How to Tell Our Local Turtles Apart
Even experts sometimes struggle to distinguish western pond turtles from common pond sliders.
Author Archives: Matthew Bettelheim
Matthew Bettelheim is a freelance writer and a wildlife biologist with AECOM.
Native Son
The Pacific Coast of North America has only one species of native turtle: the western pond turtle. Just 80 years ago, a naturalist found more than 100 of these creatures thriving along an unremarkable stretch of a local creek. Today, a similar survey turns up a fraction of that, as natives compete with plentiful escaped pet turtles and other exotics. But a new conservation plan could tip that balance, and public awareness, back in the western pond turtle's favor.
Review: Breeding Bird Atlas of Contra Costa County
On the heels of Santa Clara County's 2007 breeding bird atlas comes Contra Costa County's companion for north Bay Area birders. This year the Mount Diablo Audubon Society released the Breeding Bird Atlas of Contra Costa County.
Book Review: Breeding Bird Atlas of Santa Clara County, California
by William G. Bousman, Santa Clara Valley Audubon Society, 2007, 547 pages, $40.00. Available at www.scvas.org. Part natural/regional history guide, part atlas, part everything-but-the-kitchen-sink, Bousman’s Atlas is a compendious guide to all things feathered in Santa Clara County. The size … Read more
Finding the Stash
From the snowdrifts of Siberia to the labs of UC Davis, assistant research professor Vladimir Pravosudov has studied the food-caching behavior of various birds, including Russian birds that cache up to half a million items in one year. Born in … Read more
Field Guide to the Lost Species of the San Francisco Bay Area
A field guide to help Bay Area naturalists in their search for local, lost species that are presumed extinct.
Book Review: Califauna: A Literary Field Guide
Califauna: A Literary Field Guide, edited by Terry Beers and Emily Elrod, Heyday Books, 2007, 293 pages, $21.95 www.heydaybooks.com The bookworm interested in a true literary field guide to California wildlife need look no further than Califauna. Part anthology, part … Read more
Presumed Extinct
Mention extinct species, and most people think of long-gone mastodons and saber-toothed tigers. But we know that some Bay Area species have disappeared in just the last 200 years. Or have they? Prompted by rediscoveries of lost species in Solano and Contra Costa counties, we decided to see what other missing flora and fauna might still be out there, awaiting a patient observer.
Raising the Dead: Bringing Ghosts to Life, October-December 2007
How do you commission portraits of species the world has dismissed as extinct, species no one has seen in decades? That was the conundrum we at Bay Nature faced when it came time to solicit illustrations to accompany Presumed Extinct: … Read more
