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Local Nature Stories

Wind

3/14/2012
Red-Tailed Hawk riding the wind
With the Sun heating the Earth unevenly, creating areas of high and low pressure, there will always be wind somewhere. Wind animates the landscape. Breezes set leaves in motion, touch the face with freshness. Winds make the plant world mobile, carrying seeds to new places to start life away...

Measuring the Weather

12/5/2011
near-shore wave-rider buoys transmit data
October began with rain, and snow in the mountains. The rain liberated the grass and weed seeds which had slumbered within their hard shells all summer. Fresh green grass pushed up through last season’s dry stubble. Weed seeds emerged as tiny paired leaves. The tight buds of...

The Long Wait

10/27/2011
Gloden Crowned Sparrow singing
For almost thirty years now, I've recorded when the Golden-crowned Sparrows arrive in my neighborhood for their winter stay. The earliest recorded date in my notebooks was September 16, the latest September 29. As I write this article the date is October 3, and I'm still waiting.

Dog Days of August

9/6/2011
Lawrence Hall of Science shrouded in fog.
Webster’s Dictionary of dog days is a "period of stagnation or inactivity." The monotonous pattern of sun and fog defines early August. The only variation is the number of sunshine hours and overcast ones, or whether the fog is dry or drippy.

One Ridge Over

8/16/2011
Briones Reservoir and Watershed
By all counts, this has been a remarkable year. The winter was long and wet with a few weeks—January into February—when the weather was dry and mild, holding out the possibility of an early spring.

The Newts of Strawberry Canyon

5/23/2011
A dozen of us gathered recently on the steps of the UC Botanical Garden's shop to hear Professor Paul Licht talk about one of his favorite subjects---newts. It was a fine day for newts with a light rain falling.

Lions In The Neighborhood

2/4/2011
Mountain Lion sightings sign
When I used to walk alone on the trails in nearby Tilden Park, I always carried rocks in my pocket just in case. Though I've never seen one, I knew I was in mountain lion territory.

A Cold and Foggy Summer

9/1/2010
LHS in the fog
A Mourning Dove coos its mournful song on this yet-another gray morning. The fog holds the hill in its embrace, hiding the dove and most everything else. The fog this morning in mid-August was wet enough to leave .02 inches in the rain gauge. With moisture dripping in heavy drops from the trees and with the temperature still in the low 50s, it feels...

From Green to Gold

7/9/2010
Photo taken on hills of LHS
Each April, when the green hills begin to lose their color, I grieve a little. Green grass speaks of freshness, new growth, and the annual renewal that comes with the winter rains.

Streamside Singers

5/21/2010
Black-headed Grosbeak
Many birds are year-round residents in temperate coastal California, but each spring bird populations swell with the arrival of migrants from the south who come to build their nests and raise their young before making the return journey in late summer.

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