Tides Turn Fauna

ANNA'S HUMMINGBIRDS are year round residents on the coast. Bright red collars identify them. We rescued our hummer from the sunroom one summer.

ALLEN'S HUMMINGBIRDS visit in spring and summer. They are smaller, iridescent orange and green.

REDTAIL HAWKS hunts near the house and cruises the currents.

OSPREY are also seasonal visitors. The osprey is a spring and summer resident on the river hunting in the ocean and living solely on fish. If you hear its’ distinctive cry, go out and you may see it circling to gain altitude with a fish in its’ talons.

ACORN WOODPECKERS are common here. These are a raucous family group of clown like in their black, white red and yellow. They store their food in holes that they make in the pines.

TURKEY VULTURES love the warm uplift on our edge of the ridge. These big black soaring vultures will drift very close to the house.

CALIFORNIA QUAIL scurry across the road, driveway and parking area; they sometime parade on the fence and will even come to the birdfeeder.

Both BARN and VIOLET GREEN SWALLOWS are spring & summer residents at the pond just up the driveway. They are great insect eaters. They sometime fill the air as they hunt on the wing. ??

RAVENS - Crows, raven & jays are susceptible to West Nile disease. Crows are social and smart, smaller than ravens with their distinctive caw. Ravens are clever and social, larger than crows, with a Roman nose for a beak. They don't caw; they make a crackling sound.??

STELLAR, SCRUB and GRAY JAYS - Stellar are bluer with a black crest, Scrub jays are a more muted blue and tan. The rarer Gray Jays are dove gray with black head markings. All are loud and active birds.

OTHER BIRDS -- flickers, phoebes, California gulls & western gulls, song, white crowned, savannah, fox, or golden-crowned sparrow, pine siskins, wrentits, various cormorants, sparrow hawks, pacific slope flycatcher, chestnut back chickadee, bushtit, red breasted nuthatch, marsh wren, hermit thrush, starlings, American goldfinch are all common to the area. We get a great variety of birds that travel through the area in spring and fall. You are likely to see many of the birds on the Mendocino Audubon list.

DEER regularly frequent our property and can be seen on the small ridgeline to the south often. We have send bucks with up to four points and does with fawns.
 When we bought the house, a cement buck came with the house. Its’ face did not really look like a deer, but the antlers and the body size was fairly realistic. My husband didn't like it and thought it was too "Cute". He moved this heavy fake deer to the back by the spa, just below the master bedroom. There it stood for a few weeks, until… I woke up one early morning to the sound of thud…. The big buck had attacked our concrete deer and destroyed it while one of the does was looking on. I guess even a fake buck was too much of a rival. I tried to get a photo, but he kept hiding be hide a tree

CHIPMUNKS nest in shrubs near the house. Some times you will see them on the fences.

BATS are seasonal and may return each insect season. Some time circle the house setting off the motion detectors. They eat great quantities of flying insects and are beneficial residents.

OTHER animals that reside nearby or visit Tides Turn are harmless garter snakes, fence lizards, owls, frogs and crickets. A red fox has been seen a few times on the driveway and a bobcat was seen on a neighbor's fence.

THE RIVER AND THE SEA is home to many interesting creatures including several kinds of crabs, starfish and mollusks.

GRAY WHALES can be seen from the house during their seasonal passage north and south. It is fairly easy to spot the spouts just off shore. The whales time their breath, one breath for each minute they have been under water, usually three to five. You will see three or more water spouts, 30 seconds apart, then the whale will dive and swim below the surface for three to five minutes. They are closest to shore on the trip north in March and April when the mothers are accompanying their newborns.

HARBOR SEALS frequent the Albion River but can be found almost anywhere on the coast. Most likely to be seen when there are a lot of fisherman or abalone divers at the campground. They beg like big puppies.

RED ABALONE is a prized shellfish, common to these waters. Many people skindive to pry them from the rocks below the surface. The shells are large and the interiors are covered with mother of pearl. It is illegal now to commercially harvest red abalone. It is also illegal to sell abalone shells. You can get a license to harvest them with a maximum of three a day and 24 a year. There are several outfitters in the area who set up guided abalone tours.

ORCAS were seen in the Albion Cove this year hunting a run of fish. They are not common but may appear at certain times of the year.