Month: January 2025

Image

The Kingbird and the Cemetery

Surprisingly a cemetery is full of life.

The wide open spaces with trees and plenty of perches is an ideal habitat for flycatchers and other avian insectivores.

Exhibit A: Say’s Phoebe.
Exhibit B: Western bluebird.

I was heading to Holy Cross Cemetery in Colma (there are more residents below ground than above) to find a vagrant flycatcher.

The flycatcher in question is the stunning vermillion flycatcher (Pyrocephalus obscurus). The normal range of the vermillion in the United States is Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and Southern California. In the winter, some make their way up the California Coast. And it is one of these wayward birds that I was looking for.

When I drove up to Section G at Holy Cross (featured in the cult classic Harold and Maude) there was a couple standing amongst the tombstones looking in one direction. I bet I knew what they were looking at!

The wayward vermillion flycatcher.

The vermillion was perched on a tombstone and sallied forth to catch a snack on the wing and then land on another hunting perch. It eventually flew up to the top of a pine and disappeared.

I waited for the flycatcher to reappear for about 15 minutes. No luck, so I headed east in Section G. There were plenty of common black phoebes flycatching from the mossy tombstones but no vermillion.

I decided to walk to the eastern edge of Section G which was bordered by 25th Street and then make my way back to where I had first seen the vermillion, I hoped of getting some photo documentation. And that’s when I spotted the flash of yellow!

The flash of yellow flew across the street into Section G2 and landed in a tree. I immediately knew what flycatcher it was and I lifted my binoculars to my eyes for confirmation: yes a kingbird.

Tyrannus melancholicus.

And at this time of year at this location I knew it was a tropical kingbird, also known as a TK because it is so common in Central America.

I enjoyed following the kingbird around Section G, getting some documentation with my camera because a TK is considered a rare bird for this location.

Yup, it’s a TK!
Image

Sketching Touchstone: Pt. Arena Lighthouse

A sketching touchstone is a subject that I return to over and over again.

And the Pt. Arena Lighthouse certainly deserves the title.

I have sketched this beautiful lighthouse several other times, but from different angles.

Point Arena is a special place because it is the closest part of the United States to Hawaii. It is the furthest west you can get in the Lower 48.

I drove out to the lighthouse and pulled over at a dirt lot and started to sketch the scene before me.

I was a bit far off from previous sketches but I like the way the power poles and lines leads the eye to the lighthouse in the distance.

My constant companion during the sketch was the world’s largest songbird: the common raven. The corvid was finishing up a meal on a fence post.

The raven then proceeded to give a post-repast repertoire of its gronks, groans, and bill-slapping. It was hard to take my eyes off the entrainment as I was sketching the lighthouse. I added the raven to the closest power pole.

Image

California Registered Historical Landmark No. 714

The town of Mendocino has two California Registered Historical Landmarks, both are houses of worship.

I had already sketched the Temple of Kwan Tai on a previous visit and now I wanted to sketch the Mendocino Presbyterian Church.

I sketched the church from my curbside sketching blind and when I finished I walked over to get a closer look at the California State Historic Landmark Plaque.

The church was dedicated in 1868 and is the oldest church in continual use in California. As I was reading the plaque a kindly local asked if I wanted to have a look inside.

I replied in the affirmative and the kindly church lady put her dog indoor and returned with the key.

She gave me a brief tour and told me if I was brave (I was) that I could climb the ladder in the choir loft to see the chalk signatures of past pastors and church members on the inside of the bell tower (which I did).

She also said that I could ring the bell, so I grabbed the pull and did.

The church is built of the local wood, the wood that put Mendocino on the map: coast redwood.

Image

The Pygmy Forest of Jug Handle

I left my Caspar cottage at 8:45 and I walked down the road to Jug Handle State Natural Reserve.

I would he ascending the Biological Staircase of terraces, my final destination would be 2.5 miles from the trailhead on the third terrace. This is the 300,000 year old Pygmy forest!

One reason that the Biological Staircase is so appealing to the naturalist is that you pass through very different habitats, giving you a nice cross section of this rare part of Coastal California.

Weeks before I set off on my journey to the Pygmy forest, I did a sketch of a cross section of the five terraces to help me understand that ecosystems I would be traversing.

The trail was filled with large puddles and portions of the trail became a small stream bed from recent winter rains. This was a wet walk but well worth the mud and the blood and the tears. (Okay just mud, but lots of it.)

I had been on the trail for almost an hour when the tree cover opened up and the morning sun warmed my bones.

I was now nearing my destination: the Pygmy Forest! A small sign marked the beginning of the boardwalk.

A Pygmy forest occurs when the soil is nutrient poor and plant species are stunted as a result. A Pygmy forest is rare habitat that is only found in a few locations in Northern California. The boardwalk protects the valuable soil from visitor’s damaging footfalls.

The serpentine boardwalk through the Pygmy forest.

Half way through the board walk there was a pull out with benches and a 1968 plaque proclaiming the Pygmy forest as a California Registered Natural Landmark. I rested here, had a snack, and did a sketch of the view. I’ll admit the sketch is a bit loose and wild (featured sketch).

My return journey on the boardwalk.
Image

Mendocino Town-Sketching

The town of Mendocino is really a sketcher’s paradise.

I have sketched this town many times and there are endless angles, perspectives, and hidden gems to add to my sketchbook.

As a sketcher you can either “zoom” in or “zoom” out depending on what strikes your fancy (no zoom lens required). For much of my panoramic sketches I chose to zoom out with a wide angle perspective.

For the featured sketch I positioned myself across the street from the Blair House (used in Murder, She Wrote) right beside Heider Field. The sketch looks towards Lansing Street at a water tower, old buildings, and the Masonic Lodge. A rustic townscape.

On another day I took a wide angle perspective from the small park across the Big River mouth to draw the bluffs and the town (below).

A panoramic sketch of Mendocino.
What a view!

I did do a few sketches a little more “zoomed in”. One was of a water tower and the back of the Crown Hall and the other is at the Mendocino Headlands State Park and a black oystercatcher.

Black oystercatchers are easy to see at the Mendocino Bluffs.
Image

Sketching Ft. Bragg

While many painters, sculptors, and artists are attracted to the picturesque town to the south, Ft. Bragg has plenty of objects to sketch.

And I added a few to my sketchbook.

I hiked out on the Noyo Bluffs, north of the river mouth. My destination was the Noyo Center’s Crow’s Nest Interpretive Center.

This center has marine mammal skulls and bones, maps and diagrams, a tide pool tank, and a deck for whale watching.

I sat at a picnic table and sketched the interpretive center. All this hiking and sketching makes me thirsty.

Good thing I was in Fort Bragg, because on Highway One, near the train depot, is the North Coast Brewing Company. Across the street from the brewery is their pub where you can get a bite to eat and sample their brews.

North Coast has been brewing since 1988, well before I could legally drink. They always have creative names for their brews such as Scrimshaw, Old Rasputin, Brother Thelonious, Old No. 38 Stout (named after a California Western Railroad steam locomotive), and my favorite Red Seal Ale (sketched above).

Cheers from Fort Bragg!

Image

Train Sketching: Ft. Bragg

I have enjoyed sketching in the town of Fort Bragg, just to the north of Mendocino.

The genesis of Fort Bragg as a town was the huge strands of coast redwoods and lumber mills sprang up to harvest the timber.

Now how to get the lumber to markets like San Francisco to help build the growing city?

Lumber was shipped south by boat but once the California Pacific connected Ft. Bragg with Willitis and the Northwestern Pacific, milled lumber could be shipped by rail.

The rails of the past lives on as the Skunk Train. Now a tourist railroad.

I did some sketching at the train yard (featured sketch) including the water tower with the skunk logo.

The past and present of Skunk Train. A diesel pulling into the station with a water tower of the steam age in the background.
Image

Pomo Bluffs Park and the Noyo Rivermouth.

In between rain showers I made it out to Pomo Bluffs Park to sketch the large swells at the harbor mouth.

The trail along the southern bluffs offers a great view to witness the drama where the Noyo River meets the Pacific.

On this December morning, the wave action was epic. No boats were entering or leaving the harbor with these crashing swells.

I found a patch, set up my sketching chair, and opened my panoramic sketchbook. The result is the featured sketch.

Sketching the harbor mouth.
The locals have a screwdriver and a sense of humor!
Image

Gray Lodge Christmas

My Christmas morning tradition does not entail waking early and opening gifts under the lighted Christmas tree but waking early and heading west to find some feather gifts at Gray Lodge Wildlife Area.

The main draw of driving the auto route is the thousands of wintering waterfowl that can be seen from my movable birding blind.

There is nothing like the sight and sound of thousands of snow geese bursting into flight!

There also a lot of wintering raptors at Gray Lodge. On my visit I saw red-tailed, red-shouldered, sharp-shinned, and Cooper’s hawks, peregrine falcon, American kestrel, and bald eagle.

While not considered a raptor, there are plenty of turkey vultures about, including this one sunning itself.

During my morning visit I notched up 63 species of birds including some species that I don’t regularly encounter at Gray Lodge including the secretive sora and American bittern (below).

It was a great day out! Merry Christmas!