Nature at the Table
On summer weekends, the nearly 4,000 picnic tables of the East Bay Regional Park District are packed with families from many of the Bay Area's diverse communities, returning year after...
Wildlife
Paddling on the Wild Side
Few craft can match a kayak for allowing you to immerse yourself in the watery universe of bay or ocean, moving silently through the world of seals, otters, dolphins, and...
Water Walkers and Bottom Feeders
Discover the world of water striders and water boatmen.
Dam Removal for Steelhead
In what ought to be a landmark action to restore steelhead trout runs in the region, two dams are slated for removal this year on Alameda Creek, which drains the...
The Cattle Baron and the Elk
The 19th-century cattle baron Henry Miller (not the noted California author of the same name), who once had an estate on Mount Madonna (the subject of our July-September 2007 On...
From Collecting to Recollecting
This San Mateo coast reserve--home to brilliantly colored nudibranchs, 20-armed sun stars, and pupping harbor seals--has been transformed from a place of collection and plunder to one of exploration and...
Mount Diablo: A Place for Raptors
Mount Diablo’s woodlands and canyons provide habitat for a fantastic variety of raptors, from kestrels to golden eagles (of which the northern Diablo Range hosts perhaps the world’s densest population)....
The Gopher Underground
Years ago, in my mother’s garden, an ominous mound appeared: a volcano- or horseshoe-shaped pile of earth with an off-center hole, plugged with loose dirt. Her response, echoing the response...
Do local breeding birds mate for life?
Q: Do any local breeding birds mate for life? Why? [Leo, San Francisco] A: Some local birds do form long-lasting pair bonds of several different kinds. Ravens and scrub jay...
Black Rock Abalone Endangered
A favorite food of the southern sea otter is black abalone, a marine mollusk that has historically put down roots in rocky intertidal zones from Southern Oregon to Baja. This...
