Argiope Spiders Decorate Their Webs—And We Don’t Know Why: Naturalist’s Notebook
Maybe it helps them hunt. Maybe not. From the sketchbook of John Muir Laws.
Wildlife
Skippers: Between Butterfly and Moth
When butterfly mania took hold of me, decades back, I thought I’d never crack the skippers’ code: the creatures are impish, and maddening to learn.
To Count Seabirds From Above, Fly Slowly And Pack a Big Lens
Aerial wildlife surveys, conducted by the USGS to inform the coming offshore wind energy boom, are strikingly beautiful, for government data. They were also hard-won.
The Living Drill Bits That Grind Holes in Beach Rocks
The piddock clam makes its mark on the world at the rate of one millimeter per month.
Species to Look For in Fall 2022
Elusive salamanders, flying spiders, shadowy sculpins, sapsuckers, lone-ranger bats, and waxy white snowberries.
Tracking Prairie Falcons, Mysterious Raptors of the Grasslands
"Peregrines are birds of the air," says one expert. "Prairie falcons are falcons of the ground." That makes them more sensitive to habitat loss throughout California, too.
Two Young Researchers, Two New Scorpions
There are now two more scorpion species to appreciate, thanks to the work of two young researchers. Their efforts could change the future for these salty-lake-bed, stinger-endowed specialists.
Keeping Up With the Flyers: Wildlife Tracking Breakthroughs
A fast-growing network of towers is making it way easier and cheaper for researchers to spy on animals worldwide.
Largest Tidal Restoration Project in California Will Make Way for Wildlife & Mitigate Floods
Two landscapes stand divided by the hundred-year-old Yolo Bypass West Levee in Solano County. To the south of the levee’s U shape, canals tangle toward the sprawling Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta, which teems with wildlife. North of the levee, former … Read more
The Story of the Butterflies
At almost every stage of life, the butterflies are threatened by climate change, habitat degradation, and increased use of neonicotinoid pesticides. At the same time, monarchs flourished in habitats that people made particularly habitable.
