Cranes Across California and Beyond

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The several thousand sandhill cranes that come to the Cosumnes River Preserve each year are just a fraction of the 250,000 sandhills that visit California, with populations as far north as the Klamath Basin and as far south as the … Read more

Update: Steelhead on Alameda Creek

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2005 “By the Water’s Edge: A Chronicle of Two Creeks” Our January-March 2005 issue highlighted the riparian habitats of the East Bay’s Alameda Creek watershed. Recently, the Alameda Creek Alliance (ACA) received $1 million from the National Fish and Wildlife … Read more

Eastshore Park, Two Decades in the Making

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Eastshore State Park, an 8.5-mile-long ribbon of East Bay shoreline between the Bay Bridge and Richmond’s Marina Bay, is proof that many good things don’t come easily. The park is the result of 20 years of advocacy, negotiation, and planning … Read more

Art on the Wing

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The Bay Area is home to a surprising variety of butterflies, moths, and skippers; local artist and avid lepidopterist Liam O’Brien gets outside with his field journal whenever he can, to record them with his unusual mixture of drawing, painting, collage, and writing. A beautiful sunny day out in the oak savanna of Mount Diablo brought two rare species into view, and onto the pages of Liam’s notebook.

Heron and Egret Atlas

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The first-ever publication on trends, historical accounts, and locations of past and current Bay Area heron and egret breeding colonies, dating back to 1967, is nearing completion and will be available later this year. The authors, researchers from Audubon Canyon … Read more

The Deer Next Door

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It certainly seems that we’re seeing more deer all over our neighborhoods. But how can these large mammals make a living among all the cars and houses? Writer Bruce Morris took the time to observe the deer in his suburban Belmont backyard. What he learned may surprise you: These deer weren’t just “making do”; they were thriving. With surprisingly small home ranges, suburbanized deer are redefining our built landscapes to fit their needs—an orchard becomes a fawning zone, an abandoned garden a nursery, a wooded lot a feeding area.

Bay Area Butterfly Resources

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The Bay Area is home to almost 150 species of butterflies, skippers, and moths—and to quite a few butterfly lovers as well. If you number yourself among that group, spring is high season. Here’s a sampling of local butterfly events: … Read more

Peaceful Coexistence with Deer

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The first time I began to pay closer attention to the small band of Columbian blacktail deer that coexist—more or less peacefully—with my neighborhood’s human residents was during the summer of 1997 while working outside on my house in Belmont … Read more

By the Water’s Edge

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The East Bay is home to 44 creeks that drain into San Francisco Bay—from small but well-protected Wildcat Creek in the north to the 700 square miles of Alameda Creek’s watershed to the south.