Tagging Marine Animals
The tools scientists use to study pelagic marine life have come a long way. Now, with the use of advanced computing technologies, scientists are pondering the relationships hidden in data...
Wildlife
From an Entomologist’s Backyard
The sticky monkey flower, common on sunny Bay Area hillsides, hosts an array of insect visitors. Edward Ross’s intimate photos of these visits are but a small sample of the...
A Guide to Northern California Tidepooling
This story was updated on March 1, 2017. Fitzgerald Marine Reserve is home to some of the most diverse and accessible tidepools in the state, but there are many other...
Ano Nuevo and Farallones Seabird Nesting Update
As we reported in our July-September 2006 feature The Ups and Downs of Coastal Upwelling, last year’s delayed coastal upwelling event proved catastrophic to animals that depend on this annual...
Deep Water Corals in Monterey Bay
Thriving in cold, dark waters 4,265 feet below sea level, communities of large, ancient, and colorful corals grace the peaks of Davidson Seamount, a 7,546-foot inactive volcano 75 miles southwest...
Threatened Steelhead
In late December 2005, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) reaffirmed the threatened status of Central California Coast steelhead trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss), including steelhead in Bay Area streams. NMFS added...
Poolside Beauties
Vernal pools are havens for specialized species, including the endangered Contra Costa goldfield and the native solitary bee that pollinates it.
Squawk of the Auklet
Not many people get to visit Año Nuevo Island—you need a rubber boat, a strong stomach, and a research permit. But sea lions haul out here in droves, and hundreds...
Cranes Across California and Beyond
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...
Dance of the Cranes
The Cosumnes Preserve near I-5 in the Central Valley is a surprising mosaic of flooded rice fields teeming with birds, breached levees creating new forests, and a river reclaiming a...
