Swimming in the Bay: Winter Clean
Even in winter, Bay water is mostly safe to swim in. It smells good. It tastes fine.
Category: From the Magazine
California’s Blackbird
The tricolored blackbird traverses the Golden State with cat calls and friends.
A Particular Here, Now
It is a human impulse to wonder at the limits of what we know through experience alone.
Paddling a Resurrected Wetland
A formerly barren landscape transforms into thriving habitat at Pacheco Marsh in Martinez.
Otherworldly Light
Winter is the ideal season to see UV fluorescent organisms in the Bay Area.
Winter 2026 Almanac: Sea Stars and Scoters
Life during winter can have ups and downs over the years.
Being a Salamander
In a tiny hollow beneath a log, reflected in my headlamp’s glow, were two gold-flecked black eyes and a dull pinkish snout.
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.
