Mendocino County has 409 species of birds that have been documented within its terrestrial and off-shore boundaries.  Bob Keiffer, Supt. and Chuck Vaughn (retired SRA) have diligently archived all historical and current important birds records from Mendocino County for over twenty years.  Hard files are kept with data such as observer notes and descriptions and photographs, and digital files (approximately 7000 entries thus far) are kept on an Avisys database.  Keiffer is the official compiler of the county records, and Vaughn is the "gatekeeper" of all the Mendocino County eBird records.

Here you see a first-year Short-billed Albatross (pink-bill) seen yesterday at 6 miles SW off Noyo Harbor.  Up until now there has been only one accepted county record for this species ... a species thought to be extinct after WWII.  The species was brought to near extinction by the feather trade and war activities, but a few nesting pair were found nesting on the volcanic island of Torishima in the 1950's.   Conservation efforts since that time have rebounded the population to about 2000 birds, and they are once again rarely showing up along the Pacific West Coast of North America where we know they were once common from archeological evidence found at Native American "middens".   

A bright yellow aster bloom adorns three small isolated locations at the UC Hopland Research & Extension Center.  Colusa Layia (Layia septentrionalis) is an annual herb that is endemic to California and is only found in 9 counties, with Mendocino County being one of those.  It is included in the California Native Plant Society Inventory of Rare and Endangered Plants and is rated as 1B.2 (rare,threatened, or endangered in CA and elsewhere).  This plant qualifies for the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) protection.  The plant is currently blooming at HREC, and the blooms are quite thick and robust this year.

The UC Hopland Research & Extension Center has quite a medley of oak species at the Center with over a dozen species occurring (19 species currently accepted as native in California).  The Black Oak (Quercus kelloggii) is a deciduous (looses its leaves in winter) oak, and this photo shows the bright, new foliage that has just emerged.  Found in mixed evergreen forests, oak woodlands, and coniferous forests in California and Oregon, this oak produces acorns that were historically a favorite food of Native American tribes because of lesser amounts of tannins as compared to other oak species' acorns.

Bowltube Iris (Iris macrosiphon Torr.) vividly displays the familiar colors of the UC ...blue and gold. This flowering plant is endemic to California and the flower color varies from golden yellow to cream or pale lavender to deep blue-purple.  It occurs in sunny grasslands, meadows, and open woodlands including the oak woodlands which are common at UC-Hopland REC.  They are in full bloom now as you can see from this pale lavender specimen.