Natural History Journal

A world set apart.  The Galapagos of California.  Ancestral home of the Chumash people.   Located some 25 miles off the coast of Southern California, the archipelago of eight islands that collectively make up the Channel Islands have been called many things throughout their ancient history. But for birders across the globe, one of the islands in particular is known as the home of the world's only population of one very special inhabitant: the Island Scrub-Jay.  Island Scrub-Jay Santa Cruz Island, the largest and northernmost of the Channel Islands, measures approximately 24 miles long by 6 miles wide.  Yet this windswept rock, rising from the Pacific and riven by canyons and creeks, has given rise to a rich assemblage of plant communities, from grasslands to coastal sage scrub and chaparral.  Sheltered canyons hide stands of oak woodland and, perhaps surprisingly - owing to a long history of European settlement and ranching - groves of eucalyptus trees...

The gray, stormy days of January have been livened up lately by the continued presence of a pair of Oak Titmice that have been hanging out around our yard and frequenting our birdfeeders.  I wrote about these feisty little mites of the oak woodlands a few years ago , but only recently have they shown up in our neighborhood. While some describe them as plain or drab, I think Oak Titmice are endearing - and full of lively energy!  This pair is routinely seen nabbing sunflower seeds from our feeders before flying off to perch in a tree or shrub where they hold the seed between their feet and hammer it open with their stout bills.  I suspect these two little birds were drawn to our neighborhood by an abundance of mistletoe in a nearby ash tree - and enticed to stay by the steady supply of sunflower seeds in our feeders!  In any case, they are a delight to watch and a welcome addition to the usual sparrows, finches and doves that call our yard home. Hopefully they stick a...

What began as a spring break birding trip to Marin County's Point Reyes National Seashore and Samuel P. Taylor State Park quickly shifted its focus to other wildlife and abundant blooming wildflowers .  High winds at Point Reyes made birding difficult, and searching for birds among the redwoods, where we camped at Samuel P. Taylor State Park, is notoriously difficult in the best of circumstances.  In the redwood forest, quite possibly my best birding was done from inside my cozy warm sleeping bag, as I listened to nighttime sounds and the dawn chorus. All told, however, we tallied up 74 different species of birds during our trip, so I would consider that a successful venture!  (For the record, the National Park Service has recorded a mind-blowing 490 species of birds at Point Reyes!) A male California Quail poses on a fence post at Point Reyes Point Reyes National Seashore is renowned for its variety of watchable wildlife.  Not only is it a world-class birding locati...

The sparrow streak continues!!  After the White-throated Sparrow on Sunday and Clay-colored Sparrow on Tuesday, I thought I had a good chance at seeing yet another lifer sparrow, a Harris's Sparrow that has been seen reliably since its discovery on February 22 near Putah Creek, in Yolo County.  Eric and I were able to take the day yesterday to search for this continuing rarity, as well as explore a couple of birding hotspots in the area that I have been wanting to see. Once again, I owe this find to the good folks on eBird, fellow birders who have kindly described the exact location of this rare Harris's Sparrow.  For the last couple of weeks, it has been seen daily, foraging on the ground along a small country road on the campus of UC Davis, beneath a row of olive trees.  Specifically, beneath the first three olive trees at the south end of the row, on the east side of the road!   We arrived at the spot just as a Sharp-shinned Hawk shot off like a bullet...

In California's Great Central Valley, wildfires are not generally an imminent threat, surrounded as we are by acres and acres of irrigated farmland.  But that is not the case over much of California's grasslands, woodlands, forests, and chaparral ecosystems, all of which have evolved and adapted over the millennia to thrive with regular renewal by fire. Fire is an essential part of what makes California so very uniquely California . I, however, dislike wildfires.  My gut reaction in the face of what we perceive as "devastating" wildfires is one of grief: grief over the loss of life and the good green things of this world.  Much as I prefer to skip Tolkien's penultimate chapter in  The Return of the King , titled "The Scouring of the Shire," I would rather not dwell too much on wildfires and their ravaging forces.  (Aside: I totally get why Peter Jackson left out the scouring of the Shire when he made his trilogy of films!  But we can talk about that ...

This series on what makes California such a unique and special place began with an overview of the state's incredible biodiversity .  Then, a few days ago, we talked about California's climate.   (Actually, we did much more than that: we went through an entire crash course on atmospheric conditions and threw in a few laws of physics just for fun.  If you missed it, catch up here .) Today's post is broken into four sections that each realistically deserve not only their own article, but their own text book(s)!  Those sections are: California's Geomorphic Provinces Plate Tectonics and Geologic Processes Soils The Rain Shadow Effect Much like we trekked all the way to the source and recognized the sun, along with Earth's tilt and rotation, as the ultimate driving forces of California's climate, today we'll peel back several more layers of science to take a look not only at California's diverse topography, but the tectonic forces and geologic proc...