Very 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...
Read More
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...
Read MoreThink of the word tyrant. Who comes to mind? Ivan the Terrible, Atilla the Hun, maybe Vlad the Impaler? How about the Western kingbird? It and more than 400 other passerines, or perching birds, in the largest bird family on...
Read MoreImagine an insect capable of changing a living cell from what it already is to what it wants it to become, a gall. There are such bugs. They are called gall-inducers because their larvae exude hormones that can convert the...
Read More