Natural History Journal

Summer is upon us, and with any luck, that means vacation.  For those of us who love nature and the great outdoors, that usually means traveling to visit North America's beautiful National and State Parks.  And for the binocular-toting crowd in particular, an experience in the outdoors is not complete without a few memorable encounters with the wonderful wild animals that call these places home.  Visit any National Park in North America and a traffic jam is sure to mean one thing: Wildlife.  (Or, possibly, lack of parking spots.  But hopefully it's wildlife.)  A critter pauses along the roadside anywhere from Acadia to Joshua Tree, and all the break lights flash on. We can't help ourselves.  Wildlife enthralls us. I roll my eyes at tourists who stop their cars in Yosemite Valley to gawk at Mule Deer, a common, ho-hum species here in the West.  Yet when we visited Great Smoky Mountains National Park last year, I did the exact same thing when I sp...

Tucked away in the southeastern corner of California is an ecosystem like no other: the vast Mojave Desert. While it may not look like much to passing motorists, the arid Mojave Desert is brimming with wildlife.  Birds, mammals, reptiles, insects: It's all here, thriving against the odds in an undeniably harsh environment.  Cold winters bring snow flurries to high elevations as temperatures drop well below freezing, and summer highs can soar to more than 120 degrees Fahrenheit, baking the desert pavement.  The wind is fierce and rainfall is minimal all year, a scant three to nine inches annually.   Clearly, living conditions are tough. Yet despite the odds, here in these wide open spaces lives a very special suite of characters, all perfectly designed to make the most of life in this inhospitable place.   This is the wildlife of the Mojave Desert. Last week, we spent a couple of days exploring Mojave National Preserve, enjoying lovely desert scenery an...

As a group, mammals are surprisingly diverse.  While all mammals breathe air, have fur or hair, and give birth to live young, they vary significantly in their habitats and modes of transportation.  While most walk or hop while moving about on land, some fly and others swim, some spending most or all of their lives in water!  While some of these aquatic mammals spend a good deal of time on land at the water's edge, like seals and sea lions, other mammals, such as whales and dolphins, never leave the marine environment they were exquisitely designed to inhabit. With 840 miles of coastline (ranking third in the nation behind Alaska and Florida), it is perhaps not surprising that marine mammals make up a significant portion of California's wildlife. Let's explore the variety of mammals that may be seen along California's beautiful coast and within its offshore waters. Sea Otter, Elkhorn Slough Sea Otters, the most aquatic members of the weasel family, only rarely come asho...

Mammals are among the most exciting types of wildlife to see, but also some of the most difficult.  Far less numerous than birds and often exhibiting secretive or nocturnal habits, many groups of mammals are rarely encountered in the wild.  Observant naturalists are far more likely to encounter signs of a mammal's presence than the mammal itself, the most obvious of which are tracks, scat and fur.  But more subtle clues may be discovered as well, such as dens, nests, burrows or bedding areas, as well as evidence of feeding, like chewed bark, twigs or pinecones.  All of these are forms of mammal "sign" and are good indicators that the mammal which left the sign is or has recently been present in the area.   I like to think of mammal signs as similar to bird songs and calls : proof of a species' presence in the area, and valuable for research purposes, even when I'm unable to get a look at the animal itself! Sure, seeing the animals is always more exciting, ...

The other day, while exploring one of the remaining patches of wetlands around my county, I came across a furry little critter that was a complete surprise for me: an American Mink!  Contentedly going about his (or her) business at the edge of the wetland, staying under the dense cover of an old clump of willows, the mink slipped out of sight before I was able to get a photograph.  But this mink sighting got me thinking about other mammals I've encountered here in California's Central Valley, and as it turns out... there have been quite a few!   California Ground Squirrel: A common sight in the Valley, and an important part of the ecosystem! Though the Central Valley is no longer the land of wild abundance it once was (at least not in terms of wildlife), more species of mammals than one might imagine still manage to make their living on the fringes of urban and agricultural land up and down the valley.  National Wildlife Refuges provide much-needed havens for a ...