Category: Wildlife Weekly

Birders from all around the globe often come to central and northern California to observe a member of the corvid family that exists nowhere else on the planet. The yellow-billed magpie (Pica nuttelli) is not only native to the...

The Golden Eagle (Aquila chrysaetus) is a feathered superlative. It is the fastest, biggest and most global of all North American large raptors. Its territory is so widespread the bird has earned the title Holarctic, meaning it...

Birds are smart critters. Anyone who has watched tractors discing fields in advance of planting has seen hawks circling above watching for a vole or gopher forced into the open by the passing blades, an easy meal for any...

Last year was big for the American Ornithological Society – you know, the people responsible for the official standardized list of North American birds. It’s dinner table quality excitement we’re talking here. “Honey, did you...

It’s said that in 1595 a peregrine falcon owned by Henry IV pulled a u-turn while chasing a bustard over a field in the French countryside, flew all night and the next day before finally landing in a tree in Malta, 1350 miles...

It wears a black mask, not a COVID mask but one about the eyes like the Lone Ranger or Zorro. It can hover like a helicopter or fly fast like a fighter plane. And its actions when feeding itself have earned it the frightening...

It looks like R2D2 from a George Lucas episode of Star Wars, except it has yellow eyes and feathers and can fly. But one doesn’t have to go to Tatooine or the forest moon of Endor to see the little guy. Just visit any local...

Anyone who writes a list of bird sightings at local wildlife refuges in the winter months would be well advised to bring more than a single sheet of paper on which to write and a spare pencil or two, as well. A study, published...

The fastest animal on earth, one that can achieve speeds of more than 200 miles per hour, lives just up the road this time of year. While found in coastal and northwestern California all year, peregrine falcons (Falco...

Join the park ranger at the Merced National Wildlife Refuge on Saturday, Dec. 14, at 3:45 p.m. for the refuge’s ranger presentation and interpretation of the evening sandhill crane fly-in. The refuge is which is located at 7430...

In 1927 Charles Lindbergh made history by flying the Spirit of St. Louis monoplane non-stop from Long Island to Paris, a distance of 3,600 miles. His accomplishment was on the front page of newspapers around the world. Preceding...

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...