Last November, Berkeleyside published an article about a spectacular natural phenomenon seen in Berkeley for the first time: hundreds of monarch butterflies were clustering in the trees of Aquatic Park. This fall, thoughtful reader and independent gardener Toni Cox wrote to Berkeleyside, requesting that we create a new article about monarchs. In particular, Cox noted […]
Elaine Miller Bond
Posted inArts
Photographer Elaine Miller Bond puts wildlife center stage
Elaine Miller Bond will present her new book, ‘Running Wild,’ Monday, Oct. 3, at 7 p.m. at Books Inc. in North Berkeley.
Posted inNature
At Pinnacles National Park, the condors fly free
Pinnacles National Park is one of the national parks closest to Berkeley. It’s about two and a half hours away. Elaine Miller Bond, who often showcases her wildlife photography on Berkeleyside, visited the park recently to shoot photos of condors, a critically endangered species. She also had a lengthy conversation with Richard Neidhardt, who volunteers with […]
Posted inNature
10 Berkeley animal stories you didn’t want to miss in 2015
Berkeleyside reports many animal stories every year, and 2015 was no exception. Sometimes they are strange, such as the day in January when two boars’ heads popped up around town, or the night in June when a squirrel caused a massive power outage. Sometimes they are sad, like the time a couple hung up the body of a […]
Posted inNature
First time observed: Hundreds of monarch butterflies cluster in Berkeley’s Aquatic Park
In late October, Berkeleyside received a tip that thousands of tiny fish were jumping in the waters of Aquatic Park. Less than three weeks later, we received another “scoop” about the park that throngs of monarch butterflies were clustering in the trees. I’d seen groups of monarchs in well-known gathering places, called “roosts” or “bivouacs,” […]
Posted inNature
Making a splash: Fish jumping in Berkeley’s Aquatic Park
Dark clouds gathered last Tuesday morning, and many of us hoped for a storm. Yet, the not-so-still waters at Berkeley’s Aquatic Park didn’t roil from raindrops; they bubbled from thousands of small jumping fish. According to Dr. Peter Moyle, Distinguished Professor Emeritus with the Department of Wildlife, Fish, and Conservation Biology at UC Davis, these […]
Posted inNature
Sweetness and light: Diary from a hummingbird’s nest
Have you ever had one of those days in which everything sparkles? For me, that day was March 1. It was my first day out on my own, following a painful injury. It was the day I picked up and freed a pigeon, trapped in the dark corner of a café where I like to […]
Posted inNature
All aflutter: Berkeley insect lovers celebrate 40th year counting butterflies
A hummingbird whirrs by, as a squirrel flicks its tail, flirting. A robin fluffs its feathers after bathing in the stream. Leopard lilies, columbines, even the cacti are in full summery bloom. But today, at the Regional Parks Botanic Garden in Tilden Park, we’re here for the butterflies. Alan Kaplan, an entomologist, educator, and retired Tilden […]
Posted inNature
Friends in high places: Peregrine falcons soar above us
Not long ago, Berkeleyside reader Patrick Hickey kindly sent in a photo of a beautiful bird of prey, perched on a tall building near his home in downtown Berkeley. I had my own suspicions (and sense of elation) over what kind of bird it might be. Then Rusty Scalf, teacher and trip leader for the […]
Posted inNature
Darlings, not Draculas: Meet the bats of Berkeley
Once you know what to look for, you might catch glimpses of California’s native bats, even around cities like Berkeley. I see bats near Tilden Park, flittering off into the dusk like tiny airborne scraps of leather. Others notice their pointy silhouettes in the light of the moon, sunset-painted sky, pond reflections, streetlights. Field biologist […]
Posted inNature
In a Berkeley park, a bluebird displays unusual behavior
Last year, Rusty Scalf, teacher and trip leader for the Audubon Society, introduced me to a family of western bluebirds living and nesting in Berkeley’s San Pablo Park. This year, Scalf called me back. Apparently, a “mad man” had flown onto the bluebird scene. “He’s like a Rambo,” Scalf said. “A worm bandit… a total […]
Posted inNature
Lynxes of the bird world: Cooper’s hawks nest in Berkeley
They’re secretive, stealthy and quick. Allen Fish, director of the Golden Gate Raptor Observatory, calls them “feisty.” Cooper’s hawks, he says, are “the lynxes of the bird world” that pounce on pigeons and swoop between buildings. And, though Cooper’s hawks are hard to find, we know, at first fleeting glance, that we’ve seen something wild and […]