Otherworldly Light
Winter is the ideal season to see UV fluorescent organisms in the Bay Area.
Category: Biodiversity
Winter 2026 Almanac: Sea Stars and Scoters
Life during winter can have ups and downs over the years.
Some Birds in the Bay Are Doing OK
The first update to a local State of the Birds report in 14 years shows restoration working—and some puzzling declines.
Split Verdict Over State of the Estuary
This piece was originally published in KneeDeep Times, a digital magazine featuring stories from the frontlines of climate resilience in the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond. The 2025 State of Our Estuary assessment, released this fall at a regional conference, takes the … Read more
Invasive Golden Mussels Upend Life in the Delta
One year after the discovery that golden mussels had invaded the Delta, thick colonies coat boats and piers and threaten water supplies for cities and farms. Yet the state has no specific funding or plans to tackle harms in the heart of the invasion.
In Search of the East Bay Mystery Snake
The Alameda whipsnake is a true local. Yet it remains a stranger to us—which makes protecting it trickier.
Finding Bugula
A colony of hundreds of small animals, whose symbiotic bacteria pumps out human medicine.
Fall 2025 Almanac: Blond Tarantulas and Beavers
Life during fall brings with it a little bit of whimsy, the cerulean sky, and a shimmer of promise.
How Spiders Fly
Darwin saw them ballooning. Without any wind. Eventually some scientists figured out their electric secret.
Struggling Monarchs Sure Picked Some Inconvenient Habitat
All 16 Bay Area “critical habitat” groves in a proposed federal threatened listing include eucalyptus. How do we protect a native that now depends on a non-native to survive?
