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.
Art & Design | Botany | Climate Change | El Niño | Fire | Fungi | Geology | History | The Bay | The Ocean | Urban Nature | Water | Weather | Wildlife
Tactical Pooping, and Other Ways Birds Survive Summer
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
“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
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
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
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
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
This issue’s almanac features barnacles, berries, Steller’s jays, and more.
The Geology of Lake Merritt, Oakland’s Shimmering Tidal Heart
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.