.jpg){kind=link}
No one agency is tasked with protecting us from marine algal blooms. So here’s a map worth checking before you go out on the waters of San Francisco Bay.
Science & Nature
Art & Design | Botany | Climate Change | El Niño | Fire | Fungi | Geology | History | The Bay | The Ocean | Urban Nature | Water | Weather | Wildlife
Naturalist’s Notebook: How Pelicans and Humpbacks Stretch For Their Food
August 3, 2023 •
Pelicans don’t, as you may have heard, stick their spines out of their mouths. They do, however, do some pretty crazy yawn-stretching. From John Muir Laws.
Tactical Pooping, and Other Ways Birds Survive Summer
August 3, 2023 •
Here’s a look at how birds beat the heat along with some ways you can help. As SFBBO researcher Katie LaBarbera says, “these are birds trying to survive in the crevices in our world.”
With Instruments of Rocks and Shells, Cheryl Leonard Brings Nature’s Music To Life
August 1, 2023 •
“Anything can be musical instruments!” Leonard exclaims, in a studio full of bones, driftwood, feathers, stones, and homemade instruments.
The Secret Lives of Baby Tidepool Creatures
July 27, 2023 •
Imagine if your offspring were unrecognizable as the same species, and lived in a completely different habitat. This is the case for most tidepool creatures: barnacles, sea stars, urchins and more lead secret early lives as zooplankton, microscopic animals drifting out in the open ocean.
How Surrogate Sea Otter Moms Are Helping Populations Recover
July 26, 2023 •
It turns out sea otters are better than people at raising sea otters. That could be useful if the U.S. government decides to reintroduce them to their historic range.
East Bay Parks: The McCosker Property Is A Landscape Transformed
July 25, 2023 •
Following three years of construction, later this year the public will be welcomed back to the EBRPD-managed McCosker property, a landscape transformed.
Why a Mouse Matters
July 20, 2023 •
Salt marsh harvest mice are hard to find, and their fates offer a glimpse at our own coastal society’s future. A reporter tags along on an epic rangewide survey of salties—the Bay Area’s own endemic mouse species.
Summer 2023 Almanac: Barnacles, Bats, and Berries
July 18, 2023 •
This issue’s almanac features barnacles, berries, Steller’s jays, and more.
The Geology of Lake Merritt, Oakland’s Shimmering Tidal Heart
July 17, 2023 •
Our lake is a world-class oddity, an arm of the Bay in the midst of a city. It rises and falls with the daily tides. An inside-out island, a marine habitat surrounded by land, it is truly a mediterranean sea.