Natural History Journal

You've heard about our state bird, the California Quail . You know about our state flower, the California Poppy , and perhaps you're aware that we have not one but two state trees, the Coast Redwood and Giant Sequoia.  Maybe you even know that our state rock, Serpentine, is green (not gold - that's the state mineral) and that our state mammal, the Grizzly Bear, has been extinct in California since the 1920's.   But have you heard about California's state amphibian?? Meet the California Red-legged Frog ( Rana draytonii ). California Red-legged Frog, Pinnacles National Park Once common in California, red-legged frogs are now listed as federally threatened. California Red-legged Frogs are the largest frog native to the western U.S., coming in at up to five inches long.  Apparently, many were eaten by miners during the Gold Rush, and this is the species immortalized by Mark Twain in his "Celebrated Jumping Frogs of Calaveras County" (possibly).   Today, ...

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about a recent experience with a Rock Sandpiper in San Francisco which reminded me that birding is about more than just the birds: it's about the places the birds inhabit and the work that is being done to protect them.  But there's more.  Birding is about people, too.  It's about learning from those who are more skilled, and sharing with those newer to the field; about coming together, regardless of differences, for a common cause to admire and protect.  Ultimately, it's about more than a love of birds.  It's about humility and friendship and generosity.   I would never have found this lovely male Yellow-bellied Sapsucker if it wasn't for an unlikely friendship, forged through a mutual love of birds and our Creator.  Ed, to whom I was introduced by my father-in-law, is an avid wildlife photographer and recently shared a photo of a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker he had come across.  I was excited by his excellent "ac...

I was born into a world where wild California Condors were a thing of the past - and little more than a dim hope for the future.   But in the three decades since, California Condors have become the stars of one of the most amazing comeback stories in the history of wildlife conservation, a story filled with controversy, pitting doubt and uncertainty against unwavering hope and perseverance.   Today, thanks to years of painstaking effort on the part of hundreds, if not thousands, of wildlife biologists and conservationists, we can once again look up into Southwestern skies and see condors soaring above on majestic wings.   The story, like the birds themselves, inspires. Male condor 602 hatched at the Los Angeles Zoo in 2011 and was released at Pinnacles in 2013. During the late Pleistocene, California Condors ( Gymnogyps californianus ) were widespread across North America.  15,000 years ago, when megafauna like mammoths, mastodons and giant ground slot...

A few days ago, Eric and I spent a lovely spring day hiking with friends at Pinnacles National Park.  And of course, when I say "hiking," you know I mean birding also!  We hiked eight miles in total, from the visitor center along the Bench, Sycamore, and Moses Spring Trails to Bear Gulch Reservoir, encountering 47 species of birds along the way. A diversity of plant communities in Pinnacles National Park offers habitat for 160 species of birds.  While much of the steep mountainous terrain in the park is covered by chamise-dominated chaparral, pine and oak woodland, dominated by gray pine and blue oak, is well represented also.  Riparian corridors of sycamores and willows follow the paths of Bear Gulch and Chalone Creek, offering refuge in an otherwise often hot and arid landscape. From the moment we got out of the car near the visitor center, the sound of birds filled the air: most notably, the raucous calls and incessant chattering of a large flock of Acorn Woodpeck...

Probably a good candidate for the distinction of "most common bird that non-birders have never heard of," the Spotted Towhee ( Pipilo maculatus ) is at home across much of California and the West wherever suitable habitat is present.   A large, chunky sparrow, the Spotted Towhee hangs out in thick underbrush and tangles of vegetation in chaparral, dry woodlands, forest edges, and even the brushy edges of fields and backyards.  I come across these striking birds just about every time I venture out, from the mountains to the coast: they are common residents in the undergrowth along Central Valley rivers, like the Tuolumne, Stanislaus and San Joaquin, in brushy edge habitat around wetlands and grasslands, and in pockets of shrubby vegetation in oak woodlands and dry forests.  One even showed up - briefly - in my own backyard!   The photos below were taken last week in a small riparian area along a creek, an island of vegetation in a grassland sea.  Overgr...

If you've been with me through Parts I  and II of this series, where we talked about the arguments against damming and flooding Del Puerto Canyon and then looked at a long list of sensitive species that may be displaced by the project, you may have a few questions. You may be thinking,  with thousands of acres of habitat available in the Coast Ranges, why would the loss of a mere thousand acres matter?  Isn't there plenty of available habitat left for wildlife?  What is the point of this, anyway? Progress is progress,  you say,  water is life, agriculture feeds the Valley (and many, many far-flung regions beyond), so what is the loss of a thousand or so acres of habitat in the grand scheme of things? Yet this has been the story over and over and over again in California, for the last 200 years: the relentless march of "progress," taking all we can possibly take with little regard for the destruction left behind.   Habitat fragmentation has plague...

In Part I , we looked at a few of the reasons the proposed dam at the mouth of Del Puerto Canyon has caused such a great deal of opposition within the local community.  Some of the arguments against the dam include the risk of flooding that a dam failure would present to the city of Patterson, the loss of educational and recreational access to the lower canyon, destruction of Native American cultural sites, and loss of access to sites of geological and paleontological significance. While there are many valid reasons why this canyon should not be flooded, perhaps the most significant to me, as a naturalist, is the loss of wildlife habitat and disruption of wildlife corridors that would follow.   Below are excerpts from the environmental impact report (read the full text  here  and  here ) regarding the specific species of wildlife that have the potential to be displaced by the damming and flooding of Del Puerto Canyon. Regarding terrestrial biological resour...