The BBC reported
Two species of damselfly have been recorded for the first time in a woodland after the completion of a three-year project to restore habitat across seven nature reserves, a wildlife trust has revealed.
Read more at Two damselfly species return to restored woodland
Posted in Animals | Tags: Damselflies
The list of events will be updated regularly. To view past webinars, please visit our YouTube channel. We also announce events on social media and via our e-newsletter. If you have questions, please email outreach@xerces.org.
To see the current list go to Events | Xerces Society
Posted in Butterflies, Talks | Tags: Xerces Society Events
Photos from the UC- Berkeley Botanical Garden taken on November 7, 2026.
To start slide show click on triangle between arrows near bottom of photo.
Posted in Garden, Photos (Sandy's) | Tags: UC Berkeley Botancial Garden
Monga Bay reported
n Clayoquot Sound, in the Canadian province of British Columbia, a partnership between the Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation, the Redd Fish Restoration Society, and West Coast Kelp is helping rebuild degraded kelp forests, reports contributor Jennifer Cole for Mongabay.
The initiative, launched in early 2026, has established a nursery to grow young bull kelp (Nereocystis luetkeana) and giant kelp (Macrocystis pyrifera) beyond the reach of grazers such as sea urchins. Sections are then harvested and transplanted to sites around Clayoquot Sound.
So far, the area replanted is small — 4,200 square meters (45,208 square feet), or the size of about 10 basketball courts — but the project may help show how kelp forests can be restored more effectively.
Read more at First Nation-led effort replants kelp forests in Clayoquot Sound
Posted in Environment, Wildflowers and Other Plants | Tags: Kelp
SF Gate reported
Months after National Park Service biologists nearly lost track of the world’s rarest fish, the animal found only in a single pool in Death Valley is experiencing a rebound.
The agency counted 137 Devils Hole pupfish during a population survey on Oct. 10, after the species had recently cratered to a record-low 20 individuals last year and faced extinction. The number is also “nearly double the 77 fish observed in spring 2026 and more than double the 69 recorded in fall 2025,” the NPS said in a Tuesday news release. “The increase is an encouraging sign.”
Read more at National Park Service scientists say world’s rarest fish is on the rebound
Posted in Animals | Tags: Devils Hole pupfish
DNUYS reported
As the fall brings cooler temperatures, the pups will trot among the Joshua trees wearing orange vests, “doggles” to shield their eyes from the sun and booties to protect them from the prickly cholla cacti. As wildlife biologist Christina Aiello searches for droppings of bighorn sheep, which are relatively abundant, the dog duo from Rogue Detection Teams will sniff out harder-to-find bobcat and mountain lion scat.
Here, conservationists are planning to build two wildlife crossings over State Route 62, which connects Los Angeles and Joshua Tree National Park and is the site of hundreds of collisions between cars and wildlife every year. Dead sheep and bears strewn along the pavement have disturbed local residents for years, but ecologists fear the road may also cause a much slower and quieter die-off, with mountain lions inbreeding as they are cut off from other lions. As California works to build dozens more crossings like these around the state, researchers are hoping their animal poop surveys will show that the benefits of these crossings extend hundreds of miles beyond the roadway.
Read more at This Joshua Tree highway keeps killing wildlife. Enter the poop-hunting dogs
Posted in Animals, Park | Tags: Joshua Tree National Park, Poop-smelling Dogs, Wildlfie Crossings
“Our parks were never meant for private profit, and that’s a legacy worth defending” – NPCA California Desert Associate Director Chance Wilcox
— Read on www.npca.org/articles/11545-victory-for-mojave-national-preserve-court-rules-to-keep-block-on
Ever wonder what the 50 state birds are. Find out at https://www.50states.com/bird/
Expect repeats.
Posted in Birds | Tags: State Birds
Earth.com reported
Wisdom, the world’s oldest known wild bird, returned to Midway Atoll at age 75 after hatching another egg in 2025, extending her remarkable record.
Read more at A biologist banded her in 1956, and the world’s oldest known wild bird is still nesting on the same island today
Posted in Birds | Tags: Oldest Know Bird
Photos of Raindrops and a few other things found in my garden and neighborhood on a rainy day. Click below to start slideshow.
Posted in Photos (Sandy's) | Tags: Raindrops
See the events calendar for the UC Berkeley Botanical Garden at Garden Events
Posted in Class/Workshop, Garden | Tags: UC Berkeley Botanical Garden Events
See the schedule of upcoming Bay Nature Events https://baynature.org/events/
Posted in Talks, Walks & Hikes | Tags: Bay Nature Events
Futura reported
Nearly 1,600 feet beneath the surface of the Southern Ocean, an underwater camera captured an unexpected visitor. A massive shark, estimated to measure up to 13 feet long, slowly moved across the seafloor in near-freezing water. For researchers exploring Antarctica’s deep ocean, the footage represented a remarkable first: a shark had been filmed in its natural environment this far south.
Read more and see photo at Nearly 1,600 feet down off Antarctica, a camera filmed something researchers had never recorded there: a 13-foot shark
Posted in Animals | Tags: 13 foot shark
The Guardian reported
A chance social media encounter has led to the race-against-time discovery of a new species of giant waterlily that has until now been hidden in the depths of Colombia’s jungle.
But the plant, which is so huge it is visible from space, is already considered critically endangered.
Read more at How a plant selfie in Colombian jungle led to ‘jaw dropping’ giant waterlily find
Posted in Wildflowers and Other Plants | Tags: Newly Discovered Giant Waterlily
SF Gate reported
Will the latest round of the West’s water wars mean the death of Mono Lake?
Read story at Saving Mono Lake was a California victory. But it still needs water.
Posted in Environment | Tags: Mono Lake
Photographed in the East Bay Regional Parks Botanic Garden in Tilden Park in Berkeley, CA on June 3, 2026. Although they may look similar there are actually three species of Lily/Lilium. Humboldt’s Lily/Lilium humboldtii ssp. ocellatum, which you can see in the Southern California section of the garden; Leopard Lily/Lilium pardalinum, in the Redwood section; and Columbia Lily/Lilium columbianum, in the Shasta-Klamath section.
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.
Click to see slideshow below
Posted in Garden, Photos (Sandy's) | Tags: Mushrooms, Regional Parks Botanic Garden, Tilden Botanic Garden
UC Davis reported
any spiders reach their maximum size about this time of year, having spent the summer eating, which helps explain their starring role in Halloween decorations. Researchers at the University of California, Davis, have found one particular trapdoor spider, Aptostichus stephencolberti, which is about the size of a quarter, is big in another way: It has an outsized genome.
Given comedian Stephen Colbert’s pompous pundit persona in the former Comedy Central show “The Colbert Report,” it seems fitting that a spider named for him would have a genome roughly 50% larger than the human genome.
Read more at Scientists Sequence Genome of Spider Named for Stephen Colbert
Posted in Animals | Tags: Aptostichus stephencolberti, Stephen Colbert, Trapdoor Spider
from Anza-Borrego Desert Foundation
Posted in Uncategorized
Earth.com reported
A new global review has found that the evidence on how plants in climate-vulnerable regions are responding is thin and lopsided.
Most of it comes from a few places, and very little of it proves that climate change is the cause.
Read more at We know surprisingly little about how plants are responding to climate change
Posted in Environment, Wildflowers and Other Plants | Tags: Impact of climate change on plants
from the Regional Parks Botanic Garden
Join us for our popular Wayne Roderick Lecture series on a broad array of topics related to plants and natural history. The talks take place on Saturday mornings starting at 10:30 a.m. in the Botanic Garden Visitor Center auditorium. These presentations are enjoyable for beginners and professionals alike. All lectures are free and open to the public.
—See additional details about the talks on the Garden website, nativeplants.org.
Posted in Garden, Talks | Tags: Wayne Roderick Lectures
Interested? Apply here: https://www.volunteer.gov/s/volopprecord…
Posted in Job Openings, Park | Tags: Campground hosts, Kings Canyon & Sequoia National Park
Phys.org reported
California’s iconic coast redwoods are used to growing in cool, coastal areas where the average temperature is around 59 degrees F (15 degrees Celsius). But as average yearly temperatures rise and heat waves push temperatures above 100 degrees F (38 degrees Celsius), the trees are responding by slowing the very process that nourishes them, according to a study from the University of California, Davis.
Read more at Coast redwoods slow their ‘breathing’ and ‘eating’ when temperatures spike
Posted in Environment, Wildflowers and Other Plants | Tags: Gloabal Warming Impact on Redwoods
from UC Berkeley-Botanical Garden
Fall has officially arrived at the Garden, bringing a vibrant display of yellow, crimson, and amber color throughout the collections. Stroll around the Japanese Pool or explore the deciduous woodlands of the Eastern North America Collection where you can glimpse views of the San Francisco Bay through the trees. Beyond the autumn foliage, there are always seasonal surprises around every corner, ensuring there is something new to discover no matter when you visit. Plan your visit today to catch the season’s ephemeral highlights!
Posted in Fall Foliage, Garden | Tags: UC Berkeley Botanical Garden
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Posted in Photography | Tags: Anza-Borrego Desert Photo Contest
from Cornell Lab and Birds Canada
Project FeederWatch turns your love of feeding birds into scientific discoveries. FeederWatch is a November-April survey of birds that visit backyards, nature centers, community areas, and other locales in North America. While most people focus on birds coming to bird feeding stations, you don’t even need a feeder! All you need is an area from which you like to watch birds. Plus, the schedule is completely flexible: you can count every week or once all winter, for as much or as little time as you like. To join or learn more click below
Posted in Birds | Tags: Proecte FeedwWatch
CNN reported
Small, shy and clad head-to-claw in black, New Zealand’s karure, or black robin, has been crowned the country’s 2026 Bird of the Year.
The critically threatened bird is found only on the remote Chatham Islands, about 800 kilometers (500 miles) east of mainland New Zealand. The karure finished at the top of the pecking order with more than 25,000 votes, beating previous winners the kākāpō, a large flightless parrot, and the kārearea, or New Zealand falcon, into second and third place, respectively.
Read more This tiny ‘goth’ bird was nearly extinct. Now it’s New Zealand’s Bird of the Year
Posted in Birds
The Revelator reported
Jeffrey pines shouldn’t be found 12,657 feet up a mountain — but that’s where they’ve turned up recently in California’s Sequoia National Park. And what does their arrival tell us about climate change, forest composition, and California’s fiery future?
Read more at How did they get there?
Posted in Wildflowers and Other Plants | Tags: Jeffrey Pines
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
The Marine Mammal Center announced Wednesday it had documented more than 300 cases this year of domoic acid poisoning in marine mammals. The Sausalito-based organization, which covers 600 miles of California coastline, said it typically only sees 75 to 90 cases per year.
Read more at Toxic algae outbreak poisons over 300 marine mammals in California this year
SF Gate reported
The number of common murres washing ashore in critical condition has alarmed experts. These charcoal-and-white seabirds rarely come to land.
International Bird Rescue has taken in 162 of the penguin look-alikes from Northern California beaches this year, with a notable spike since August. Many are starving.
Read more at Biologists fear the worst as Bay Area seabirds starve
Posted in Birds | Tags: common murres
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