Natural History Journal

With all the less-than-great news floating around out there these days about the future of the environment in general, and birds in particular, it's refreshing to pause and reflect on the success stories the world of conservation has seen in the fifty years since the implementation of the Endangered Species Act in December of 1973. While human activity has undoubtedly caused bird populations to decrease drastically in that span of time, (and sadly those numbers may continue to drop) conservationists across North America have managed to make some pretty incredible changes for the better for a number of species as well.  The Endangered Species Act has protected over 1,600 species in its fifty-year history, and is credited with saving nearly 300 species from extinction.     The California Condor is one such example, a species that would be gone today if it weren't for the incredible work of a massive team of researchers and conservationists.  Other success stori...

"What makes a duck a duck?" This question was posed to me the other day by a friendly gentleman who stopped to chat as I stood behind my spotting scope, peering over massive swells and crashing waves at a distant flock of dark specks bobbing on the surface of the water beyond the breakers.  These specks, I had informed him, were ducks.  More specifically, they were a delightful collection of three species of scoter, a highly specialized type of sea duck designed for life on the rugged, wave-battered coast.   Those are ducks?   I could feel the skepticism.   Yes, ducks.  But not dabbling puddle ducks, like the familiar Mallard, or even hardy diving ducks, like scaup.   These are sea ducks! Surf Scoters in Monterey Bay, off the coast of Moss Landing, California.  July. I answered his question the best I could with somewhat divided attention: Biology, physiology, behavior and life history all combine to make a duck a duck, so that even...

Everyone knows and loves the songbirds: bluebirds, robins, finches, sparrows, warblers.  Jewel-like hummingbirds have a strong following among flower gardeners, and powerful raptors are favorites of many birders and non-birders alike.  Hunters toting shotguns as well as those with binoculars know and love waterfowl of all sorts (albeit for strikingly different reasons).  Shorebirds, with their often minute differences, have their own particular subset of devotees as well.  But it takes a special kind of dedication to become intimately familiar with one of the most mysterious groups of birds: the seabirds.   Living their lives entirely at sea and coming ashore only to breed, typically on rocky, remote islands, seabirds are largely inaccessible to the average birder (let alone non-birder!)  Many of us have our first introduction to seabirds with feet planted firmly on dry land, while peering across the blue expanse through spotting scopes.  There, d...

"The sandpiper is there now, 30 yards from the end of the jetty, on the left." These were the words I was greeted with, without preamble, seconds after getting out of the car at San Francisco's Heron's Head park.  An older gentleman took one look at my binoculars and knew why I had come: to get the bird.  In certain places, a pair of binoculars is like a secret sign to others that you are one of the initiated, a member of the fraternity of birders who understand the importance of getting the bird . I thanked the kind birder enthusiastically, my giddy smile bearing witness to the fact that we had indeed just driven 100 miles to see this one bird. And what a beauty he was! Denizens of rocky Arctic shorelines, Rock Sandpipers breed on mossy tundra in western Alaska and far eastern Russia.  These hardy sandpipers winter farther north than most other shorebirds, along the frigid, wave-dashed rocky coast of Alaska and the Pacific Northwest.   That being said, this par...

You thought flitty warblers were challenging.  You thought little brown sparrows were challenging.  You thought sandpipers and gulls were challenging.  And then you tried seabirding and realized... you haven't really been challenged at all yet!! Or was that just me? Last November, I spent a few days peering through the spotting scope over Monterey Bay from famed seawatch spot, Point Pinos .  And I was hooked.  There, behind a large objective lens, I met shearwaters and fulmars for the first time, magnified somewhere between 20 and 60 times.  There is something inexplicably mesmerizing about gazing (for hours) out over the ocean, waiting and watching to see what turns up! This year, I returned to the same spot to continue my education, and attempted to make the acquaintance of a few more members of that most elusive and mysterious group of birds known collectively as "seabirds." Seabirding last year, in November 2020... while holding a cup of tea, appare...

Brooding seas, turquoise waves, dark spruces, raindrops on maple leaves, dripping ferns, and incredible ancient rainforests filled with more birds and unique shades of green than even seem possible...   Welcome to the Pacific Northwest!   Join us for the second part in a series on our recent adventures in Oregon and Washington! Part I:  Seabird Colony at Haystack Rock Part III:  Inland Valleys & Lowland Forests Part IV:  Olympic National Park Part V:  North Cascades National Park Part VI:  Mount Rainier National Park Part VII:  Crater Lake National Park After our puffin triumph at Cannon Beach , we headed north up the coast to the mouth of the Columbia River to explore the region made famous by the Lewis and Clark expedition of 1804-06.  For birds, nature and hiking (as well as history), I recommend visiting Fort Clatsop and Fort Stevens, south of the Columbia River, and Cape Disappointment on the north side.  (The Lewis an...