Flashback Friday: What’s all the commotion?
Today's Flashback Friday is a profile of the American Coot – learn about how these birds favor their more attractive offspring! Ever on the lookout for interesting Read More…
birds
The Vibrant, Vivacious, Varied Thrush
With the look of a particularly flamboyant robin, the varied thrush (Izoreus naevius) is an eye-catching part-time resident in California forests. This colorful male, spotted by one Read More…
Fish & Feathers: Salmon Promote Songbird Diversity
Watersheds that support salmon benefit from an annual influx of nutrients delivered by this migrating fishy convoy. When salmon return to their natal streams to spawn and Read More…
American Dippers Defy Songbird Stereotypes
Songbirds aren’t typically thought of as water-loving fowl, but the American dipper (Cinculus mexicanus) breaks from that stereotype. Living almost exclusively on flowing streams, this species is Read More…
Bird Bonanza: Sooty Shearwater Migration
Mid-summer to mid-fall is a time when our Santa Cruz office and the rest of the Monterey Bay witnesses the arrival of thousands of international visitors. These Read More…
Food Flight: Fish Hitch a Ride in Bird Guts
Fish can show up in remarkable places, like ponds disconnected from any other body of water or remote alpine lakes. Sure, sometimes they get a first-class flight Read More…
What’s for Dinner? Dissecting a Mystery
The unsettling pile of bones pictured above may look like the remains of victims snatched up by a cave-dwelling ogre, but the zoomed-in image actually shows the Read More…
Some Like it Orange
When it comes to color in the bird world, it’s hard to beat the vibrant, flame-orange feathers of the Bullock’s oriole (Icterus bullockii), which one of our Read More…
Photo Friday: Smolt Spy Surprise
We regularly perform maintenance on automated fish counting systems, such as the Smolt Spy we built for Los Padres Reservoir, to make sure they are running well. Read More…
You’re in Heron Territory
While quietly kayaking down a calm stretch of river, you may be unaware that you are in the presence of a heron, until suddenly from downstream you Read More…