Exploring Nature in the San Francisco Bay Area
Every winter, coho salmon return to coastal streams, though only 1 percent of the half million fish that once filled local streams. But you can still see them, and even help them survive.
As April showers are to May flowers in other parts of the country, so are autumn rains to the rain beetle here in the Bay Area. The rainy season’s first soaking precipitation (an inch or more) beckons forth this remarkable insect.
Every fall, thousands of graceful sandhill cranes arrive in the Central Valley to spend the winter. They’re a sight not to be missed!
You can still see tule elk, the smallest of North America’s elk, fighting for territory, mating, and raising their young in the Bay Area.
Fall is prime time to see hundreds of hawks, falcons, and other raptors flying south over the Marin Headlands.
Studies elsewhere in the country suggest that bats may be suffering even more than birds as more and more windmills get built. And there are no easy answers: New, larger windmills considered safer for birds might be more dangerous to bats.
Independent, nonprofit environmental journalism connecting people with nature in the San Francisco Bay Area.
