Ecology

The Amazing Journey of Modern Whales

Feb 6, 2026 | Adventures, Animals, Coast, Ecology, Environment, Marine science, Nature, Ocean Life, Oceans, Whales

“Do you think whales ever walked the earth?”I thought the captain of a whale watch boat in Monterey Bay was asking a trick question. But it’s no riddle—it’s a scientifically documented, evolutionary fact.

The largest creatures on the planet, whales are classified, along with dolphins and porpoises, as cetaceans, from an ancient Greek word for sea monster. However, they descended from rather humble four-legged mammals that hunted and fished along the riverbanks of what is now Pakistan and India.

In one of evolution’s most dramatic U-turns, these land dwellers returned to the ocean from which their ancestors had emerged. In a geological blink—roughly 10 million years—they reshaped their bodies for an aquatic life. Fur thinned. Limbs flattened. Tails strengthened. Nostrils began their slow migration to the top of the head. Hooves gave way to flukes

After the Rain: Vernal Lakes

Jan 23, 2026 | Adventures, Botany, Ecology, Environment, Nature, Outdoors, Plants & Flowers

A deluge struck California over the holidays. With almost daily downpours, my rain gauge recorded thirteen inches in less than two weeks. Trees fell. Cables snapped. Thousands lost power. For a while, our neighborhood became an island, with roads flooded in every direction. During a typical winter, rain collects in shallow depressions in the land, called vernal ponds. This year entire fields turned to lakes.

Snow in the Sea

Jan 9, 2026 | blue carbon, Climate Change, Coast, Ecology, Environment, Marine science, Nature, Ocean Life, Oceans

It’s snow time in the Northern Hemisphere, the season of winter wonderlands and skiers’ delight. But most landlubbers don’t realize—as I didn’t until recently—that it’s always snowing in the sea.

This underwater snowfall, known as marine snow, drifts through every ocean on the planet. The term was coined in the early 1950s by Japanese researchers who described “snowflakes” swirling in waters stirred by their submersible. Invisible from shore and rarely noticed even by sailors, the silent drizzle helps keep the oceans productive and the planet healthy.

Being Crabby

Dec 12, 2025 | Adventures, Animals, Beach, Coast, Ecology, Marine science, Nature, Ocean Life, Oceans, Outdoors

As I jog along a local beach, a raucous skirmish brings me to a full stop. In a furious duel for possession, two squawking gulls are tugging a Dungeness crab into the air. When their grip loosens, the hapless victim plummets—upside down, legs flailing---onto the sand....

The Blue Marble

Nov 28, 2025 | Coast, Ecology, Environment, Nature, Ocean Life, Oceans, Outdoors

In this season of gratitude, when we hold our loved ones close, blue marbles remind us of our wider home — the blue world that underpins our lives, joys, sorrows, dreams and aspirations. As we struggle to keep our balance in a whirl of social, political and environmental upheaval, a blue marble, shining with the grace of gratitude, can serve as a powerful anchor.

Do You Speak BIRD?

Nov 14, 2025 | Adventures, Birds & Birding, Coast, Ecology, Environment, Nature, Ocean Life, Oceans, Outdoors, Seabirds

The chartered fishing boat plows through the swells due west from the Sonoma coast with nary an angler on board. Birders—sheathed in slickers, binoculars slung around their necks—line the railing. As my maiden voyage begins, cryptic cries erupt around me.

The Secret Life of Mudflats

Oct 31, 2025 | Adventures, Animals, Bodega Marine Lab, Coast, Ecology, Environment, Marine science, Nature, Ocean Life, Oceans, Outdoors

Mud sucks—literally. On land, it squishes underfoot and slimes your shoes. In seaside shallows, it clutches your feet and tugs with the ferocity of an angry alligator.

I know. Wading back to shore after fieldwork with Bodega Marine Lab scientists in Tomales Bay, I lost my balance and plunged into what felt like slow-hardening concrete. Every time I tried to pry my foot loose, I lurched back into the sludge. A graduate student reached out to help—only to skid into the ooze next to me.

Fly like a Raptor

Oct 17, 2025 | Adventures, Animals, Birds & Birding, Birds of Prey, Coast, Ecology, Environment, Nature, Outdoors, Raptors, Seabirds

Once again they are on the wing. Along the Pacific Flyway—a 4,000-mile corridor stretching from Alaska to Baja— millions of birds of many feathers and forms are flying south to warmer climes. But none dazzle the eye and stir the soul more than raptors, meat-eating birds of prey that include falcons, hawks, vultures and eagles.

The Season of the Shark

Oct 3, 2025 | Adventures, Animals, Coast, Ecology, Environment, Fish & Fishing, Nature, Ocean Life, Oceans, Outdoors, Sharks

‘Tis the season, not just for spooky ghosts and goblins, but far scarier creatures that prowl along the California coast. During Sharktober, which extends from September to November, great white sharks, the largest predatory fish on the planet, are on the hunt.

Every year these lords of the deep migrate more than a thousand miles from a zone east of Hawaii known as the “White Shark Cafe.” Their destination: the Red Triangle, a swath of ocean stretching from Bodega Bay in the north to the Farallones Islands in the west and Monterey Bay in the south. The cold, nutrient-rich waters of the Greater Farallones National Marine Sanctuary nourish a rich array of marine life, including seals and sea lions that lure great whites eager to feed heavily and build strength and stamina for the winter months.

The (Brown) Pelican Brief

Sep 19, 2025 | Animals, Birds & Birding, Birds of Prey, Coast, Ecology, Environment, Nature, Ocean Life, Oceans

The streets where I live are named for California birds: Heron, Gull, Osprey, Loon, Kittiwake and, in my case, Pelican. When asked if I ever see real pelicans on their namesake block, I am delighted to say “Yes!”. From early summer into fall, briefs–—also called squadrons, pods and scoops—of Brown Pelicans glide majestically overhead.

Ecology

The Amazing Journey of Modern Whales

After the Rain: Vernal Lakes

Snow in the Sea

Being Crabby

The Blue Marble

Do You Speak BIRD?

The Secret Life of Mudflats

Fly like a Raptor

The Season of the Shark

The (Brown) Pelican Brief

Sign up via email:

Recent Posts

Italian Blog Archive:

Categories

Archives