Sipping with a foot-long straw
There are more than 165,000 known species of these critters in the world (82 in Merced County) and...
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Author: A. Rentner
Willows were warp and weft for basket makers
One 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 MoreBeware of winged tyrants
Think 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 MoreTakes a lot of gall
Imagine 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 MoreWise guys galore in springtime
The refuges are rife with wise guys. Baby great horned owls are peaking over the edge of their nests at bird watchers passing below while their wise old parents stay near. Great horned owls, the same as featured in storybooks...
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