Joe Eaton

Joe Eaton lives in Berkeley and writes for the San Francisco Chronicle and Estuary News.

The Color of Flight

April 1, 2011 •  by

From migrating monarchs to giant yellow swallowtails to tiny pygmy blues, butterflies are endlessly enthralling. For folks like retired East Bay Regional Parks naturalist Jan Southworth and artist Liam O’Brien, what started as an interest in colorful insects became a passion for creating nectar gardens and protecting habitat to sustain butterfly populations in San Francisco, the East Bay, and beyond.

A Squabble of Gulls

October 1, 2010 •  by

Gulls don’t inspire the awe that a golden eagle or red-tailed hawk does. Or the affection we feel for hummingbirds. But the Bay Area’s dozen gull species  are true survivors: Adaptable, voracious predators, they breed by the thousands in the South Bay and at the Farallones, and it takes some determined biologists to keep an eye on them.

Rafting Time for Diving Ducks

January 1, 2010 •  by

The great rafts of ducks on San Francisco and Tomales bays, mostly surf scoter, greater and lesser scaup, and canvasback, are a wintertime spectacle. Scoter flocks can range from many hundreds to a few thousand birds. Why do they form these aggregations?

Hayward Haven

April 1, 2009 •  by

At Hayward Regional Shoreline, East Bay Regional Park District staff and volunteers have created new nesting habitat for the endangered California least tern. Here’s the recipe…

A Refuge in the Harbor

April 1, 2009 •  by

Within view of Richmond, Brooks Island today is a haven for nesting terns. That’s just its latest incarnation. A short paddle across the harbor to this island refuge takes you back centuries and “away from it all.”

Raptor Rapture

January 1, 2009 •  by

The Marin Headlands is justifiably renowned as a great place to see raptors. But did you know that the world’s highest density of breeding golden eagles is found near Altamont Pass? Indeed, the East Bay is a prime location for observing and studying native raptors, from prairie falcons nesting on cliffs near Mount Diablo to bald eagles fishing in local reservoirs and Cooper’s hawks snatching prey out of the air above the streets of Berkeley.

Fall of the Buckeye Ball

October 1, 2008 •  by

The dramatic fall silhouette of the California buckeye shows off its giant seeds, that largest of any of our native plants.

Patience Rewarded

January 1, 2008 •  by

You might be taken by surprise at this marshland wildlife area, with its plethora of wandering elk, playful otters, acrobatic owls, and diverse waterfowl. Just be sure it’s not hunting season when you go.