Smithsonian Magazine reported
After the herbicide dicamba exploded in popularity among industrial farmers in 2017, some Illinois residents noticed curled and discolored leaves on native oak trees.
Scientists and conservationists are gathering data in hopes of advocating for restrictions on herbicide use, such as tighter regulations on spraying in high winds.
Posted in Environment | Tags: Herbicides, Tree Deaths
From Fungus Federation of Santa Cruz
Did you know that without fungus, we’d have no bread, cheese, beer, or wine? Or that anti-cholesterol medicine was developed from mushrooms?
Come to the Santa Cruz Fungus Fair to learn fascinating and fun facts about beautiful and diverse species of mushrooms! View remarkable mushroom arts and crafts, taste unusual and exceptionally good fungal fare, and experience FFSC’s overriding mission: “We keep the fun in fungus!”
This unique Santa Cruz area tradition draws thousands of visitors each January. Advance tickets usually go on sale by early December.
Buy tickets now for the 2026 Fair, Jan 9-11 !
Academy scientists discover 20 new deep-reef species and reveal evidence of ocean warming in the ‘twilight zone’
Read more Academy scientists discover 20 new deep-reef species and reveal evidence of ocean warming in the ‘twilight zone’ – California Academy of Sciences
Nearly a decade of data collected from dives to 300+ feet will help inform global conservation efforts for these understudied coral reefs
Posted in Animals
See the schedule of upcoming Bay Nature Events mailchi.mp/baynature/march-11
Posted in Talks, Walks & Hikes | Tags: Bay Nature Events
ScienceDaily reported
A new study reveals that unexpected microbes are quietly fixing carbon in the dark depths of the ocean
Researchers have uncovered surprising evidence that the deep ocean’s carbon-fixing engine works very differently than long assumed. While ammonia-oxidizing archaea were thought to dominate carbon fixation in the sunless depths, experiments show that other microbes—especially heterotrophs—are doing far more of the work than expected. This discovery reshapes our understanding of how carbon moves through the deep ocean and stabilizes Earth’s climate.
Read more The deep ocean is fixing carbon in ways no one expected
Posted in Environment | Tags: How ocean is fixing carbon
MORE HIKES! MORE ACTIVITIES! BIGGER VENUE! MORE PARKING!
SATURDAY JAN. 31 & SUNDAY FEB. 1
10AM TIL 4PM + AREA HIKES TO BE ANNOUNCED
JOIN US AT BUILDING 69, NEXT TO THE COAL SHEDS AT THE INTERSECTION OF 4TH STREET & WATERFRONT AVE ON MARE ISLAND, VALLEJO, CA
Learn more Winged Migration Expo | Pacific Flyway | Vallejo, CA
Posted in Bird Festivals | Tags: Winged Migration Festival
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.
— Read on nativeplants.org/events-and-classes/wayne-roderick-lectures/
Posted in Garden, Talks | Tags: Wayne Roderick Lectures
The New York Times reported
“In northern Norway, scientists detected a disease-causing virus in humpback whales by flying drones over them. It is the first time the virus, known as cetacean morbillivirus, has been identified in Arctic waters”
Read on https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/02/science/arctic-drones-whales-virus.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share
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 calendar of upcoming events of the California Native Plants Society at https://www.cnps.org/events
Posted in Talks | Tags: Upcoming CNPS Events
See the calendar of upcoming events of the California Native Plants Society at https://www.cnps.org/events
Posted in Talks | Tags: Upcoming CNPS Events
See upcoming events calendar of hikes and programs at https://www.abdnha.org/calendar1.htm.
Earth.com
On a routine wildlife survey in a forest reserve in southwest China, scientists caught a weasel that turned out to be a species no one had recorded before. The animal, now named Mustela mopbie, is the newest member of a famously elusive group of small carnivores.
Read more at Routine expedition ended with the discovery of a unique animal with a secret ability
Posted in Animals | Tags: Mustela mopbie, New Species, weasel
HawkWatch International reported
Director of International Programs, Dr. MeganMurgatroyd, watched the map as a female Secretarybird she tagged with a transmitter moved further and further away from her nest. “I thought she had abandoned the nest,” Meg shared.
Over the following days, her movements revealed an unexpected pattern: repeated foraging trips of up to 30 kilometers, followed by consistent returns to the nest. Meanwhile, the male remained close. For the first time, scientists weren’t relying on chance observations or indirect evidence. They were watching the lives of breeding Secretarybirds unfold in real time.
Read more Tracking the First Breeding Pair of Secretarybirds: WhatWe’re Learning – HawkWatch International
Posted in Birds | Tags: Secretarybird
Photographed Elsie B. Roemer Bird Sanctuary in Alameda, CA on Wed. December 30, 2025.
Posted in Environment, Park, Photos (Sandy's) | Tags: Elsie Roemer Bird Sanctuary, Sunsets
The Independent reported
A manumea, the closest living relative of the extinct dodo bird, has been sighted for the first time since 2013, raising hope that the critically endangered species can be saved from extinction.
The Samoa Conservation Society’s latest field survey, conducted from 17 October to 13 November, recorded at least five sightings of Didunculus strigirostris in the South Pacific nation’s rainforest.
Read more Dodo bird’s closest living relative spotted in remote South Pacific rainforest | The Independent
The Guardian reported
A wild beaver has been spotted in Norfolk for the first time since beavers were hunted to extinction in England at the beginning of the 16th century.
It was filmed dragging logs and establishing a lodge in a “perfect beaver habitat” on the River Wensum at Pensthorpe, a nature reserve near Fakenham in Norfolk.
Earth.com reported
About 7,000 years ago, two women were laid to rest in a rocky shelter in today’s southwestern Libya. Their remains have now yielded the first ancient human genomes ever recovered from the central Sahara.
An international study finds that these women carried a long isolated North African lineage now erased as a separate group. Their DNA also helps redraw the map of how people moved, or did not move, across a greener Sahara.
Read on www.earth.com/news/about-7000-years-ago-sahara-desert-was-green-takarkori-rock-shelter-discovery/
Posted in Desert
The Guardian reported
Planet’s oldest bee species and primary pollinators were under threat from deforestation and competition from ‘killer bees’
Posted in Animals | Tags: Stingless Bees Granted Legal Rights
The Nature Conservancy reported
TNC has supported prioritizing restoration projects along the L.A. River that enhance habitat, prevent housing displacement, provide public access to parks and open space, and promote climate resilience. We aspire to create a highly visible new model for urban restoration where habitat, water treatment, public access and climate resilience combine in one place to demonstrate what the future of the L.A. River and surrounding region could be.
Read more at Pioneering Climate Solutions in Los Angeles and Beyond
Posted in Environment | Tags: Nature-based climate solutions
Center for Biological Diversity reported
The Trump administration released final plans today that strip protections for the imperiled greater sage grouse on about 50 million acres of federal public lands across eight Western states. Previous proposals over the past decade were intended to prevent extinction of the iconic dancing bird.
Posted in Birds | Tags: Greater Sage Grouse Lose Protections
Monga Bay reported
In 2018, Brazilian biologist Silvia Pavan traveled to Río Abiseo National Park, in Peru’s San Martín region, following the trail of a squirrel species first described from there in the 1990s. At the time, Pavan was collecting genetic samples to study the evolution of South American squirrels. She decided to organize an expedition to Río
Continue reading at Peru’s Río Abiseo park yields new marsupial, hinting at more undiscovered specie
Posted in Animals
IPM Newsroom reported
The lesser prairie chicken was once a common sight in the southern Great Plains, but its numbers are dwindling. Even so, it lost federal protections earlier this year for a second time. Now states and landowners are overseeing conservation efforts
Read more at A native prairie bird lost federal protection. People are still trying to save it on private land – IPM Newsroom
Posted in Uncategorized
MSN reported
The highway is closed in both directions, the CHP said.
Posted in Drives, Park | Tags: Yosemite Road Closures
Monga Bay reported
Posted in Animals, Environment | Tags: Marine Mammals, Seabirds
EarthSky reported
A naturalist in Malaysia discovered a new fairy lantern plant. Scientists named it Thismia selangorensis.
The tiny, delicate species is extremely rare, with fewer than 20 known plants.
Scientists warn it is critically endangered and needs careful protection
Read on earthsky.org/earth/fairy-lantern-plant-discovered-malaysian-park/
Posted in Wildflowers and Other Plants | Tags: New Species, Thismia selangorensis.
AP reported on December 11 from Cape Town, South Africa
Nearly 30,000 live animals were rescued in a monthlong global operation against wildlife trafficking that resulted in a record number of seizures, the international police body Interpol said on Thursday.
Operation Thunder 2025 from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15 involved law enforcement agencies and wildlife and forestry authorities from 134 countries and resulted in more than 4,600 separate seizures that included tens of thousands of protected animals and plants and tens of thousands of cubic meters of illegally logged timber.
Read more Nearly 30,000 trafficked animals were rescued in a monthlong global operation led by Interpol
Posted in Animals | Tags: Trafficked Animals
Anthropocene reported
Beaver-engineered wetlands attract twice as many hoverflies, nearly 50% more butterflies, and a richer variety of bats compared to human-made ponds.
Read on www.anthropocenemagazine.org/2025/11/beaver-engineered-habitats-are-outperforming-ours/
See the upcoming events at the Channel Island Maritime Museum at upcoming events and activities.
Posted in Talks | Tags: Channel Island Maritime Museum
Natural History Wanderings 