International Migratory Bird Day 2004

April 1, 2004 •  by

Birds will again be studied—and celebrated—at the International Migratory Bird Day festival at the Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge on Saturday, May 8, in Alviso (10 a.m. to 4 p.m.). The free event will include naturalist-led bird … Read more

The Courtship of Herons

April 1, 2004 •  by

All around the Bay Area in spring, herons and egrets begin their annual transformation from mostly solitary top predators to birds gathered in crowded breeding colonies. Local photographer Philip Greene has spent years following the whole subtle and spectacular process by which these large birds break down their resistance to social communion: the changing color of bills and legs, the growth of flowing nuptial plumage, and the complex gestures and dances that make up the fine art of getting to know one another.

Megafauna Resources

January 1, 2004 •  by

To learn more about ancient megafauna and efforts to protect and restore the Bay Area’s megafauna: Megafauna Video Check out our feature article on the Bay Area’s prehistoric megafauna, and then watch KQED’s video on megafauna, part of their Quest … Read more

Altamont Wind Resources Area

January 1, 2004 •  by

As migrating shorebirds pass through Northern California, environmentalists hope they don’t meet the same fate as the hundreds of raptors that perish each year at Altamont Pass in Livermore. More than 40 golden eagles, up to 300 red-tailed hawks, up … Read more

Napa County Breeding Birds Atlas

January 1, 2004 •  by

How many people does it take to figure out the number of bird species that breed in Napa County? For the Napa-Solano Audubon Society (NSAS), all it took was some 70 volunteers, most of whom surveyed separate 5-kilometer plots between … Read more

Out in the Tules

January 1, 2004 •  by

The rounded hills by the Bay are the first thing that catch your eye at Coyote Hills Regional Park. But the brackish and freshwater marshes behind the hills have a charm of their own. Remnant of a once-extensive mix of tidal and freshwater wetlands that sustained a thriving Ohlone community for several thousand years, the marsh is now home to marsh wrens, muskrats, and one of the East Bay’s few remaining patches of tules.

Where the Elk and the Antelope Played

January 1, 2004 •  by

A million years ago, in a climate much like ours today, the land around an ancestral bay teemed with large animals: mammoths and saber-tooth cats; bears, horses, and peccaries. By 300 years ago, the mammoths were gone, but grizzlies, elk, condor, and pronghorn were abundant.European settlers wiped out many of those animals, but programs to reintroduce some of them are now under way. Which raises the question: What should a healthy, native megafauna look like now?

Monarch Day at Natural Bridges

October 1, 2003 •  by

To see slightly more diminutive returning migrants, head south on Sunday, October 12, for Welcome Back Monarchs Day at Natural Bridges State Beach in Santa Cruz. By mid-October, the butterflies have begun to arrive from as far away as 2,000 … Read more

Stavocet/Avostilt

October 1, 2003 •  by

While you’re exploring the Bay Area this fall, keep your eyes open for the new bird on the Bay. Ten years after Jim Rosso’s initial sighting, San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory Intern Biologist Robin Dakin and photographer David Cardinal recently … Read more

The Essential Tree

October 1, 2003 •  by

It’s almost impossible to imagine the California landscape without oak woodlands. But this most familiar and prolific habitat faces a number of serious threats, including unchecked suburban development and Sudden Oak Death. Fortunately, many parks in the Bay Area, including those of the East Bay Regional Parks, offer welcome refuge for a variety of oak woodlands.