What Species Are San Francisco’s Parrots? It’s Complicated. A new genomic study suggests they’re their own thing. That’s probably thanks to one bold bird.

Researchers demur on what exact species SF's parrots are: “Tell me what you define as a species."

Fab story by Jess Silber-Byrne on @baynature.org featuring an Angry Conure who helped science. 🧪

baynature.org/2026/04/14/l...

Anushuya Thapa reporting from an airplane.

Tanvi Dutta Gupta reporting from a redwood tree.

Early-career environmental journos: come work with me and the @baynature.org team! Our reporting fellows get in planes, boats, and redwood trees all over the SF Bay.
airtable.com/appUTtRgoCrT...

Early Bloomers In the dark of winter, look for these cheery flashes of color.

If you blossom in winter, you don't have to compete with all the spring riffraff to get some sexy pollinator action. At least, that's one theory about our early bloomers.
@baynature.org baynature.org/2026/02/02/s...

All That the Mulch Brings Meet our fungal immigrant neighbors.

Death caps, psilocybes, and MANY other mushrooms are recent immigrants to the Bay Area—why? It comes down to The Law of Mulch (not what lawmakers called it at the time, sadly).
@baynature.org
baynature.org/2026/01/22/s...

Very fun writing by Debbie Viess!
#science #bayarea 🧪🍄

The Tiniest Owl You've Never Seen This is the saw-whet way of life: “Live fast, breed hard, die young."

A saw-whet owl can eat a vole that is the SAME SIZE AS IT. Imagine.
baynature.org/2026/01/13/s...

And I love knowing exactly who to call with said assignment

How Spiders Fly - Bay Nature Darwin saw them ballooning. Without any wind. Eventually some scientists figured out their electric secret.

This story by the great
@strangerworks.bsky.social filed under: spiders, spider goats, silkworms, a physicist out of his lane, the HMS Beagle, the US military, Krakatoa, "exquisitely sensitive" leg hairs, and our electric earth.
@baynature.org baynature.org/2025/09/18/h...

Job: Coastal Lookout - Bay Nature Between ambitions and amphibians, an ecologist mediates.

What's it like working at a public agency that is an absolute drama magnet?
@sbennettbrandt.bsky.social profiles an @thecacoast.bsky.social‬ ecologist who nudges developers to protect (my fave phrase) "the sacred jelly of frog eggs." Lovely.
baynature.org/2025/08/21/j...
@baynature.org

The Verna A II is overtaken by waves on a Sonoma County beach. It was cleaned up this year after hanging out for nine years on that beach. Via NOAA/Beach Watch/Greater Farallones Assoc.

Also, here is a terror-inducing image for all my fellow boaters. You hate to see it.

This @baynature.org story on your tax dollars at work brought to you by the incredible persistence of reporter Jesse Greenspan! I'm so glad he called it what it is: an epic saga.

The Epic Saga of the Verna A II, a Shoreline Menace No More - Bay Nature A derelict fishing vessel has finally been removed from a Sonoma County beach, after nine years. Waiting to do the cleanup more than doubled the cost.

2016: drunken captain crashes boat into Sonoma beach
2025: rusty hulk finally dug out and hauled off
What on earth took so long?
Here's what.
baynature.org/article/ship...

Before the Clawbacks, This ‘Freaking Game-Changer’ for Nature Made It Rain - Bay Nature Trump has pulled back big parts of Biden’s signature climate laws. But BIL and IRA have already awarded at least $1.4 billion to Bay Area nature.

@tanvidg.bsky.social takes stock for @baynature.org of whether BIL and IRA's impacts on Bay Area nature have lived up to the mega-hopes.

TLDR: They can't claw it all back. 💰
baynature.org/article/befo...

I think we need Dark Google Alerts that alert us when federal government pages on a particular topic wink out. Or at least, I need that.

These Programs Have Monitored Our Waters For Decades. Trump Could Destroy Them. - Bay Nature “Long-term monitoring isn’t sexy,” says one source. But this data is how we know what is happening to the planet.

All the enviro data that is deeply unsexy, that's collected for years, and then something happens and it is VERY NECESSARY ... and without it you are flying blind? That is the data Trump is threatening. (And, scientists who collect that data, we see you.)
@tanvi.bsky.social @baynature.org

The People Will Keep Fishing, Despite Forever Chemicals in the Fish - Bay Nature Bay Area sport fish sampled in a study were tainted with PFAS. But it’s not so easy to persuade anglers to eat less fish.

There's PFAS in the fish. PFAS is legit scary. Why don't people pay attention to fish consumption advisories?

Well, I get it. Reading this took me back to times when I chose to fish in suspect locales so I could eat something besides lentils. baynature.org/2025/06/24/t... @baynature.org

Launch Coyote Media Collective A new alt-weekly-style publication is hitting the Bay Area

🧵 THREAD: Introducing COYOTE Media Collective
11 Bay Area journalists are launching a worker-owned newsroom because we're tired of corporate control sapping all the joy out of journalism.
Independent Bay Area journalism—with a BITE 🐺 1/4
givebutter.com/coyotemedia

After 28 Years, Alameda Creek Opens Up To Fish - Bay Nature The last fish barrier is falling—a watershed moment, if you will.

Great yarn from @tanvidg.bsky.social about how 20 MILES of creek will be opened up to fish after DECADES! (And meet the fellow whose baby this has been for so many years.)

Thinking of all those who take on enviro projects that seem almost impossible at the start.
baynature.org/article/afte...

The Man Who Records the Nature Sounds We Meditate To - Bay Nature A soundscape recordist is an escape artist.

One of the coolest details about @tanvidg.bsky.social's outing with a field recordist is that a mic placed on a redwood produced this persistent low rumble—she thought maybe the sounds of fluid running through the tree. The sound of its lifeblood!? Does anyone know? baynature.org/2025/06/12/t...

Also deep thanks to all the A's fans with not strictly legal ice plant clippings who were brave enough to step forward and tell their stories

We’ve Lost the A’s, But At Least We Still Have This Invasive Succulent - Bay Nature The ice plant become an unlikely symbol of Oakland pride—at least for A’s fans. But its symbolism is deeply counterintuitive.

At last, we did it. We managed to publish a sports story at @baynature.org.

Pitch-perfect writing by the great Ted Trautman and photos to match from Florence Middleton. Deepest thanks to these two for making my editing summer more fun.

baynature.org/2025/06/05/w...

Point Reyes, After the Cattle - Bay Nature When ranchers leave the land, what version of nature takes over? The park and The Nature Conservancy have ambitious restoration plans.

The park and its partners aren't saying much beyond what's in the published docs—so @lisamkrieger.bsky.social dug through docs and talked to experts to find out what's next for Point Reyes. There's a grand vision ... and it's far from guaranteed.
New on @baynature.org
baynature.org/2025/05/15/p...

Survival of the Flittest: Relocated Butterflies Are Spotted in San Francisco - Bay Nature At a recent release, volunteers help a new batch of silvery blues adjust to city life.

Good luck, little butterflies! No presh.

Some hopeful news amid the turmoil, from @strangerworks.bsky.social for @baynature.org 🌎baynature.org/2025/05/01/survival-of-t...

How (and When) Can You Get Your Hands On California’s Climate Bond? - Bay Nature After L.A. wildfires and Trump cuts, Prop 4’s $10 billion for climate adaptation will be even more important—and competitive. Here’s what you need to know.

From @tanvidg.bsky.social on @baynature.org: answers on #CAProp4 timelines, what work it funds, what could change in the state budget process, which agencies to ask for money (there are more than 30!), etc.

Let us know of other questions!
#servicejournalism
baynature.org/article/how-...

Trump’s EPA Suspends $19M North Richmond Environmental Justice Grant—Again - Bay Nature EPA says it’s proud of axing grants to save money.

A small community in the #SFBayArea refinery corridor had barely gotten a big IRA-funded project off the ground before the money was frozen. Then unfrozen. And frozen again.
Nice work from @rileyramirez.bsky.social.

Now on @baynature.org, via @richmondside.bsky.social
baynature.org/article/trum...

Even Ground Squirrels Got In On the Vole Feast Last Summer - Bay Nature For the first time, scientists documented concerted carnivory by California ground squirrels. But why were there so many voles?

Apparently, when life gives you voles, that's what you eat.
📷 by @sonjawild.bsky.social/UC Davis
🖋️ Vishal Subramanyan
baynature.org/2025/03/06/e...

Was thinking last night that laid-off journalists should really consider running for office. You know the issues. You can communicate. You know the importance of a free press and the dangers of social media oligarchs. You understand how to localize national issues. You know how to place stories.

SUPER. Thanks!!

This included a classic @baynature.org moment: fact-checking whether the “we are oak trees bending in wind” metaphor is apt in terms of actual oak adaptations. Learned southern live oaks have spiral branch patterns that make them wind resistant. Not sure about our locals, but it seems plausible?

With Trump’s War on DEI, Local Environmental Organizations Rethink Diversity Commitments - Bay Nature Some organizations are doubling down on DEI. Others are taking down words that could get them in trouble.

How much do words (specifically:
diversity, equity, inclusion, justice) matter?
TLDR: not as much as actions, environmental groups say.
Great work from @tanvidg.bsky.social for @baynature.org baynature.org/article/with...

@jennifermolidor.bsky.social Love that you are compiling Bay Area writer & nature writer starter packs. Thanks for doing that work. Consider adding me, please? I edit and write at @baynature.org