A changing of the guard, of sorts, is about to happen. In less than a month, the sandhill cranes will begin returning to the Merced National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) and other refuges of the San Luis NWR Complex. For many years the...
Read MoreThe taxonomic order, Odonata, is ancient. Its members were here long before dinosaurs roamed the planet, and they survived the mass extinction that turned T. Rex and his buddies into crude oil. Dragonflies were among the first...
Read MoreVery soon there will be strange sounds coming from the San Luis National Wildlife Refuge. Eerie notes that begin in higher octaves then elevate in both pitch and volume to carry on the wind like wisps of smoke. To the unknowing...
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There are more than 165,000 known species of these critters in the world (82 in Merced County) and...
Read MoreOne tree, Salix exigua, is known by many names: blue, gray, narrow-leaved, dusky, sandbar and coyote willow. It along with the Gooding’s, red, arroyo and Pacific willows are five of the more than 20 species of willow trees...
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