The peak of the Orionid meteor showers passed on Wednesday, Oct. 21 with around 20 shooting stars an hour, but continue to watch the eastern sky as they trail through early November. Halloween, or its Celtic ancestor, Samhain, arrives with a blue moon on Saturday, Oct. 31. Traditionally this is a time when the dead return to visit the living—hence the wearing of costumes to deflect evil spirits. The full moon will light the way this year. The bright light will obscure much of the Taurid meteor shower, which peaks on Nov. 4, also in the eastern sky.
The fall feasts are on, and humpback whales are offshore in Drakes Bay, identified by the white patterns on their tails. Usually, they return to these coasts in autumn; unlike migrating gray whales who tend to stay on the move, humpbacks linger in an area, especially to feed around schools of anchovies and herring. Abundant food may also be keeping brown pelicans in the area, as they usually are moving south at this time of year.
I was just watching a gray squirrel chow down on the last of the cherry plums. These arboreal rodents like to travel and stay in the trees and don’t often come to the ground. They eat oak acorns and will strip a Douglas fir cone apart for seeds. Their tree nests are called dreys; typically, they have one large stick nest for raising their young and another nest for sleeping.