At Point Reyes National Seashore today:
For a moment I thought I was getting mooned by the one on the right!
Last week drove from Chicago to Denver and back through South Dakota. Saw pronghorn, bison and prairie dogs, and added 5 birds to my mediocre life list.
Another one from Point Reyes. At Drake’s Beach, a jellyfish stranded in a tidepool:
Beautiful! Is that a simple rock or might it be a stromatolite? That would make it really cool! I don’t believe I have ever seen one in real life.
I really love that shot.
Don’t think so. I’ve been to Hamelin Bay and it doesn’t look like the formations there. I’m not a geologist (or a marine biologist, for that matter 
) but I think it’s more like a concretion like the ones found further up the coast at Bowling Ball Beach. It kind of reminded me of the Moeraki Boulders I saw in New Zealand, but they seem to be made of a different type of rock.
Interesting, thanks. I’ve seen bluebirds at this location in the past, but this year it’s been all swallows.
I’ll add that both species are suffering from competition with invasive sparrows and starlings.
Walking around our pond, there are tadpoles everywhere. This happens every year.
Last one from Point Reyes: long tailed weasel on a fence post:
Oh, man - I’m absolutely jealous. The only two weasels I’ve ever seen have (one at Pt. Reyes) have scuttled out of view almost instantly, just popping up long enough for me to say “hey, is that a wea…”. Great, great picture.
Was this on the road up by Abbot’s Lagoon?
Yes, on the trail out to the lagoon. I was out there hoping to see some river otters–no such luck–but the weasel was a good consolation prize.
I need to get out to the west coast more. It’s almost like another country mammal-wise.
The Las Gallinas wastewater treatment ponds next to San Rafael are IMHO probably the easiest place to see river otters in the immediate Bay Area. I probably run across them in 80-90% of my trips out there (granted I am usually there pretty early, like 6-10 a.m.). It’s a pleasant walk, but the views aren’t quite as expansive as Pt. Reyes 
.
I just saw a Baltimore oriole for the first time in my life!
No pic, sorry, but … what a gorgeous little thing.
That’s awesome. I think they look pretty sharp also.
If you slice an orange in half and secure it to a platform feeder, they’ll love you.
I saw three deer, all does, walk across a neighborhood tot lot.
I served dinner in our sunroom last night. Sitting there eating, I saw movement in my peripheral vision. A rabbit hopped up to the door and looked at us!
I took a picture and went back to eating. Then I noticed Simi looking at what I thought was a piece of yarn on the floor. Turns out it’s a little neonate garter snake. I swept it outside and took a picture.
Wish I’d thought to put down a banana for scale. It was tiny! I assume it got into our house somehow, but garter snakes are viviparous with litter sizes of 5-40. (did not tell my gf this)
Yay, nature!
Oh my gosh, both cuties!