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It was fascinating watching swirling masses of Northern Anchovey from a bridge over the Slough. Large schools were swimming in tandem, opening and closing their gill rakers.

Elegant Terns observation nearby-- they feed and depend on the success of Northern Anchovy: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/241369857

"The Elegant Tern’s fates are closely tied to those of its main source of food—the northern anchovy. When anchovies are abundant, the terns have high breeding success, and vice versa when anchovies are scarce. The distribution and abundance of these small fish, in turn, is heavily influenced by oceanographic conditions such as El Niño." https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Elegant_Tern/

Northern Anchovies under the other bridge: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/241695130

Northern Anchovy (Engraulis mordax), a.k.a. California Anchovy, is a marine, ray-finned fish in the Anchovies (Engraulidae) family. It is found in the Pacific Ocean, ranging from Mexico to British Columbia. They have streamlined, spindle-shaped bodies. Anchovies "school" (swim close together in groups). They eat plankton which they filter from the water with their GILL RAKERS.

Northern Anchovey:
"Commercial fishing: As sardine populations declined in the Pacific during the 1940s and 50's, fish packers in America started canning the more abundant local anchovies. Total hauls increased over this time from 960 tons in 1946 to 9,464 tons in 1947 and peaking at almost 43,000 tons in 1953. From 1949 to 1955, they were restricted for all uses but bait fish in California. In 2010, reported American hauls totaled 2,100 metric tons. Most Californian anchovies today are fished for use in animal feed and as bait fish. Recreational fishing: They are taken by anglers for use as bait or for personal consumption." https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/63770-Engraulis-mordax

SEANET Hopkins Marine Station for "Nearshore Plants and Animals of the Monterey Bay" https://seanet.stanford.edu/ (Northern Anchovy is not listed)

Fish Species of California: INaturalist Project: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/fish-species-of-california

Irene's Fish (in California, freshwater and saltwater) observations on INaturalist: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?project_id=44568&ttl=900&place_id=any&verifiable=any&subview=grid&user_id=3188668

Irene's (aparrot1) Profile Page on INaturalist listing Nature Resources (includes list of online references with links) for Plants, Birds, Fungi, Lepidoptera, Arachnids, Reptiles, Amphibians, Marine Life, Plant Galls, and more: https://www.inaturalist.org/people/3188668

Was watching this mantis hunt for honey bees on California Buckeye. She ignored the native bees. After several misses, she caught one, and was bombarded by 2-3 other honeybees for about 20 seconds before they gave up. While finishing off her honey bee, the mantis is grabbed by a female Western Fence Lizard that leaped vertically 9" into the air (I measured later). They land on the ground in a confused heap six inches from my foot, with the lizard on top and the mantis grabbing on to it. Everyone freezes, especially me, since I don't want this battle to go up my pants leg. I move into a better position, and after a while the lizard gets off the mantis and there's a long standoff where they stare each other down from about 6" apart. Finally, the lizard grabs some other small insect (ant?) from the ground and scuttles away under the buckwheat. With the coast now clear, the mantis hustles back up into the buckwheat. The End.

Hitch rescue from adobe creek; over 240 hitch were successfully relocated from transient pools in adobe creek to Clear Lake with no mortality.

Fish in photos had just been captured with electrofishing techniques

Dytique bordé

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