Discover Wildlife
From lightning-fast dives to marathon high-speed flight, these are the 10 fastest birds on Earth
The animal kingdom has some impressive contenders when it comes to speed, but few can rival the sky’s elite. Birds have evolved to move through the air with efficiency and precision to pursue prey, evade predators, migrate and find mates. These are some of the fastest fliers and savviest swoopers around.
Read on www.discoverwildlife.com/
Posted in Birds | Tags: Fastest Birds
See the calendar of upcoming events for the East Bay Regional Parks at https://www.ebparks.org/calendar
Posted in Park, Walks & Hikes | Tags: East Bay Regional Parks
The Guardian reported
The world is losing forests to fire at an unsustainable rate, experts have warned.
Wildfires have always been part of nature’s cycle, but in recent decades their scale, frequency and intensity in carbon-rich forests have surged.
Research from the World Resources Institute (WRI) shows that fires now destroy more than twice as much tree cover as they did two decades ago.
Read more at Mapped:How the World is Losing its Forests to Wildfires
Posted in Environment | Tags: Forest Loss, Wildfires
See the calendar of upcoming free events for Marin County Parks Events Calendar – Marin County Parks
Posted in Park
The Straits Times reported
New Zealand’s critically endangered flightless parrot, the kakapo, started breeding last week for the first time in four years, the government conservation department said.
Only 236 of the rotund and regal-looking green parrots remain in three breeding populations on some of New Zealand’s most remote southern islands.
Read on www.straitstimes.com/asia/australianz/new-zealands-rare-flightless-parrot-begins-breeding-again
Posted in Birds | Tags: Flightless Bird, Kakapo
ZMEscience reported
A prehistoric plant distills water so intensely it looks it came from space.
Posted in Wildflowers and Other Plants | Tags: water retention in plants
See upcoming events calendar of hikes and programs at https://www.abdnha.org/calendar1.htm.
The Punjab reported
Where wind once scraped over bare, cracked soil, there’s now a low, continuous whisper of leaves rubbing against each other. The air feels heavier, cooler, like someone turned down the brightness on a harsh world. Men and women walk along a dusty track flanked by young trunks, some no thicker than a wrist, others already casting generous shade. A boy in a faded football shirt stretches out his hand and touches a leaf, almost like he’s checking it’s real.
Twenty-five years ago, this entire valley was a burnt, eroded scar. Nothing grew higher than your knees. Livestock kicked up grey dust. People moved away because the land could no longer feed them. Today, those same hills are a surprising patchwork of green. Small forests stitched together by human stubbornness and patient work.
Read more about story ar Londonam https://www.londonsam.org.uk/after-25-years-of-reforestation-once-barren-landscapes-are-now-absorbing-millions-of-tons-of-co-annually/https://www.londonsam.org.uk/after-25-years-of-reforestation-once-barren-landscapes-are-now-absorbing-millions-of-tons-of-co-annually/
Posted in Environment | Tags: Restoration Projects, Value of Planting Trees
SF Gate reported
Several of California’s national parks saw more visitors in 2025 than any of the five previous years, according to the National Park Service’s annual visitation data report.
Read more 3 California national parks broke visitor records. That’s likely bad news.
Posted in Park
See upcoming events from the Friends of Inyo at Friends of Inyo Events
Posted in Uncategorized, Walks & Hikes | Tags: Friends of INyo
Monga Bay reported
Posted in Animals | Tags: Fishing Spider, New Species
See upcoming events at East Bay Regional Parks Botanic Garden at events.
Posted in Garden, Park, Talks, Walks & Hikes | Tags: East Bay Regional Parks Upcoming Activities
SF Gate reported
A monogamous pair of coyotes is preparing to raise new pups in their San Francisco den, leading to the partial closure of two popular trails.
On Friday, the Presidio Trust is set to close parts of the Park Trail and the Bay Area Ridge Trail to dog walkers until October.
Read more One coyote family will partially close two San Francisco trails for six months
Thai Hut reported
A wild salmon, back in its native river after 100 years. One fish. One small body against a whole century of dams, concrete and droughts.
Read more at SF Gate as origial link no longer work A first in 100 years: a chinook salmon returns to its native California river
Posted in Animals | Tags: Chinook salmon
See the schedule of upcoming Bay Nature Events mailchi.mp/baynature/march-11
Posted in Talks, Walks & Hikes | Tags: Bay Nature Events
AP reported
Rare footage of a sperm whale giving birth has offered scientists a window into the behavior of these large, elusive mammals.
The video taken in 2023 shows female whales from two family lines working together to support the labor during critical moments and lift the newborn calf above the water. It’s a level of coordination that’s extremely uncommon in the animal kingdom, especially outside of primates like monkeys and humans.
“The group quite literally helps bring the calf into the world,” said Oregon State University behavioral ecologist Mauricio Cantor in an email. He had no role in the new research.
See video and read more Scientists captured female sperm whales on video working together during a birth to protect the calf
Posted in Animals | Tags: Sperm Whale Berthing
Audubon Magazine reports
Limited to Central and South America until a few short years ago, Yellow-headed Caracaras are turning heads from California to Delaware as their range expands northward.
Posted in Birds | Tags: ellow-headed Caracaras
Monga Bay reported
More than 50 years ago, the ariel toucan was reintroduced to Tijuca National Park, the world’s largest urban forest, located in Rio de Janeiro in southeastern Brazil. Now, a new study finds that the bird, which became locally extinct in the 1960s, has almost entirely settled back into its original role in the ecosystem, serving as a critical species for forest restoration.
Read more Toucans reintroduced 50 years ago disperse seeds of endangered trees in BrazilToucans reintroduced 50 years ago disperse seeds of endangered trees in Brazil
WPR reported
Dense tree cover can be hard to come by in farm country. But new research shows that more trees close to rivers and streams are linked to higher biodiversity
Read more This conservation practice boosts wildlife species on farmland, new research finds
Posted in Environment | Tags: Biodiversity
Earth.com reported
Scientists have long wondered whether other social animals show any consistent response to a companion that stops responding.
When a mouse spots another mouse lying still, it may paw at its friend, chew on its snout, or even yank its limp tongue aside in what closely resembles an attempt at first aid. Is this behavior the same as what we humans call CPR?
Read more Amazing study finds that mice perform first aid when their friends are in distress
Posted in Animals | Tags: Animal First Aid, Mice
See upcoming events for the Siskiyou Land Trust at Upcoming events
Posted in Walks & Hikes | Tags: Siskiyou Land Trust Upcoming Events
The Revelator reported
‘Forest managers conduct hundreds of thousands of acres of forest “thinning” projects annually in the U.S., Canada, Australia, and elsewhere, resulting in substantial ecological and financial costs.
Read more https://therevelator.org/forest-thinning-hype/?utm_source=rev&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=rev400&emci=886ce917-7512-f111-a69a-000d3a57593f&emdi=a05b6f35-2c13-f111-a69a-000d3a57593f&ceid=1867382Busting Through the Hype and Politics of Forest Thinning
Posted in Environment | Tags: Forest Thinning
Monga Bay reported
More than 50 years ago, the ariel toucan was reintroduced to Tijuca National Park, the world’s largest urban forest, located in Rio de Janeiro in southeastern Brazil. Now, a new study finds that the bird, which became locally extinct in the 1960s, has almost entirely settled back into its original role in the ecosystem, serving as a critical species for forest restoration.
Read more Toucans reintroduced 50 years ago disperse seeds of endangered trees in BrazilToucans reintroduced 50 years ago disperse seeds of endangered trees in Brazil
KQED reported
Condors are the largest land bird in North America. When their population shrunk to just 23, a substantial conservation campaign in California followed, spanning several decades. Now there are more than 600 alive, but they aren’t doing as well as scientists expected. That’s even after the state banned hunters from using lead bullets, fragments of which the birds swallow when they eat animal carcasses left behind. Scientists believe the reason these birds may be struggling are due to condors changing their behavior to act like more wild birds. The birds are foraging further away from sites where conservationists leave food and finding animals to eat that are sometimes shot with lead.
Read article at California Condors Are Still Dying — Despite a Lead Ammo Ban
Posted in Birds | Tags: California Condors
Science Alert reported
Scent is essential to ant society: every ant within a colony wears the badge of membership in the form of smelly hydrocarbons. Human air pollution, a new study from Max-Planck Institute researchers suggests, is wreaking havoc on ant society by interfering with these characteristic scents.
Read more Air Pollution Is Wreaking Havoc on Ants, And The Effects Are Alarming
Earth.com reported
Scientists have confirmed a bright yellow deep-sea animal, Corallizoanthus aureus, as a new species of marine coral. It emits green light when disturbed, marking the first known case of bioluminescence documented inside a deep-sea cave.
Read more Scientists discover a new deep sea animal that glows in the dark
Posted in Animals | Tags: Corallizoanthus aureus, Marine Coral, New Species
The Guardian reported
The insects covered its largest area since 2018, despite threats from habitat loss, climate crisis and pesticides
Read on www.theguardian.com/world/2026/mar/20/mexico-monarch-butterfly-population-increases
Posted in Butterflies | Tags: Mexican Monarch Butterfly Population
Photographed in the East Bay Regional Parks Botanic Garden in Tilden Park in Berkeley, CA on March 119, 2026.
The Regional Parks Botanic Garden is a California native plant garden. It is located within Tilden Park in the hills above Berkeley, California, It is a 10-acre garden includes many of the state’s rare and endangered plants and a place for visitors to wander among trees, shrubs, flowers, and grasses from plant communities throughout the state. There are free weekend and holiday tours. Admission and parking are free. For more information about the garden visit the Friends of the Regional Parks Botanic Garden.
DNYUZ reported
A remote forest in south central Pennsylvania seems to be the perfect place for a body to disappear, shrouded in leaves and covered in moss over time.
For the police who were investigating the skeleton of a woman believed to be in her 20s or 30s, discovered deep in those Pennsylvania woods in the first half of 2025, how long her remains had been there was an important question.
Soil samples and plant material such as roots, seeds and pollen have yielded crime-scene evidence for decades, but moss tends to be overlooked. Yet moss holds clues for investigators who know how to look for them.
read more In Criminal Cases, Moss Is Often Underfoot and OverlookedIn Criminal Cases, Moss Is Often Underfoot and Overlooked
Posted in Wildflowers and Other Plants | Tags: forensic Botany, Moss
The New York Times reported
The males of the species prepare for mating season by excavating nests for the approval of the females — and even other birds and animals.
Read more Hoping for a Lively Spring? Welcome the Woodpeckers
Posted in Birds | Tags: Woodpeckers
Natural History Wanderings 