Unlike seeing any other bird soaring above, the ultimate goose-pimple experience has to be witnessing California condors riding the thermals in the wild. Is it because they are big? Or because there are so few of them? Or just because they are awesome? Whatever the reason, if you want to watch them fly free and […]
Wanting to slither and hop into your heart, reptiles and amphibians are often low-beasties on the wildlife totem pole. Is it because they are often small and good at hiding? Carapaces not cuddle-worthy? Not as showy compared to their mammalian or avarian counterparts? Be prepared to have those stereotypes bashed when you come face-to-face […]
Taking photography from the realm of scientific data to artful expressions, wildlife biologist Brenton Spies has found a way to connect two of his great passions – and a new exhibition of his work illuminates both. “Diversity of California Wetlands” at the G-2 Gallery in Venice highlights Spies’ journey up and down the California coastline […]
Biologists are hoping to establish a future Frogtown high in the San Bernardino National Forest with the recent release of captive-bred young mountain yellow-legged frogs and tadpoles, one of the most endangered frogs in North America. A team of staff and volunteers from the San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research (ICR) introduced the young […]
We see ‘em everywhere these days. Sometimes they are as familiar as squirrels or finches. But rest assured, coyotes are indeed a different kind of animal. Discovering how coyotes survive in an intensively urbanized area is the goal of a new research project by the National Parks Service which has been studying carnivores in and […]
Love and wings are in the air for the El Segundo blue butterfly, that little inch-long flapper that has found a stronghold in the Ballona Wetlands. From now until about early September, these flutterers emerge from their cocoons and start their happy mating dance. It’s also a happy time for butterfly watchers, especially the Friends […]
Hunters and hunted. It’s the law of the natural world. Some critters are on the top, some were destined to be lunch. But even those on the high end of the food chain often become meals for others in that Great Circle of Life. But we humans have altered the scene over the decades and […]
Fireflies may be the quintessential East Coast and Midwest bug, but some glowing nocturnal beetles also call Southern California their home. Recently a new species of firefly was discovered in SoCal by an undergraduate student at University of California, Riverside who was investigating the wildlands of Topanga for his semester’s insect collection requirement. According to […]
The folks at Anza-Borrego are looking for sheep peepers to help them count big horn sheep over the long Fourth of July weekend in their longstanding citizen scientist program. It’s the 45th annual census and over the years, counters and biologists have seen growing numbers of the sure-footed sheep in the area. Current estimates are about […]
It’s a good thing that green abalone aren’t prone to sudden jerky movements – especially when you are trying to delicately affix a millimeter-size color coded circle on them using a tiny squirt of super glue. The intensity level rises when the goal is to tag 1,000 sea snail subjects in one day. Many hands […]
Bird is definitely the word, especially in Los Angeles County that’s home to the largest diversity of birdlife in the United States. Yes. Here. Los Angeles. Bird Capital. HERE. That’s the undercurrent to the first-ever Bird LA Day on May 2 which encourages Angelenos to embrace their feathered citizens that fly over oceans and mountains, […]
Imagine a preschool where youngsters will learn their ABC’s and 123’s among the birds and the trees – that’s the theory behind the first ever pre-K program in Southern California to be established at a nature center. The new pre-K facility will be housed at the Environmental Nature Center (ENC) in Newport Beach, a location […]