How to Recognize Spiders By their Webs - Bay Nature Magazine
WEBSep 29, 2015 · Illustration by Rachel Diaz-Bastin. Orb webs are the classic, wheel-shaped webs that have inspired everyone from engineers to poets to, well, designers of computer networks. They are primarily associated with their namesake, the family Araneidae, commonly known as the orb-weaver spiders, and have allowed spiders to fully enter …
The Complex Lives of Overwintering Shorebirds - Bay Nature
WEBJan 16, 2024 · For a shorebird, if the low tide is at 3 a.m. then dinner can be at 3 a.m. At night you might see marbled godwits, black-bellied plovers, and semipalmated plovers, and sometimes, other species prone to night foraging will turn up, especially willets, dunlins, and dowitchers. This is the life of a shorebird. Their lives can be very complex.
Meet the Rare Dawn Redwood at a Bay Area Park
WEBFeb 4, 2021 · The dawn redwood grows an average of 50-60 feet, but can reach heights above 150 feet, and live for hundreds of years. Its distinctive red bark contrasts with its feathery lime-green needles, which unlike the coast redwoods and sequoias, change color to turn burnt orange in the fall. Despite its smaller stature, it is a true survivor, thought ...
The Enduring Mystery of Oak Tree "Mast" Years - Bay Nature
WEBJul 5, 2022 · Figure 1. The mean acorn crop of valley oak at Hastings Reservation (mean number of acorns counted per 30 second visual survey), 1980-2021; dashed lines divide years into those where the crop was <25% and >75% of the maximum acorn crop. Divided like this, only 3 of 42 years were “mast” years, while 16 were “medium” and 23 were …
Photosynthesis in Leaves That Aren’t Green - Bay Nature
WEBJul 1, 2008 · All photosynthesizing plants have a pigment molecule called chlorophyll. This molecule absorbs most of the energy from the violet-blue and reddish-orange part of the light spectrum. It does not absorb green, so that’s reflected back to our eyes and we see the leaf as green. There are also accessory pigments, called carotenoids, that capture ...
Crow Funerals and What We Can Learn From Them - Bay Nature
WEBOct 29, 2020 · A crow funeral can happen at any time. Farmers bear witness after shooting unwanted crows in their fields. Powerline workers see them should an unlucky bird zap itself and drop. Occasionally, the funerals occur in a city park. All it takes is one dead American crow plus one fellow crow to spot it and release an alert, harsh and urgent — Caw!
What’s It Like Inside a Woodrat Nest? - Bay Nature
WEBJan 3, 2021 · Woodrats, pack rats, and trade rats are all common names for the same remarkable rodent genus, Neotoma.Our local species, the dusky-footed woodrat (Neotoma fuscipes), has a nice multicolor coat—unlike the nasty nonnative Norway and black rats, all too common in urban areas.It’s also extremely cute, with big Mickey Mouse ears and a …
The Celebrated Joaquín Murieta - Bay Nature
WEBSep 22, 2021 · Joaquín Murieta, published in 1854, was the first novel published in California, the first novel by a Native American, and a source text for future stories of masked avengers from the original Zorro novel to Batman. Popular from the start, it has given rise to dozens of academic articles, artistic interpretations, and works of outright …
The Cuckoo Wasp: A Gorgeous Parasite - Bay Nature
WEBJul 1, 2012 · A cuckoo wasp is one of those remarkable animals that appears for just a few seconds and makes you wonder what the heck you just saw. Fast-moving and no larger than a skinny housefly, these wasps stand out nonetheless: They glow an outrageous iridescent blue-green, as if illuminated from within. Cuckoo wasps pack a lot of drama …
Look Close for The Blue-Eyed Coyotes of Point Reyes
WEBApr 5, 2022 · The peninsula’s striking blue-eyed coyotes made national headlines in 2019 after they were photographed by Point Reyes photographer Daniel Dietrich, spurring articles in National Geographic, Smithsonian, and Atlas Obscura. People have also photographed blue-eyed coyotes in other populations in Santa Cruz and Sacramento.