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Explore the natural world of Northern California with Bay Nature's in-depth articles, photography, illustration and events.
Bay Nature's 2025 Local Hero Awards
Conservation Action. This award goes to an individual who has made or is currently making significant contributions to the conservation of the natural landscapes, wildlife, and/or flora of the San Francisco Bay Area, through leadership, advocacy, …
A Trip to the Farallones, to See Birds on the Edge - Bay Nature
Oct 8, 2024 · A flight, or gulp, of Brandt’s cormorants. (Kip Evans) In 2023, global sea surface temperatures reached record highs, and they’ve continued to spike in 2024.Around the Farallones, an El Niño that lasted from summer 2023 to the end of spring 2024 raised temps a couple of degrees above the long-term average and caused some birds to delay breeding, to not breed at all, or to lay fewer eggs ...
It's a Rock Pigeon's World - Bay Nature
Aug 6, 2024 · Left: A band-tailed Pigeon in El Sobrante, California. (Becky Matsubara via Flickr, CC BY 2.0 DEED); Right: A visualization of band-tailed versus rock pigeon sightings from 2023 onward.(Visualization by Anushuya Thapa, data from iNaturalist) Band-tailed pigeon The band-tailed pigeon (Patagioenas fasciata), cousin to the rock pigeon, is …
Bay Nature's 2025 Local Hero Awards
Sep 13, 2024 · Right now we are seeking nominations for Bay Nature’s 2025 Local Heroes, and I am asking for you to contribute. The award categories are: Conservation Action
A Lifeline for Three Endangered Wildflowers - Bay Nature
Oct 3, 2024 · An endangered showy Indian clover, spotted in 2019. (samfisch via iNaturalist, CC-BY-NC)On a hike in the Sonoma hills in the spring of 1993, Peter Connors was, as usual, ignoring the view for the wildflowers—when he spotted a lone purple-and-white clover that stopped him in …
The Coyotes Arrived. Now, They’re Changing Angel Island.
Nov 19, 2024 · Coyote swimming towards Tiburon from Angel Island this April, its head just barely visible (Left, Photo by Casey Dexter-Lee); Coyote getting its legs wet on the shores of Angel Island looking towards Tiburon (Right, Photo by California State Parks/Bill Miller). The idea of coyotes on Angel Island has been floated before. In 1915, the US Army introduced about 20 Columbian black-tailed deer ...
Large-Scale Solar Is Coming to Tiger Salamander Country
Dec 12, 2024 · The North Livermore Valley is one of the last undeveloped valleys in the Bay Area. (Tanvi Dutta Gupta) Nevertheless, Aramis today includes more environmental protections than its first proposal several years ago—budgeting almost $10 million for conservation efforts, including protections for California tiger salamanders and the purchase of 458 nearby acres to …
What’s It Like Inside a Woodrat Nest? - Bay Nature
Jan 3, 2021 · Woodrats, pack rats, and trade rats are all common names for the same remarkable rodent genus, Neotoma.Our local species, the dusky-footed woodrat (Neotoma fuscipes), has a nice multicolor coat—unlike the nasty nonnative Norway and black rats, all too common in urban areas.It’s also extremely cute, with big Mickey Mouse ears and a lovely, lightly fuzzy tail.
The Enduring Mystery of Oak Tree "Mast" Years - Bay Nature
Jul 5, 2022 · Variability is only half of masting behavior; the other half is synchrony. If individual trees bore variable acorn crops but asynchronously with each other, the overall number of acorns available might remain constant from year to year, allowing mobile predators like birds to find productive trees and never suffer the cost of a lean year.