From East Bay Regional Park District
South Park Drive in Tilden Regional Park will be closed to cars from Nov. 1 to Mar. 31 to protect migrating and breeding newts! Visitors are welcome to walk and bike along the road — it’s a beautiful, peaceful time to explore.
Dog Owners—Keep dogs away from the newts (they’re adorable but poisonous to pets).
Ride slowly and give our amphibian friends the right of way.
www.ebparks.org/newts
Posted in Drives, Park | Tags: South Park Drive, Tilden Regional Park
Earth.com reported
Humans often consider tool use a mark of intelligence. Yet many animals find creative ways to solve problems. A new study reveals how carrion crows – which seldom use tools in the wild – can learn to master them when trained.
Their performance suggests that with only small evolutionary changes, they might one day adopt tools as part of their natural behavior.
Read on www.earth.com/news/carrion-crows-can-create-prepare-and-use-tools-with-great-precision/
Posted in Birds | Tags: Carrion Crows
SF Gate reported
The Center for Biological Diversity is suing the Donald Trump administration over its refusal to address the declining marmot population near Olympic National Park.
The national nonprofit first petitioned to protect the Olympic marmot — a rare, endemic species found only throughout the Olympic Peninsula — under the Endangered Species Act in May 2024. The lawsuit filed Wednesday against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is based on a mandatory deadline in the Endangered Species Act that requires the agency to investigate the declining population.
Read more : Trump admin faces lawsuit over one of Washington’s rarest animals
Posted in Animals | Tags: Alpine Marmot
Sales are held at the Garden potting shed on Wednesdays, 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon, and on the first Saturday of every month, 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Enter the Garden through the West gate on Anza View Road.
Current inventory is available on the Garden website.
For more information on the garden go to Friends of the Regional Parks Botanic Garden
Posted in Garden | Tags: Regional Parks Botanic Garden Plant Sales
Monga Bay reported
In a spot outside Berlin that’s usually a paradise for birdwatchers, volunteers have recovered nearly 2,000 dead cranes in recent days as bird flu has hit the migrating birds hard. Linum, a small village about an hour’s travel from the German capital, is a popular resting spot for thousands of cranes as they migrate between the Baltic and Nordic regions and southern Europe. But this month, many of the birds’ journeys have ended in the ponds and fields that surround it. The deaths come as bird flu has flared up early in Germany this year.
Source: Bird flu hits migrating cranes hard in Germany as the virus flares up
The Guardian reported
The insects’ brilliant hues evolved in lush ecosystems to help them survive. Now they are becoming more muted to adapt to degraded landscapes – and they are not the only things dulling down
Read more As forests are cut down, butterflies are losing their colours | Butterflies | The Guardian
Posted in Butterflies | Tags: Butterfly Color
SF Gate reported
As the government shutdown drags on for its 24th day, hundreds of former National Park Service employees are urging the Donald Trump administration to protect parks by closing them.
Read more Former park leaders demand Trump admin close national parks
Posted in Park | Tags: Government shutdown, National Parks
Photographed in the East Bay Regional Parks Botanic Garden in Tilden Park in Berkeley, CA on October 27 2025.
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.
See all Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy Upcoming Events at see all upcoming events
Posted in Park | Tags: Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy Events
from the Regional Parks Botanic Garden
Join us November through March for our popular Wayne Roderick Lecture series of free public lectures, on a broad array of topics related to plants and natural history. Named in honor of its founder, the Wayne Roderick Lecture Series takes place on Saturday mornings starting at 10:30 AM and begin at the Garden’s Visitor Center.
The First Two Lectures are:
Botanical and Horticultural Potpourri: What’s Occupied My Mind This Past Year
Bart O’Brien, Director of the Regional Parks Botanic Garden, opens the 2025-6 Wayne Roderick lecture series. View Event →
Milkweeds of the United States
— Read on nativeplants.org/events-and-classes/wayne-roderick-lectures/
Posted in Garden, Talks | Tags: Wayne Roderick Lectures
The Tico Times reported
Scientists have identified a new salamander species in the remote páramo of Chirripó National Park, highlighting our country’s rich biodiversity and the pressing challenges facing high-altitude ecosystems. Named Bolitoglossa chirripoensis, this medium-sized amphibian stands out with its dark body marked by golden spots on the back and white flecks along its sides and tail.
Read moe Scientists Identify New Salamander in Costa Rica’s Highest Peak Ecosystem
Posted in Animals | Tags: Bolitoglossa chirripoensi, New Salamander, New Species
ScienceDaily reported
Fungi may have shaped Earth’s landscapes long before plants appeared. By combining rare gene transfers with fossil evidence, researchers have traced fungal origins back nearly a billion years earlier than expected. These ancient fungi may have partnered with algae, recycling nutrients, breaking down rock, and creating primitive soils. Far from being silent background players, fungi were ecosystem engineers that prepared Earth’s surface for plants, fundamentally altering the course of life’s history.
Read on www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2025/10/251001092208.htm
Posted in Mushrooms | Tags: History early fungi
SF Gate reported
An unexpected number of Chinook salmon have been seen in parts of the Klamath River Basin following last year’s removal of four dams.
Read on www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/klamath-river-chinook-salmon-return-21114922.php
Posted in Animals | Tags: Dam removal, Salmon
Photographed in the East Bay Regional Parks Botanic Garden in Tilden Park in Berkeley, CA on October 26, 2025.
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.
Tom Killion Exhibition: California Treescapes Woodcut Prints
Wednesday, October 29–Sunday, November 9
(Closed Tuesday, November 4)
10:00 am–4:00 pm
Julia Morgan Hall
Posted in Garden | Tags: Tom Killion
Great short video of Bald Eagles dancing Bald Eagle Dance https://x.com/marktakesphoto/status/1427239011018551296
Posted in Birds | Tags: Bald Eagles Dancing
Discover Wildlife reported
It produces a natural sun cream to protect itself from the elements, and also walks rather than hops and has opposable thumbs
This lagoon and pond-dwelling tree frog species is known for its highly flexible limbs and opposable thumbs that it uses to smear a waxy substance that it secretes from its skin to protect it against the sun’s powerful rays.
Posted in Animals | Tags: Waxy Monkey Tree Frog
Gizmodo reported
From secret mushroom worlds to extreme close-ups of cell motion, these photographs represent how, in science, things often aren’t what they seem on the surface.
See photographs and read more The Best Microscopic Shots of 2025 Will Make You Rethink Reality
Posted in Photography | Tags: Microscopic Photography
Posted in Garden, Photos (Sandy's), Wildflowers and Other Plants | Tags: Garden Photos
Hutchins Street Square 125 S. Hutchins Street, Lodi, California
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Posted in Bird Festivals | Tags: Lodi Sandhill Crane Festival
The Guardian reported
The Trump administration has approved more oil and gas drilling across Alaska’s Arctic national wildlife refuge (ANWR), prompting widespread criticism from environmental conservation organizations.
Read on www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/oct/23/oil-gas-drilling-alaska-national-wildlife-refuge
Posted in Environment, Park | Tags: Arctic Reserve
SF Gate reported
Drones are buzzing over national parks like Yosemite despite a federal ban — and the government shutdown is making things worse.
Read on http://www.sfgate.com/national-parks/article/yosemite-drone-pilots-in-national-parks-21114340.php
Posted in Park | Tags: Drones in National Parks
The Revelator reported
Even as scientists rush to identify the migratory paths of some endangered shark species to help better protect them, climate change and other threats shift this behavior, adding urgency to the research.
Posted in Animals | Tags: Shark Migration
Theodore Payne Foundation inspires and educates Southern Californians about the beauty and ecological benefits of California native plant landscapes.We are located on 22 acres of canyon land in the northeast corner of the San Fernando Valley. Our full-service native plant nursery, seed room, book store, art gallery, demonstration gardens, and hiking trails are open to the public year round. We offer garden tours and classes for adults and families, as well as field trips to TPF and in-classroom programs for children. Friendly on-leash dogs are welcome and there is no admission charge!
See upcoming events at Theodore Payne Foundation Events – Upcoming Activities and Tickets | Eventbrite
Posted in Class/Workshop | Tags: Theodore Payne Foundation Upcoming Events
SF Gate reported
Hundreds of former National Park Service employees urge Trump to close parks as shutdown drags on.
Posted in Park | Tags: National Parks during government shutdown
Discover Wildlife reported
A team of international researchers has discovered that oceanic manta rays – the largest species of ray on the planet – may dive over 1,200 metres deep to find their way around the ocean, according to a new study published in Frontiers in Marine Science.
Bay Nature reported
Darwin saw them ballooning. Without any wind. Eventually some scientists figured out their electric secret.
Spiders make different silk for different jobs. Dragline silk, which they spin for the mode of transportation we call “ballooning,” is what the U.S. military considers the best kind. It is five times stronger than steel, and more flexible and resistant to extreme temperatures. This is the stuff that, over a decade ago, inspired humans to splice the gene responsible for its production into a multiplicity of fertilized goat embryos, in the hopes of birthing a goat that would allow people to milk out what spiders will not produce on command.
Read on baynature.org/2025/09/18/how-spiders-fly/
Natural History Wanderings 