Hike, scavenge, snoop, seek …. Local and national wildlife groups will be enticing kids ages 3-10 and their families to tramp around in the most urban park in the country, Griffith Park, for a communal Hike and Seek event on Saturday Nov. 2. Sponsored by the National Wildlife Federation (with many other local groups participating), […]
Have you stumble across the skittering reptile in your backyard, and said, “Hmm…I wonder if anyone would want to know about this cold-blooded cutie?” The answer is a resounding yes. Scientists want to know what is in your backyard – and not that pink flamingo or rusty chaise lounge. Backyard biologists can join in a […]
It’s about time the California condor got its own live animal cam – it seems there’s a cam for every critter worth watching these days so it’s high time the majestic flapper got into the video action. Launched by the Ventana Wildlife Society that partnered with the Oakland Zoo Federal Express and CamZone, this first […]
Step aside strange dead aquatic creatures like beaked whales and oarfishes – there’s plenty of other interesting beasties that can be found in our SoCal waters. In fact, two such critters were recently caught by fishermen off the Manhattan Beach pier. And they were alive, not dead… First, a young salmon shark raised eyebrows from […]
More California sea otters are swimming and frolicking in the waves according to a recent population census published by the U.S. Geological Survey. The threatened species – once assumed extinct – is showing a slow growth thanks to more pups and the addition of San Nicholas Island sea otters to the overall population count. Sea […]
After 14 years of raising garibaldi, California’s state marine fish, Cabrillo Marine Aquarium (CMA) has set a new record in the Aquatic Nursery this season with 71 healthy garibaldi juveniles. This is more than double the number of baby garibaldi in previous years. “This year’s success reflects all of our hard work dedicated to continually […]
For all those political secessionists, here is another reason to split California in half. Four previously unknown species of legless lizards have been unearthed in California, the only state in the U.S. that’s been home to a single legless lizard species, the California legless lizard. Now, centuries of years in the making, this critter has […]
California is suddenly THE place for Blue-footed boobies, the equatorial bird that is famous for its shocking colored feet (only when they are old enough!), mating dance and being a resident of the Galapagos Islands. Birders are flocking to the SoCal coastlines to catch a glimpse of this rare flapper that usually is found in warm waters. […]
The annual return of the migrating Vaux’s swifts to downtown L.A. is here. Flapping it in from Southern Alaska to their Central America winter homes, the vauxies are, according to Jeff Chapman, director of the Audubon Center at Debs Park, “right on time” despite reports that they have started their southward move a little later […]
“I think I have looked out at the Pacific Ocean thousands of times looking for birds, but I have never expected to see this bird,” says Dan Cooper, independent biologist who spied this morning a Blue-footed booby at about 7:45 am off the coast of Malibu near Gladstone’s Restaurant. Cooper had stopped at the overlook […]
“Photographing bats is like fishing; you can’t see them, you just cast a line and hope you catch something,” says wildlife photographer Joe McDonald about the challenge of capturing images of the night flyers. Along with partner and wife Mary Ann, McDonald’s images will join other bat-centric photographs (from Christian Ziegler, Louie Schwartzberg and Leighton Reid […]
As a symbol of the SoCal coastline, the California brown pelican is a graceful flyer, soaring over the waves, catching an updraft and swooping down for a fish snack. But when young pelicans can’t get enough to eat – maybe their fishing skills are up to snuff – they can end up at the International […]