Cape Horn is a concrete and earth-filled dam on the upper Eel River in Mendocino County. About 140 miles north of San Francisco, the dam was built in 1907 and blocks the waters of the Eel to form the Van … Read more
Timely news, art, ideas and science from the natural world of Northern California.
The Second-Largest Fish In the Ocean Seems to be In Decline
Basking sharks can be over 30 feet long and are characterized by their enormous gill rakers and three-foot tall dorsal fins. But these mysterious, massive, filter-feeding cousins of the great white shark aren’t just a scientific curiosity – they also … Read more
The Bay Area is the Center of an Evolutionary Race Between Hungry Snakes and Toxic Newts
Newts carry enough toxin to kill a dozen people. Yet in the Bay Area garter snakes feast on them without harm.
Can Artificial Intelligence Identify Species from Sound Alone? A North Bay Group is Trying
It is now a given that the health of an ecosystem can be measured by the abundance and diversity of the native organisms able to survive and thrive there – i.e., its level of biodiversity. The concept has now even … Read more
Bay Nature Spring 2022 Editor’s Letter: Do Right Today
As the poet Wendell Berry says, “if we do the right things today, we’ll have done all we really can for tomorrow.”
This Tropical Weather Phenomenon Can Have a Big Influence on California Rain and Snow, But Key Connections Remain a Mystery
In a famous experiment in the early 1960s, the mathematician and meteorologist Edward Lorenz was running computer simulations of weather patterns, trying to see how they changed when he changed variables like wind or temperature at the start. One day, … Read more
Annie the Falcon Came Back from Presumed Dead, but Life Hasn’t Returned to Normal for UC Berkeley’s Cal Falcons
A year of exceptional drama in the lives of Cal’s peregrine falcons continues.
A Process of Survival
In the last century, the federal government has tried to build its way out of California’s water crisis. The parallel story of the Winnemem Wintu’s displacement is a reminder that we can’t conjure water out of thin air.
Raccoons, Skunks, and Foxes Falling Sick in the Bay Area as a Respiratory Virus Spreads
A fox looks sick in the Presidio, and Animal Care and Control reports increased numbers of sick raccoons and skunks.
Wetlands Help Fight Climate Change, But the Kind of Wetland Matters
Wetlands breathe in carbon dioxide, but can breathe out methane.