Book Review: Watching Giants
by Elin Kelsey, UC Press, December 2008, 304 pages, $24.95 Long-lived, slow to reproduce, and often hidden beneath ocean waves, whales and dolphins have remained elusive subjects for scientific study,...
The Ocean
Give Me Shelter
Harbor seals, migrating seabirds, and other wildlife find shelter in the productive waters of Drakes Estero at Point Reyes.
Letter from the Publisher
Springtime certainly has its charms–the hills turn green, wildflowers emerge, the days get longer. And summer is the traditional time to get outside. But fall is the season I look...
Whales at the Farallon Islands
Picture hungry tourists swarming around an all-you-can-eat buffet. Only the tourists are 100 feet long and weigh almost 200,000 pounds. These are blue whales, the largest animals ever, and they've...
Mole Crab Decline
On sandy beaches from Alaska to Baja, you’ve likely seen plovers, sanderlings, willets, and other shorebirds foraging for food in the swash zone, where waves perpetually cover and uncover the...
Marine Protected Areas Update
Find out the latest on California's effort to establish some of the strongest marine protected areas in the world.
Ocean Noise Pollution
We hadn’t yet reached the Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary, but we were far enough outside the Golden Gate that Angel Island looked like an extension of the...
The Beach as Office
I go to the beach in January. It reminds me why I'm still in California, what my rent really includes, that I'm alive.
The Largest Turtle In the World Hunts Jellyfish Off the California Coast
The world’s largest turtle visits the Central California coast every summer.
Video: Tour of the Tidepools at Fitzgerald Marine Reserve
Viewing a diverse Bay Area ecosystem can be as simple as a trip to the beach.
