The BBC reports
Macaque monkeys got on better with others in their social groups after a devastating hurricane, according to researchers.
Researchers studied the impacts of a hurricane on a population of Rhesus macaques on an island off Puerto Rico.
Read more at Monkeys got along better after hurricane – study
Posted in Animals | Tags: Hrricane, Macaque monkeys
IMPORTANT NOTICE FOR SIERRA-BOUND MOTORISTS: State Route 120 W from U.S. 395 to Yosemite’s east gate is now closed for the winter. The closure coincides with Yosemite National Park‘s seasonal closure of Tioga Road.
For up-to-date road conditions and closures, visit https://quickmap.dot.ca.gov or download the QuickMap app. #quickmap#sr120#winterclosure
Posted in Drives | Tags: Highway 120 Closure
The New York Times reports
Gibbons move with rhythm and intention. Dare we say style?
It’s not twerking. It’s not salsa or breaking. You might put it somewhere between vogueing and the robot. Whatever you want to call it, the distinctive performance style of a female gibbon is a dance, researchers say.
Read more and see video at These Apes Dance Like Someone Is Watching
Posted in Animals, Uncategorized | Tags: Apes Dancing, Gibbons Dancing
SF Gate reported
Last week, an unexpected discovery washed up on the shoreline of Oakland’s Lake Merritt: several dead Chinook salmon. They had likely swum hundreds of miles in the Pacific Ocean before making their way inland, past the Golden Gate Bridge and into the tidal lagoon, where they attempted to spawn and lay eggs.
Read more at Native California species washes up dead in downtown Oakland
Posted in Animals | Tags: Chinook salmon, Lake Merritt
Anthropocene Magazine reported
A big part of the problem, it turns out, is that nighttime air pollution (more so than daytime pollution) blinds pollinators to the smell of flowers.
Posted in Animals, Environment | Tags: Nighttime Pollination
The Atlantic reports
The organizers of the Wildlife Photographer of the Year contest have once more shared a preview of some of the Highly Commended images in this year’s competition. The full list of winners, and the Grand Title and Young Grand Title Awards, will be announced in October. Wildlife Photographer of the Year is developed and produced by the Natural History Museum in London.
See photos and read more at Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2024: Highly Commended – The Atlantic
Posted in Uncategorized
Our Resource and Visitor Protection division is seeking to hire two qualified individuals to join their team. Applicants will be expected to support park rangers with resource and visitor protection duties, including emergency medical services, search and rescue, and backcountry patrols. These are temporary term positions, expected to last one year.
To apply, visit: https://www.usajobs.gov/job/819689700?_gl=1*1lbg50n*_ga*MTQ4MTc0Mjc2OC4xNzA4NDcxNDA3*_ga_5222X8D281*MTczMTk0Mjk1Ny41LjEuMTczMTk3MjMzNC4wLjAuMA..
Posted in Job Openings | Tags: Job Openings
MongaBay reported
Read more at Bobcats are back, and they’re helping protect people from zoonotic disease
The Santa Barbara Independent reports
California State Parks Foundation released a new analysis of data that confirms the importance of California state parks for the survival of the western monarch butterfly. A review of 26 years of data collected on the western monarch butterfly population shows that a significant number of those counted are found in California state parks.
“California State Parks is the single largest land manager of overwintering groves for western monarch butterflies,” said Rachel Norton, Executive Director of California State Parks Foundation. “Monarch butterflies depend on these groves for their survival. Our state parks have a key role to play in the preservation of this iconic California species.”
Posted in Butterflies, Uncategorized | Tags: California State Parks, Monarcy Butterfly Count
The Revelator reported
As the fish swim back to places they haven’t reached for more than a century, scientists will watch for signs of the watershed’s recovery.
The removal of four hydroelectric dams on the Klamath River in southern Oregon and Northern California has been recognized as the largest dam removal in U.S. history. More notably, it’s also the largest salmon-restoration project to date.
Read more Salmon Have Returned Above the Klamath River Dams. Now What? • The Revelator
Posted in Animals | Tags: Dam removal, Salmon
from Wikipedia
Old Tjikkoi s an approximately 9,566 years-old Norway spruce, located in the Dalarna province in Sweden. Old Tjikko originally gained fame as the “world’s oldest tree”. Old Tjikko is, however, a clonal tree that has regenerated new trunks, branches and roots over millennia rather than an individual tree of great age. Old Tjikko is recognized as the oldest living Picea abies and the fourth-oldest known clonal tree.
The age of the tree was determined by carbon dating of genetically matched plant material collected from under the tree, as dendrochronology does not work for clonal trees. The trunk itself is estimated to be only a few centuries old, but the plant has survived for much longer due to a process known as layering (when a branch comes in contact with the ground, it sprouts a new root), or vegetative cloning (when the trunk dies but the root system is still alive, it may sprout a new trunk).
Read more Old Tjikko – Wikipedia
Posted in Environment | Tags: Old Tjikkoi
NPR reports
California is in the midst of a strong atmospheric river that’s caused flooding, evacuations, road closures, and mention of it is all over the news and social media. And this comes on the heel of twoprevious winters where the Golden State saw damaging storms of the same kind. If you have the feeling that in the past few years, you’ve started hearing the term a lot more, you are not alone. You’re not even wrong.
In recent years, “atmospheric river” has become used much more frequently in scientific papers and in media coverage
Read more Atmospheric rivers aren’t new. Why does it feel like we’re hearing about them more? : NPR
Posted in Environment | Tags: atmospheric rivers
The Guardian reports
Extinct in central Europe for 300 years, 36 northern bald ibis are following an ultralight aircraft on their long-forgotten migration route from Austria to Spain
Posted in Birds
from the National Wildlife Federation
Posted in Garden | Tags: Plant Dormancy
We are currently looking for a volunteer to serve as a camp host for the Wolverton Service Camp. The camp is utilized only by SEKI volunteer service groups and park researchers. It is located off Wolverton Road, just a few minutes from the largest tree in the world, the General Sherman Tree.
The camp host provides orientation information to the volunteers staying at the camp and helps with general upkeep. They are provided with a canvas tent and platform, or the host can bring their own camper van or under 22-foot RV, though there are no RV hookups. The season runs from mid-May to mid-October. Applicants who can only volunteer for a partial season may also be considered.
For more information or to submit your application, please visit Volunteer.Gov and search for Campground Host—SEKI Service Camp.
Posted in Job Openings, Park | Tags: Campground Host, Sequoia National Park
To see the current schedule of upcoming events at Golden Gate Recreation Area go to
Posted in Talks, Walks & Hikes | Tags: Golden Gate Recreation Area Events
NBC reported
Read more at With dengue cases at an extreme high, research points to climate change’s role
Posted in Environment | Tags: Dengue
Minnesota Department of Natural Resources News Release
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources EagleCam, with viewers in all 50 states and more than 150 countries, will feature a new location and pair of bald eagles when it goes live Thursday. The original EagleCam will also remain on during the coming season.
The new camera will focus on the nesting behavior of a breeding pair of bald eagles that have successfully and consistently nested in the area for at least four years, rearing several broods of eaglets. The original camera will continue to show the territory that includes the previous eagle pair whose nest fell April 2, 2023.
Both cameras can be viewed starting Thursday on the DNR website and on the DNR YouTube channel opens in a new browser tab. The webpage also includes a new video highlighting the installation of the new camera, the work of the DNR Nongame Wildlife Program and how anyone can donate to support the program. Since 2013, the Nongame Wildlife Program has provided the DNR EagleCam as another way to connect people with wildlife.
To get to the garden go to Directions
Posted in Garden, Talks | Tags: Roderick Lectures
NPR reports
The monarch butterfly is widely recognized and widely dispersed across North America and it’s in trouble. Federal officials decide soon whether it gets protection under the Endangered Species Act.
In early December, federal wildlife officials will decide whether the monarch butterfly, which pollinates plants and flutters through backyards in nearly every U.S. state, is deserving of federal protections.
The decision comes after a decade of efforts by wildlife groups, ecologists as well as non-scientists, who have documented declining monarch populations. And a diverse network of monarch enthusiasts, conservation efforts and landowners are anxious to see whether or how the federal government plans to protect the widespread monarch.
Read more at Monarch butterfly may be listed soon as threatened or endangered : NPR
Posted in Butterflies | Tags: Endangered species, Monarch Buttefly
Posted in Class/Workshop | Tags: Jepson Prairie Docent Training
Posted in Job Openings | Tags: Job Opening
Members of this crew will help survey and remove invasive plant species, monitor threatened and endangered plant species, map plant populations, and more! Point Reyes has some of the most accessible wilderness in the Bay Area, and these positions will work in some of our most stunning sites – from rugged coastal scrub to foggy forests, rolling dunes to tidal wetlands, on and off trail.
Posted in Job Openings | Tags: Job Openings
See Bay Nature’s calendar of upcoming events at Bay Nature Events.
Posted in Park, Talks, Walks & Hikes | Tags: Bay Nature Events
The BBC reported
Scientists have developed a highly advanced bird song decoder, which can automatically identify the call of a vast variety of birds.
The software brings the “cracking of the dawn chorus” one step closer.
It used recordings of individual birds and of dawn choruses to identify the characteristics of each tweet.
Read more Software can decode bird songs – BBC News
The New York Times reports
Ruffed grouse are elusive and stealthy, but scientists are seeking a genetic explanation for why some of the birds become best buddies with people.
Read story at Why Mister Grouse Is the Friendliest Bird in the Forest
Posted in Birds | Tags: Bird Behavior, Ruffed grouse
The San Francisco Chronicle reported
Fears are rising for California forests after the discovery of a more potent microbe causing sudden oak death that is better adapted to climate change.
Read on www.sfchronicle.com/california/article/sudden-oak-death-trees-19925571.php
Posted in Environment | Tags: Sudden Oak Death
Wild birds living close to humans harbor antibiotic-resistant bacteria
A new survey of bacteria in bird feces reveals how humans are infecting animals, and how the problem could boomerang back to us.
Posted in Birds | Tags: antibiotic-resistant bacteria in birds
UC Davis reports
More than 48,000 deer, thousands of Pacific newts, close to 100 mountain lions and many thousands of other animals are killed each year by vehicles on California roads, according to the 2024 “roadkill report” from the University of California, Davis’ Road Ecology Center.
Read more Report: Roadkill a ‘Preventable Natural Disaster’ | UC Davis
Posted in Animals | Tags: Wildlife Road Kills
Natural History Wanderings 