Natural History Journal

Like most folks, our travel plans for this summer have been scrapped.  As we try to come up with alternative plans compliant with social distancing regulations and such, I've been looking back at some of the magnificent places we have been fortunate enough to visit in the past several years. Two years ago, during our semi-annual desert pilgrimage, Eric and I spent a couple of days around the Salton Sea, California's largest and most imperiled lake. The tale of the Salton Sea stretches far back into geologic time to the Pleistocene (between about 2.5 million and 11,000 years ago), when the meandering course of the Colorado River shifted north as it crossed its broad delta at the northern edge of the ancestral Gulf of California.  This type of shift happened more than once, causing the Salton Basin (or Salton Sink) to alternately fill with water, then evaporate, then fill again.  The cycle was repeated several times, as evidenced by the presence of wave-cut shorelin...

It's been a few weeks since my last visit to our local wetlands (namely, the San Luis, Merced and San Joaquin River National Wildlife Refuges) but even from my vantage point in my own backyard, I can tell you that exciting things are happening in the avian world!  Spring migration is in full swing, and birds we have been eagerly waiting for have returned: swallows, flycatchers, orioles, tanagers, warblers and vireos are filling the riparian woodlands (for a more complete sampling, check out the last few posts by Garry Hayes over at  Geotripper's California Birds !)  The bird composition has been changing in my backyard as well - the Yellow-rumped Warblers and White-crowned Sparrows of winter have departed (heading north and up-slope into the Sierra) while  Cliff Swallows  and Swainson's Hawks have arrived! In the wetlands, one of the most elegant birds of late spring is perhaps the American Avocet ( Recurvirostra americana ).  While they are prese...

I am fortunate enough to live within about a two-hour drive of the Pacific Coast (which is far enough away to avoid the traffic and potential earthquake damage, but close enough for day trips!).  Some of my earliest and fondest childhood memories involve days spent on the beach at Carmel, and entire weekends and weeks spent along the rocky shore in Pacific Grove with my dad, building sandcastles and poking around in tide pools.  Until I began birding seriously a few years ago, most of my time along the coast was spent like this: Following in the footsteps of "Doc" Ed Ricketts: tide-pooling in Monterey's Great Tide Pool area ... Looking for things like this: Hermit Crab ... And this: Anemone ... And this: California Sea Hare (found already dead, washed up on the beach) I was aware of "seagulls" and "sandpipers," maybe even vaguely aware of that mystical group known as the "sea birds" which exist somewhere out the...

Mono Lake, an otherworldly spot east of the Sierra Nevada in California's Great Basin desert, is such a fascinating place in so many ways, I could spend days reading and writing about it.  The geological history of the area is rich: Mono Lake, a salty inland sea with no outlet, sits in a fault basin and was formed from the melting of glaciers during the last ice age.  The glacial history written in the bordering mountains and the volcanic history seen in nearby craters, Mammoth Mountain, the Long Valley Caldera, and islands in Mono Lake itself are all worthy topics of study in their own right.  And the lake's famed tufa towers certainly deserve the spotlight in an article of their own, as do my beloved plants - in this case, those plants that have evolved to tolerate not only harsh desert conditions, but extreme salinity and alkaline soils as well!  The wonders are new every morning at Mono Lake!   Shoreline at Mono Lake's...

In days gone by, California's Great Central Valley was crisscrossed by a handful of free-flowing rivers carrying snowmelt from the Sierra Nevada to water fertile grasslands below.  Natural flood plains were regularly inundated with nutrient-rich silt, and wetlands of tule reeds and myriad wildlife flourished.  Today, the rivers persist in a somewhat diminished state, rigidly controlled by upstream reservoirs and dams.  Fruit and nut orchards, vineyards and housing developments have spread across the valley, to the very edges of river bluffs.  The view west, down the Tuolumne River in Stanislaus County. Earlier this year, flooding was a major concern in many areas along the rivers, the water flowing fast and strong.  But last year, like many years, the Tuolumne River was low and fairly calm, allowing for natural explorations of the riverine ecosystem.  Now, in the fall, the river has returned to its placid state.  When the riv...

 Sanderlings ( Calidris alba ) are smallish sandpipers of the swash zone, perhaps the "peeps" seen most commonly on the beaches of central California.  They stick together in flocks as they run up and down the beach, chasing the waves as they forage in the swash zone.  (The swash zone is the part of the beach that is covered with each incoming wave, and uncovered again to reveal potential tasty morsels beneath the sand.) The rather cute, gentle appearance of Sanderlings belies their amazing life strategy.  These birds may not look it, but they are truly daring, swashbuckling adventurers, flying thousands of miles between overwintering grounds around the world and breeding grounds high above the Arctic Circle.  Sanderlings are one of the most widespread shorebirds in the world, found during the winter on most temperate and tropical beaches.  For most of the year, they can be found in Californ...