Nature to look for in summer 2020.
Wildlife
Feeling Bats
June 21, 2020 •
The COVID-19 pandemic has put bats in the headlines. Now’s the time to learn about their essential role in Bay Area ecology and how to live alongside them.
Lord of the Flies
June 21, 2020 •
Bored at home? Learn how to train common flies to ride on your finger like miniature falcons.
Meet the Bats of the East Bay Regional Park District
June 21, 2020 •
Eight bat species live in the East Bay parks.
The Mourning Cloak Butterfly Means Spring in the Bay Area
May 27, 2020 •
The mourning cloak butterfly, Nymphalis antiopa, is one of the most widely distributed butterflies in the world, ranging across most of the northern hemisphere. In some places like the British Isles it’s quite rare and to find one would make … Read more
The City Nature Challenge, Modified, Returns
April 22, 2020 •
The global species-finding competition returns on April 24, minus the competition.
The Beautiful Geometry of Short-eared Owls
April 15, 2020 •
I’m not usually masochistic. But then I spent three months this winter trying to observe extremely elusive short eared owls in a busy park in the inner Bay Area. (I’ll omit the location in order to preserve a semblance of … Read more
Nature “Without Us” … Looks Like Nature With Us?
April 7, 2020 •
It’s hard not to wonder if maybe it’s the people that have changed, and not the animals.
Can AI Read Scientific Literature to Help Save Animals Like Otters?
March 25, 2020 •
When Kyle Van Houtan, the chief scientist at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, first began publishing research in the 1990s, he had to physically mail a typed manuscript in an envelope to a scientific journal, with a copy for each reviewer. … Read more
Naturalist’s Notebook: Chestnut-Backed Chickadees
March 24, 2020 •
Three subspecies of chestnut-backed chickadee inhabit the Bay Area. But the populations are merging.