If you’re looking for northern elephant seals, there is no place better to visit than Ano Nuevo State Reserve, home to the world’s largest mainland breeding colony.
Bay Nature stories about the Pacific Ocean.
Gray Whale Migration
Now is the time to see gray whales migrating along the California coast and maybe even appearing inside the Bay.
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 forward to most. True, the days are shorter, and the … Read more
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 come to feast on some of the tiniest animals on the planet: millions upon millions of tiny shrimplike krill.
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 sand. One of the creatures the shorebirds are hunting is … Read more
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 Marin Headlands, an optical illusion that kept early explorers from … Read more
The Beach as Office
I go to the beach in January. Sometimes I bring a sweater and a hat. I go to the beach in June in work clothes and roll up the cuffs. 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.
Marine Protected Areas Update
Find out the latest on California’s effort to establish some of the strongest marine protected areas in the world.