Wildlife

Recent Stories

Birds You’ll See in Wooded Areas

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Ruby-Crowned Kinglet

This is the second in a multipart series introducing birds typically found in valley and foothill areas of Northern California. The following “bird bios” describe birds you’re likely to see in heavily wooded areas and woodsy edges, such as in and near Lower Bidwell Park in Chico. These brief descriptions are excerpted from The Birds of Bidwell Park, a handy field guide that offers many more details, as well as finely drawn illustrations by Carol Burr, to help you identify regional birds. At last report the book was available in Chico at Bird in Hand, Made in Chico, C Bar D Feed Store, and ABC Books (next to La Comida). —Editor

Roger Lederer, Professor Emeritus of Biological Sciences at CSU, Chico, has birdwatched in more than 90 countries. Continue Reading →

Filed under: All Stories, In My Neighborhood, Birds, Wildlife

Don’t Just Kill the Lawn When You Can Create Habitat

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Monarch butterfly

Some Californians seem shocked to hear the water people finally say: “Hey folks, rethink that yard! We don’t have enough water for lush lawns.” Why the surprise? California is the only state in the union where rain doesn’t typically come in summer, which (aside from the gold rush) is why they call it the Golden State. Describing the state’s crispy hillsides as “golden” is much more poetic than burned-out brown. California’s Mediterranean climate zones are perfect places to grow many exotics—almonds, pistachios, olives, citrus fruit, figs, apricots, wine grapes, you name it. Continue Reading →

Filed under: All Stories, How We Live, Wildlife

Can You Name That Bird?

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Can You Name That Bird

Many cities point to their open spaces as very special, but Bidwell Park is really the jewel in the crown of Chico. A very distinctive place respected and revered by the citizens of Chico, all seem to think they know it well, but there is a lot more to the park than many people realize. Hikers and bikers know the trails, baseball and soccer participants are familiar with fields, summer users know all the picnic areas, and parents and grandparents know Caper Acres and other children’s play areas.  (more…) Continue Reading →

Filed under: All Stories, In My Neighborhood, Birds, Wildlife

Birds of a Feather, and Not

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parakeets

Events make sense only in context. Sometimes the term context is used by naturalists to mean the environment or “field” in which a creature makes its living naturally. A caged parrot is out of context, then, and unable to teach us much about being a parrot. A lion or gorilla in a zoo may exhibit some genetically encoded behavior and physiology, but mostly they teach us how caged animals interact with each other, their keepers, and the observing public. Understanding context can be challenging.  (more…) Continue Reading →

Filed under: All Stories, How We Live, Birds, Wildlife

Compassion Across Species

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Bird

At seven in the morning hundreds of blackbirds and several dozen crows forage on the grass in the field I walk and jog around for exercise. I’ve gotten to know their ways, a bit. Glossy black male Brewer’s blackbirds hop, cock their tails up, or send them straight back. Some drop their wings as in courting displays although nesting season is well past. The brownish females, dark-eyed, fluff up as round as English robins; at other times they affect a sleeker look. Continue Reading →

Filed under: All Stories, How We Live, Birds, Wildlife

Time to Review Some Dam Decisions?

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Time for Some Dam Decisions

Here are 181 Candidates to Seriously Consider
On October 22, 2014 the UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences identified 181 dams in California that are “high-priority” candidates for reallocating water flows, to protect the health of related watersheds and sensitive species—in keeping with the state constitution’s “beneficial use of water” section, the public trust doctrine, both state and federal endangered species acts, and Section 5937 of the California Fish and Game Code, a rarely enforced state law more than 100 years old.  (more…) Continue Reading →

Filed under: All Stories, The Worth of Water, Wildlife

Names and True Names

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Names and True Names

Any place is more than just material objects, landscapes, and homescapes. Things carry names as part of the history of a region. Names give meaning to the raw data of dirt, streams, weeds, and animals in a particular place, and especially to the integration of things. Layers of namescapes cover any landscape. Common names like “blackbird” or “poison oak,” “sparrow“ or “weed” may suit a population of adults and children who participate in everyday interactions with nature more or less absentmindedly, uncritically. Continue Reading →

Filed under: All Stories, In My Neighborhood, Birds, Wildlife