rather than somewhere like LA. Everything is very well laid out, with easy pedestrian and cyclist access which makes wandering a breeze, and a joy. Not once did I have to even think about crossing a road or jumping a fence, because the council or whatever Americans call their authorities actually want people to enjoy the outdoors and explore. There are signs up encouraging people to explore tide pools and clamber over rocks, and along the coastal trail there are signs explaining the history of the area, with nice paintings depicting the past.

I've only been here for a few days, but I can say that it is one of my favourite places I've visited. I'm also enjoying reading about life here many years ago in a Steinbeck novel, which I read in a tree today, watching whales pass by. The final tally for todays 7 hour walk along the coast was 7 grey whales, 1 humpback whale, 10 bottlenose dolphins, and over 30 sea otters. If only that was possible in more places!

Here is a link to a video made from yesterday in the Aquarium. It's mainly made for Kathryn as she is a big fan of cephalopods and tentacle things, but I thought I may as well post it too:
https://vimeo.com/118666553

Here come the photos and videos from today:
A video of a sea-otter swimming around and eating a crab: https://vimeo.com/118668867

Double-crested cormorant

Sea otter with a stone on belly

Using the stone to eat a crab

California ground squirrel in vegetation above the beach. These guys burrow in the sand and run around the beach, which I wasn't expecting!

Close-up of a brown pelican

I was taking photos of birds splashing around in a lake, and I quite like this, even though it wasn't what I was going for.

This is what I was going for.

Waves breaking at the southern side of Monterey Bay

The fluke of a grey whale

Another grey

Break from the farallones



I have been on the farallon islands for two months now, which means that it is time for a break! Below are the last few photos of my time on the island, and then I will progress with ones from my break.

 

A western gull on territory in the evening



Not quite the cute seal on postcards.



The two houses on the island. On the left is the PRBO house, where we reside. On the right is the coastguard house, where visitors stay.



-04 cow and her then-pup, now weaner.



A pup having a bad start to life. Still with after-birth wrapped around him, a cow snaps at his nose whilst water comes in behind him. Sadly this one didn't survive the night.



A California sea lion with waves breaking behind



Pete in the aftermath of hitting and biting an SA1 for several minutes.



Andre enjoys the cool water on a hot day.

To start the break, we were greeted with amazingly flat seas for the landing, and beautiful conditions on the voyage on a 38ft sail boat.


The farallones from the water



Sailing towards the golden gate bridge in the dying light



The sun disappearing, with the farallones somewhere on the horizon.

After being treated to Puerto Rican food on my return to the mainland, I slept in the office for the night after being dazzled by the return to the bright and loud mainland. In the morning I made my way to san fran, and onwards to Monterey. In my short time here, I have loved every second. Everywhere you turn there is some tribute to the marine environment, either past or present. Marine wildlife is everywhere too, so it's not too much different to the Farallones!



View from the bus on the way to Monterey



Cannery row, Monterey - where Sardines used to be the main industry



A statue I am rather fond of!



The view from Monterey into the bay



A tribute to divers



Monterey beach



Beach houses, I expect they could look a bit nicer, especially the "cliff"!

Yesterday I arrived in the afternoon so I had enough time to wander around, but not enough to do anything specific. So this morning I was at the doors of the aquarium as it opened. I've always wanted to go to Monterey Aquarium and have heard great things. I was not disappointed. It didn't have as many fish as I expected, but the species it did have were displayed and apparently cared for very well. It is a very big and open aquarium, making it easy to re-visit exhibits if there is a school trip in the way on your initial viewing, which is often an issue in UK aquariums which adopt a circular one-way route. As usual, I'll rely on the photos to do the explanation.

Giant Pacific octopus

Lions mane

Sea nettles

Moon jellies

The big tank draws a crowd

Common murre under-water

Feeding tufted puffin

Spotted jelly

Indonesian sea nettle

Flame jelly

Big-fin reef squid



Tentacle of Giant Pacific octopus

Giant Pacific octopus

Stumpy cuttlefish

Pharaoh cuttlefish 



Southern sea otter

Black-footed penguin

After seeing the captive sea otter swimming around in circles, I went outside to the deck where there is a member of staff looking out for wild marine mammals, who pointed out a couple of sea otters floating past, one of which had a cub on her chest.


The one on the right has a cub



Showing off their tags

After the visit to the Aquarium, I walked along the coast North, and kept seeing whales blowing off the coast, harbour seals, many species of sea birds, and some interesting shore birds.

Snowy egret



Harbour seal

Brown pelican in breeding plumage

Eared grebes

Tomorrow I will be walking along the coastal trail north, hoping to see some more whales, otters, seals and birds! The day afterwards I will be travelling back to san fran to take a few flights to Alaska, which I'm sure will result in many more photos.