Summer arrives, and the welcome late rains will yield to it. The oaks will dry and their denizens go quiet, whispering to their hatchlings, panting in the shade, living at the ends of the days. Uphill the temperatures rise less. … Continue Reading
Santa Claus isn’t the only one in a pointy red cap who flies around in winter handing out presents. Pileated woodpeckers do, too. As a matter of fact, they fly year round, delivering gifts through large swaths of North American… Continue Reading
Some birds just won’t do without a little pizzazz in their doing. Phainopeplas are among them, tip to tail. They are slight birds, the length of a pencil, and nearly as much tail as anything else. But their eyes are… Continue Reading
For some people, there is a hole in the sky, a blank spot. The condor is missing. When humans first crossed the Bering Strait into North America condors soared widely across the continent. Their fossils have been found along all… Continue Reading
Quick! They’re passing through just now, so this is the time: check your feeders, walk your woodlands! The cutest little sparrows of North America are dressed up and on the move! They’ve been in their winter browns, south of us… Continue Reading
There is, apparently, a lot to be said for having a time of rest: trees drop their leaves and go dormant; fungi retreat underground; insects wrap in cocoons, and chipmunks hibernate; lizards and turtles brumate–the reptilian version of hibernating; we… Continue Reading
This season last year we had a torrent of reports of lazuli buntings scouring through the Whiskeytown brush and in the chaparral all around the North State. These little birds attract attention because they are visually stunning. A superficial description… Continue Reading
The white-breasted nuthatch is one of a kind. Photo by Larry Jordan. Perhaps you have seen white-breasted nuthatches in your yard. They’re heart-warming little clowns, upside down more than right side up, with quizzical smiles in their dished-up bills, and… Continue Reading
If you stroll along the river much lately you likely see a brown bird the size of a handspan strolling, too. But you might notice that, unlike you, it is busy poking about the shoreline for insects and crustaceans, and… Continue Reading
This male western bluebird tends his family in a woodpecker-carved oak at Lema Ranch. Photograph by Larry Jordan There’s a little piece of sky fluttering through the neighborhoods and neighbor-woods of the North State. Actually, many little pieces. But they… Continue Reading
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