Steelhead are coming to spawn in a stream near you. If you’re lucky, you may see some making their way upstream.
Art & Design | Botany | Climate Change | El Niño | Fire | Fungi | Geology | History | The Bay | The Ocean | Urban Nature | Water | Weather | Wildlife
Native Species Put the Art in BART
On a typical walk through a BART station, it’s hard to ignore the advertisements covering the available wall space. But a few ads are most striking in their mystery: A Steller’s jay? A black-tailed deer? Both with nothing but a subtle BART train in the background. No message. No sell. What are these all about?
Brown Pelicans, Victims of Extreme Weather
Recently, people have been finding debilitated, or even dead, brown pelicans up and down the West Coast. Initially baffled, scientists now believe the birds’ expanding range clashed with an unusually severe winter storm in December 2008.
All in a Roe
This winter, as they have for decades, fishermen in the Bay’s last commercial fishery will launch their boats in search of spawning herring. These small fish come into the Bay from the ocean to lay their eggs. People aren’t the only ones on the hunt for herring; seals and seabirds depend on this bounty as well. But changing consumer tastes, rising costs, and unstable marine conditions have put the squeeze on the both the hunter and the hunted, and now the survival of this historic fishery is very much in question.
Altamont Power Struggle
Cost-effective and quick to install, wind turbines seem to be a leader in the race to develop clean, renewable energy sources. But at the Altamont Pass Wind Resource Area east of Livermore, the country’s largest and oldest wind farm site … Read more
Naturalist’s Notebook: Arachnophilia
Take a closer look at a few of our quirkier local spiders.
Coyote Valley Crossings
Students help document how wildlife cross Coyote Valley, a critical link between the Santa Cruz Mountains and the Diablo Range.
Dem Bones, Dem Bones
What can you learn from a skull or other bone you might find along the trail? A few simple tips will help you figure out what those bones have to say.
A Good Big Year
December 31, 2008, marked the end of the 2008 Endangered Species Big Year in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area (GGNRA). The yearlong event was a call to action for people to observe, and do something to preserve, each of … Read more
Kayaks and Breeding Birds at Alcatraz
The nearly vertical cliffs on the western side of Alcatraz Island serve as a nursery for several species of seabirds. These cliffs are the Bay’s only breeding site for Brandt’s and pelagic cormorants. In 1991, when PRBO Conservation Science began … Read more