Category: Wildlife Weekly

There are about 5,500 species of mammals on the planet. Most live on land, some live underground, some live in trees, some live in oceans but only one mammal can fly – a bat. Worldwide there are 1,400 species of bats. Forty-five...

National wildlife refuges are some of the best places to connect with nature and photography is a great way to do it. Lucky for local shutterbugs, remarkable imaging opportunities are just a short drive away within the San Luis...

In the wild there are two species of mink, European and American, the latter a denizen of the San Luis National Wildlife Refuge Complex. A third species, the Sea mink, lived on the northern eastern coast of the United States but...

After Labor Day as the weather begins to change, daylight hours grow fewer and tule elk begin to bugle, enjoying an early evening on the refuge often includes thoughts of other hooved ungulates. American pronghorn, tule elk and...

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...

The 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...

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...

The third event in the San Luis NWR Complex Summer Speaker Series is coming Saturday, Aug. 3, at 10 a.m. at the visitor center of the San Luis NWR. Rick Lewis is a frequent visitor to the local national wildlife refuges who...

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...

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...

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...