The feds last month decided to put an end to a 24-year-old “no-otter zone” in Southern California as well as an experimental program to establish a southern sea otter colony on a remote island off Santa Barbara. Long thought of as a “big mistake” by environmentalists, the translocation program failed to entice otters to put [...]
Once again, genetics is showing its might – this time with the small 4-inch gnatcatchers. The black and blue songbirds that live up and down the California coast – and which have been on the Federally Threatened List since 1993 — shouldn’t be federally protected says a new lawsuit. Attorneys at the Pacific Legal [...]
Energizing environmentalists more than the Energizer Bunny is a recent discovery of the rare and highly endangered El Segundo Blue Butterfly in the Ballona Wetlands. We’re not talking just one or two of the flutterers; about 30 of the small delicate butterflies were seen in the dune restoration area, a location that volunteers have [...]
It’s been almost 100 years since the California common murre chicks have hatched on the Channel Islands, but researchers have discovered the that bird species has re-established its former southern range on far oft Prince Island, a small islet off San Miguel Island. Ecologists from the USGS and NPS are gushing like proud parents about [...]
A milestone was celebrated recently at the Chula Vista Nature Center with the release of 26 endangered light-footed clapper rails into local marshes — the big event marked the 300th bird released in the 10-year breeding program. The Clapper Rail Recovery Program started when biologist and clapper rail champion, Richard Zembal, along with the Nature Center, decided [...]
For the second time this year, a sperm whale has been seen off the Southern California coastline – and this rare encounter was witnessed by leviathan-lovers aboard a local whale watching excursion who will NOT be asking for their money back any time soon. According to Pete Thomas Outdoors: …Natalie Booth-Massey and others aboard the [...]
A host of critters will have more roaming room that can’t be found on a GPS, thanks to a recent land acquisition by the Bureau of Land Management this week. Situation about 50 miles northeast of San Diego in northern San Diego county, this 400-acre land parcel was arranged through the Conservation Fund with the [...]
Comparing the waterways around the Channel Islands to a freeway (shades of Carmageddon!), scientists are surveying the oceanscape in small research planes with the aim of providing data that will keep whales and ships far, far apart.
In June, we reported that animal rights groups were maintaining that the current stock of wild horses that roam on public lands are descendants of native horses that roamed the area about 1.5 million years ago. Armed with DNA and archeological data, these groups want these ‘native’ horses to get the cred they deserve as [...]
Chances are, you have seen a brown widow spider a few times a week, or maybe a day, or (shudder), maybe every hour. These invasive pests, originally from southern Africa, were first observed here in SoCal about eight years ago — and they can not only creep you out, but make life painful. University of California [...]