Around 9:00 p.m. during falcon fledging season, Craig Nikitas got a call from the San Francisco Fire Department asking him to come to Fire Station 35 on the pier. When he arrived, firefighters handed him a soaking-wet peregrine falcon fledgling in a box. She had been found grounded along the Embarcadero.
Read MoreIt’s ten minutes before sundown at the Yolo Bypass in Sacramento Valley. Corky Quirk, founder of NorCal Bats, is standing at the base of the west levee with her tour group as I-80 traffic rumbles across the causeway bridge overhead. Corky flips on her bat detector. The handheld device picks up the high-frequency soundwaves of bats’ echolocation calls and lowers the pitch to be within the range of human hearing.
Read MoreWaking up every two hours to feed an orphaned newborn bat pup, providing emergency maternal care for a hoary bat giving birth to breech twins, or grooming sleek bat fur with a mascara brush are all routine parts of life for JoEllen Arnold, a retired teacher, who is a bat "rehabber," and conservation advocate.
Read MoreIt's a typical summer morning at the lagoon. The air is filled with a strange dinosaur-like soundtrack as the continuous sound of babbling and squawking travels across the water. It's nesting season for a co-mingled flock of snowy and great egrets who have taken over several Monterey pine trees at the water's edge. Beneath the trees, Cindy Margulis is checking on the birds.
Read MoreBianca Ana Chavez is a botanical artist living and working in Japan. She grew up in the Monterey County countryside surrounded by six acres of chaparral and a kitchen garden.
Read MoreOn a late July morning, a group of volunteers gathered in Wildcat Canyon. They were there to assess the health of a population of Santa Cruz tarplant, a rare plant that grows in the canyon.
Read MoreEasels, paint, colored pencils, and drawings cover every surface of Keith Hanson's small wildlife studio in Marin County, California. A spotting scope is aimed out the front window at a Red Elderberry tree frequented by visiting birds. Birds flitted in and out of the courtyard.
Read MoreThe Palomarin Field Station, tucked into a wooded area on the southern tip of Point Reyes National Seashore, sits on an international biodiversity hotspot. The San Francisco Bay, which is the largest estuary on the west coast, is a critical stopover point for birds migrating along the Pacific Flyway, which extends from Alaska and Patagonia.
Read MoreAn interview and portrait of Oakland based artist and illustrator, Maria Schoettler.
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