UPDATE: The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office has issued evacuation orders and warnings for sections of the Eel River area. Find the areas and further information here. For those who need to evacuate, the HCSO states: “The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office of Emergency Services in coordination with the Humboldt County Department of Health & Human Services […]
Van Duzen River
Posted inLife + Outdoors
Van Duzen Venture
My spouse and I follow winding State Route 36 on a lovely July day. We, like many, have not been out in a long time and it feels good to be wandering, even with masks. We follow the bends and gentle curves that weave through Hydesville and Carlotta, the landscape changing from river bottom to […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
Out of the Water and into the Sky
Mayflies on the Van Duzen Getting a late start, I made my way down to the river after the sun had gone from the canyon. I noted many tiny flying insects 6 inches on either side of the water’s edge. A spotted sandpiper (Actitis macularius) strolled up the minute beach pecking here and there as […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
HumBug: Mayflies on the Van Duzen
Getting a late start, I made my way down to the river after the sun had gone from the canyon. I noted many tiny flying insects 6 inches on either side of the water’s edge. A spotted sandpiper (Actitis macularius) strolled up the minute beach pecking here and there as it went. The insects I […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
Dragonflies, Daubers and Friendly Moths
Dragonflies remembered Sometimes it takes a little excursion to get back home. A fond memory from childhood was watching eight spotted skimmer dragonflies (Libellula forensis) over the little creek at my great aunt’s and imagining them as World War I fighter planes in dogfights high overhead. I didn’t know their names or what their aerobatics […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
HumBug: Dragonflies Remembered
Sometimes it takes a little excursion to get back home. A fond memory from childhood was watching eight spotted skimmer dragonflies (Libellula forensis) over the little creek at my great aunt’s and imagining them as World War I fighter planes in dogfights high overhead. I didn’t know their names or what their aerobatics were about, […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
Drafting Along with Whirligig Beetles
The other day I was talking on the phone with my fiance when I saw a large flying insect investigate a tree in my back yard. I made my excuses, set down the phone and got my camera. The critter in question was a Blue Eyed Darner (Rhionaeschna multicolor) dragonfly. Thankfully, they were both quite […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
Humbug: That’s One Big Moth
Coming home late from the Fortuna fireworks display on July 3, on a whim, I stopped at the Carlotta Fire hall. To my surprise I got to see a species of moth I photographed for the first time last year. Near the light was a Polyphemus Moth. At 6 inches it has the largest wingspan […]
Posted inNews
Man Found in Van Duzen ID’d as Missing Spaniard
The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office has identified the man whose body was found on Van Duzen River bar last week as Spaniard Iván Liñan Cano, who went missing in late November while suffering from a mental health crisis. He was 31. The professional mountain climber had leaped out of a car on Nov. 28 after […]
Posted inArts + Scene
HumBug: Ancient Fliers
Three hundred million years ago, when the world was a hot swamp and the air carried twice as much oxygen as it does today, it is very likely a Griffinfly landed on a horsetail (the plant that was around back then, not the equine anatomy which was not). At the time they were the dominant […]
Posted inNews
HumBug: The Birth of a Giant
Today, near the end of my walk along the Van Duzen River, a little tangle near the tip of a naked willow sprig caught my eye. At first I thought it was a bit of storm deposited flotsam tangled on the end of the branch, but there was a “legginess” to it. Experience told me […]
Posted inNews
Flooding Expected on the Eel, Van Duzen
With more rain in the forecast, officials are warning that the Eel and Van Duzen rivers are expected to crest their banks as low-lying areas of the county flood on Tuesday. This weekend’s storm, which dumped between 4 and 5 inches over the last 72 hours, left a Fortuna woman stranded with her two dogs […]