Natural History Journal

Sometimes, birds get lost.  And when they are found by local birders, far from their expected range, their presence causes quite the stir of excitement in the birding community!  (Case in point: the incredibly rare Snowy Owl that turned up in Orange County, California, a few days ago.)   While Southern California is a little out of my range for a quick day trip, the coast of Central California is not.  So, with Christmas behind us and a sunny day in the forecast, Eric and I packed up and headed over to Half Moon Bay in hopes of catching a glimpse of another very special rare bird from the north that has been hanging out on a popular beach for the last five or six weeks.  (Yes, I'm a little late to the party; it's been a very busy fall!) Decidedly smaller than Southern California's famed Snowy Owl, this lone male Snow Bunting is no less charismatic!  Unconcerned by nearby birders, beach-goers and photographers, he has made a habit out of hanging out al...

Last February, I wrote a bit about the plight of wetlands worldwide , their many values, and what is being done to protect and restore them.   Today, as spring begins to unfold across the Great Central Valley, I'd like to introduce you to a Ramsar Wetland of International Importance , right here in Central California: Grasslands Ecological Area. But Grasslands Ecological Area is not just any wetland of international importance: This is my home wetland!  And don't you think we should all have our own home wetland, a quiet patch of marsh to visit, take pride in, connect with, and protect? My relationship with Grasslands Ecological Area started some twenty years ago, when my parents began taking me out to the San Luis National Wildlife Refuge on weekends to wander and roam, exploring the trails through wetlands and grasslands in search of wildlife.  (There's a great photo of my eleven-year-old overall-clad self, sitting in the mud at marsh's edge, grinning and pointing ...

It's an unlikely spot, I'll give you that much.  It often smells of low tide, the restroom situation is iffy, and broken glass sparkling on the sandy roadside shoulder is evidence that car break-ins can and do occur.  The two towers of the Moss Landing Power Plant rise across the harbor where fishing boats lay at anchor in the quiet waters, protected by rock jetties bespangled with bird droppings. A romantic seaside destination it is not. And yet, this place holds a profound romance, an appeal, an irresistible draw all of its own. At least, it does for me. Situated directly off of California's scenic Highway 1 just north of the mouth of Elkhorn Slough  and the tiny fishing village of Moss Landing, Jetty Road is among the top birding destinations along the central coast. The entire Monterey Bay area is one of our state's finest jewels, and little Moss Landing Harbor is one of its most dazzling, if humble, facets.   From the turn off of Highway 1,...

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...

As you may already know, I adore California's deserts: high deserts redolent with sagebrush, low deserts of sunny cactus gardens and shaded palm oases, and mid-elevation deserts with Joshua Tree forests and pure stands of fragrant creosote bush. Vibrant colors after a spring rain at Mojave National Preserve California is home to three distinct desert ecosystems: the Great Basin, Mojave and Colorado deserts.  Beyond California's borders, the Colorado desert flows seamlessly into the Sonoran desert of Arizona; the fourth North American desert, the Chihuahuan desert, reaches the southeastern corner of Arizona and covers a portion of southern New Mexico and western Texas. Late winter and spring are the ideal times to visit California's deserts, and for the past several years, we've been fortunate enough to make annual pilgrimages to some of these special places.  This year, of course, travel is out of the question.  We will be staying home, admiring photos and vide...