A Day in the San Francisco Bay With Humpback Whales and Porpoises

You might have seen the really cool news about the humpback whales hanging out in San Francisco Bay--I was lucky enough to be able to see these remarkable animals firsthand today! On a recent trip with scientists Bill Keener and Izzy Szczepaniak with Golden Gate Cetacean Research (one of the conservation partners I work with) to check out harbor porpoises, the humpback whales stole the show from their cetacean cousins, and even treated us to a few close passes to our boat.

Unlike the harbor porpoises we were studying that day, who returned to San Francisco Bay in 2006 after a 65 year absence, humpback whales never completely vanished from the area (anyone remember the story of Humphrey the Humpback?), but the recent number of sightings is unprecedented in recent years. As Bill told KQED, “It’s pretty exciting. We’ve never seen this before and we’ve been studying this since the 70s.”

Humpback whale in San Francisco Bay. Photo Beth Pratt-Bergstrom

Harbor porpoise in San Francisco Bay. Photo Beth Pratt-Bergstrom

First pika of the year!

Tioga Road in Yosemite opened today and I dashed up to Gaylor Lake to greet my pika friends. I missed these ridiculously cute critters over the winter.

The American pika, a small relative of hares and rabbits, lives in rocky terrain typically at elevations of eight thousand to thirteen thousand feet in California. Also fondly referred to as rock rabbits, boulder bunnies, or “little chief hares,” pikas are often heard rather than seen and they call with a distinctive high-pitched “meep!”; appropriately, the animal’s name may be a derivative of the Russian word pikat, meaning “to squeak.” Despite the harsh winter conditions they experience, pikas do not hibernate but instead collect various grasses, shrubs, and lichens, place the food in the sun to dry, and then stash it into a “haystack” for winter consumption. These nimble and deft creatures have also been known to loot their neighbors’ haystacks.

I've observed this population for years now, taking photos and monitoring their activity, and I think they have become accustomed to this blonde giant--I seem to be an accepted member of this pika community as they always come out and say hello.

My backyard wildlife photobooth

One of the best uses of technology, in my humble opinion, is the remote wildlife camera. I love discovering the wild neighbors with which I share my home. On my property in the Sierra foothills of 3,000 feet, I keep it mostly wild, and the native critters reward me with their presence. Below are my favorite photos from my cameras. If you haven't yet installed a wildlife camera in your yard, what are you waiting for? Discovering the menagerie of critters that make their home alongside you is pretty fun.

bobcat taking a stroll

bobcat posing for the camera

a wandering coyote

gray fox and western toad-the fox did not eat the toad.

gray fox close up

my flock of turkeys

raccoon visiting the frog pond

"hey, it's a certified wildlife habitat! I'm staying."

deer and two fawns

neighborhood black bear

an unhappy skunk

jackrabbit at the frog pond-look at those hind legs!

a parade of quail

a small owl makes an appearance

Ten Remarkable California Wildlife Moments in 2015

As the California Director of the National Wildlife Federation, I have the best job in the world. While overseeing the organization’s conservation work in the Golden State, I continually witness instances of "wild wonder."  From mountain lions to sea otters, from wolves to desert tortoises, here are ten remarkable wildlife moments we experienced in California in 2015.

#1. Wild otter gives birth in tide pool at Monterey Bay Aquarium. As the aquarium declared in their blog, it was the "squee heard ‘round the world!" when an otter gave birth in the tide pool outside their facility. Crowds onsite gathered to watch, but they were nothing compared to the virtual crowds in the millions who avidly followed the ridiculously cute photos and videos posted on the aquarium's Facebook page.

Cute overload: wild sea otter and pup resting in the Great Tide Pool at Monterey Bay Aquarium. Photo by Monterey Bay Aquarium

Welcome to the world, tiny otter pup! A wild otter mom gave birth to her pup in our Great Tide Pool over the weekend. Visit our blog to learn more! http://mbayaq.co/22jeM4W

#2. Wolves Return to California: Photos released in August by California’s Department of Fish and Wildlife of five wolf pups and their parents frolicking in California’s Siskiyou County, not far from Mount Shasta, provided evidence that a wolf pack had formed in California—the first in the state in ninety years. “This news is exciting for California,” said Charlton H. Bonham, CDFW Director. “We knew wolves would eventually return home to the state and it appears now is the time.”

Meet the Shasta Pack–California’s first wolf pack in almost a century. Photo via California Fish & Wildlife

#3. "Jaws" Devours Seal in San Francisco Bay: Tourists visiting San Francisco's famed attraction of Alcatraz got front row seats to the gory spectacle of a great white shark preying on a seal—and they also became witnesses to an unprecedented event. As David McGuire, a research associate at the California Academy of Sciences, told the San Francisco Chronicle, “This is the first recorded predation event I know of in the San Francisco Bay.” In the first video below, footage from a security camera from Alcatraz Cruises shows the shark breaching the water with its prey. The second video, taken by tourist Meredith Coppolo Shindler displays a view from the boat—along with the delight of a young boy watching the event: "It's Jaws, it's Jaws! That’s the awesomest thing I’ve ever seen in my life!”

Learn more about Alcatraz Cruises and Hornblower Cruises & Events: http://www.alcatrazcruises.com/ https://www.hornblower.com/ Fall is prime time for great whites to roam off the coast of San Francisco. While they've been documented inside the bay in the past using electronic monitoring, none have been spotted inside the Golden Gate, let alone seen stalking and attacking prey.

Guess we know what happened to the few escapees!

#4. Mountain lion climbs telephone pole: What caused this mighty mountain lion to scurry up a telephone pole? Screaming children. As Peter Day reported in the Daily Press: "Jose Ruiz, a resident who lives across the street from the pole, told the Daily Press that the mountain lion was startled by children coming home in a Lucerne Valley Unified School District school bus. They were yelling with excitement and the big cat scurried up the pole," Ruiz said.  Later that same evening, the mountain lion managed to climb back down the pole and hasn't been seen in the area since.

Only in California: a mountain lion climbs a telephone pole to escape screaming children. Photo by Peter Day/Daily News

#5: Famous Mountain Lion Takes a Nap in a Los Angeles Home: In April, the famous mountain lion of Hollywood, P-22, was discovered napping in a crawlspace in a Los Feliz home. The resulting media circus, complete with a live feed of the cat peeking out at the cameras and helicopters buzzing the neighborhood, made headlines around the world (including an article in Time Magazine: The Mountain Lion That Was Hiding Under a Los Angeles Home Has Left). The media spectacle wasn’t out of fear, however, but because for the most part people wanted a glimpse of this famous cat, who safely snuck away after officials cleared the area.

Click the image to view the full video (Photo: NBC4LA)

#6: Endangered Frogs Get a Helicopter Ride to Safety: In an effort to save a frog species on the brink of extinction, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Park Service evacuated critically endangered tadpoles from the high Sierra and transported them to Oakland Zoo and San Francisco Zoo. These tadpoles have now have successfully morphed into healthy mountain yellow-legged frogs.  "Mountain yellow-legged frogs are getting hammered by non-native trout and disease, and urgent intervention was needed to keep two populations in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks from disappearing," said Danny Boiano, Aquatic Ecologist at Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks.

Normally used to fight wildland fires, this helicopter instead spent the day rescuing an endangered species. Photo by Jessie Bushell/San Francisco Zoo.

A mountain yellow-legged frog peers up from an alpine pond. Photo by Isaac Chellman/NPS

#7: Bighorn Sheep Return to Yosemite's Cathedral Range: The National Park Service, with funding from the Yosemite Conservancy, released a new herd of bighorn sheep into the park in 2015. “It has been a century since Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep disappeared from the Cathedral Range," said Sarah Stock, a Yosemite National Park wildlife biologist who supervised the herd’s restoration, "so it is remarkable to have them back in the heart of the park’s wilderness. Not only is the animal restored to its ancestral habitat, but we are restoring our personal connection with wilderness and what it means to be in a wild place."

NPS Biologist Sarah Stock watches as bighorn sheep are released into Yosemite's Cathedral Range. Photo via NPS.

#8: The Marines to the Rescue of the Desert Tortoise:  The Twentynine Palms Marine Base partnered with UCLA to create the Desert Tortoise Head Start Facility, a five-acre site that hosts 500 hatchlings secured from predators and human activity, where they stay until they reach maturity. Nine years after hatching, the first 35 tortoises were released into the wild in 2015. “Along with military skills, we’ve also trained 30,000 Marines every year on desert tortoise conservation. Some of them pursue careers in wildlife biology as a result,” says Brian Henen, director of the tortoise efforts on the base.

Combat Center Chief of Staff, Col. James F. Harp releases tortoise 2-4 during the Natural Resources and Environmental Affairs-hosted ceremony for the first release of tortoises from the Combat Center’s Desert Tortoise Headstart Program. Official USMC photo by Lauren Kurkimilis/Released

#9: Rare Sierra Nevada Red Fox Spotted in Yosemite: The Sierra Nevada red fox of California is one of the rarest mammals in North America, likely consisting of fewer than 50 individuals, and the creature had not been spotted in Yosemite in nearly 100 years—until remote cameras detected one in 2015. “We are thrilled to hear about the sighting of the Sierra Nevada red fox, one of the most rare and elusive animals in the Sierra Nevada,” stated Don Neubacher, Yosemite National Park Superintendent. “National parks like Yosemite provide habitat for all wildlife and it is encouraging to see that the red fox was sighted in the park.”

Sierra Nevada Red Fox taken by Yosemite’s motion-sensitive camera. Photo via NPS

#10: Orphaned Fisher Kits Get a Brand New Start in Yosemite: The kits, two sets of siblings, were rescued south of the park after two radio-collared female fishers were killed by predators. Their release back into the wild is part of a four-year effort to reintroduce fishers north of the Merced River in Yosemite National Park, a cooperative effort between the National Park Service, U.S. Forest Service Pacific Southwest Research Station (PSW), Fresno-Chaffee Zoo, and the Fresno Wildlife Rehabilitation Foundation.

One of the four fisher kits released into Yosemite peeks out at his new home. Photo by Beth Pratt

Want to read more tales about California's wild wonder? Watch for NWF California Director's upcoming book, "When Mountain Lions Are Neighbors: People and Wildlife Working it Out in California," coming in spring 2016 from Heyday Books.

The Remarkable Wildlife of California's National Wildlife Refuges

This week NWF is celebrating National Wildlife Refuge Week. Wildlife refuges are some of the most important protected areas for wildlife in the country. In California, there's no shortage of spectacular wildlife habitat and an abundance of diverse wildlife watching, from marine life on the coast to bird watching in the desert.

"If you travel much in the wilder sections of our country, sooner or later you are likely to meet the sign of the flying goose — the emblem of the national wildlife refuges... Wherever you meet this sign, respect it. It means that the land behind the sign has been dedicated by the American people to preserving, for themselves and their children as much of our native wildlife as can be retained along with our modern civilization." - Rachel Carson (Photo USFWS)

Although millions of visitors flock to the more famous protected places like Yosemite National Park with the hopes of seeing animals, the state's lesser known wildlife refuges offer some of the best opportunities for wildlife watching. As the California Director for the National Wildlife Federation, I travel all around the Golden State for my work, visiting some of these amazing wildlife refuges. Below are some of the spectacular refuges I've visited and photos of the remarkable wildlife you might encounter there:

Hopper Mountain National Wildlife Refuge

On June 24, 2014 Beth Pratt from the National Wildlife Federation helped U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service staff release a California Condor into the mountains near Ventura, California. Condor #628 was released after a short stay at the Los Angeles Zoo and Botanical Gardens where she was treated for lead exposure.

Last year, I had the privilege of accompanying a team of scientists working on condor recovery at Hopper Mountain National Wildlife Refuge, led by Joseph Brandt of USFWS (follow their Facebook page The Condor Cave). Established in 1974 to protect the endangered California condor, the 2,471-acre refuge located in Ventura County plays a vital role in the California Condor Recovery Program, and provides key nesting and roosting habitat for the birds. I helped released Condor #628 from its crate, returning a bird home after it had had treated it for lead poisoning.

A condor in flight is impressive, and all of us—even the biologists who work daily with the birds—stood silent and awestruck as this ancient giant effortlessly glided over the hills, the wind playing its long wings like a musical instrument. Native Americans attributed the thunder to their flight, and they can travel more than 200 miles in a single day and soar 15,000 feet above the earth.

Merced National Wildlife Refuge

Sunset over the Merced National Wildlife Refuge in California's Central Valley (photo by Cindy Jacobo)

Located in the middle of California's Great Central Valley, the Merced National Wildlife Refuge is an important stop in avian migration as part of the Pacific Flyway. In winter a symphony of bird music resounds over the landscape. The refuge hosts the largest wintering population of lesser sandhill cranes and Ross' geese along the Pacific Flyway, provides important breeding habitat for an array of birds, and also offers a year-round home to coyotes, ground squirrels, cottontail rabbits, beaver and long-tailed weasels.

My friend Cindy Jacobo visits the refuge every chance she gets, and is always amazed at how much wildlife she encounters. "This time of year you'll find our beloved lesser Sandhill Cranes that have migrated from Alaska for the winter. Among other wildlife you'll see a few coyotes, Canada geese, mallards, black-necked stilts, northern pintails, peregrine falcons, great horned owls, barn owls and a good possibility of a pelican sighting!" Cindy acts as an ambassador for the site by sharing her remarkable photos frequently on social media. "Like many others I lead a somewhat stressful life. Our local refuge is my sanctuary where I go to relax and just breathe." Her favorite sighting on the refuge? "When I spotted a bald eagle. I'd heard they were there but very shy."

Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge

OR7, the first wolf to enter California in 90 years in 2011, crossed the Oregon-California border using the Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge (photo USFWS).

OR-7 made headlines in 2011 when he became the first wolf in California in ninety years, wandering a circuitous route of thousands of miles from his home in Oregon. Perhaps fittingly, when he finally made those fateful steps into California, he chose to enter on the border of the Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge, established by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1908 as the nation's first waterfowl refuge. At peak, waterfowl populations can reach almost 2 million birds across its 50,000 acres. Although OR-7 chose another place to raise his family in southern Oregon (he is now the proud father of a second litter of pups), wolves continue to repopulate California. They will likely become permanent residents of the refuge in the future.

San Joaquin River National Wildlife Refuge

The San Joaquin River National Wildlife Refuge houses the largest population in the world of the endangered riparian brush rabbit (Photo USFWS/Brian Hansen).

From my home in outside Yosemite, I often travel to the San Francisco Bay area for work. Instead of staying on the major freeways, I usually drive across the Central Valley via the scenic California State Route 132, a two-lane road that meanders through the San Joaquin River National Wildlife Refuge. While I often view great blue herons or snowy egrets along the riverbanks, I learned about a lesser seen inhabitant of the refuge while attending the annual Wildlife Society Western Region Conference--the endangered riparian brush rabbit. Through a partnership with the Endangered Species Recovery Program at California State University, Stanislaus, the Refuge has released captive bred rabbits to reintroduce the animal to its native homeland.

Don Edwards San Francisco Bay

Snowy Egret hunts while perched on a fence at Don Edwards National Wildlife Refuge. ( Photo Gregg Aronson/USFWS)

In 1974, the southern end of the San Francisco Bay become the site for the nation’s first urban national wildlife preserve, the Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge. Surrounded by cities with a total population of almost 8 million people, the site enjoys 700,000 visitors a year. Home to more than a half a million shorebirds, including the endangered California clapper rail, you'll also find a diverse array of wildlife at the refuge, from the tiny salt marsh harvest mouse (also endangered) to the largest mammal frequenting its borders, the harbor seal.  The refuge is also the site of the South Bay Salt Pond Restoration Project, the largest tidal restoration project on the west coast.

Sonny Bono Salton Sea National Wildlife Refuge Complex

A bobcat kitten peeks out from a tree at the Sonny Bono Salton Sea National Wildlife Refuge Complex (photo Sonny Bono NWR )

At the Sonny Bono Salton Sea National Wildlife Refuge, you can find a diverse array of wildlife. Located on the southeast shore of the Salton Sea, which is one of the world's largest inland seas and also one of the lowest at 227 feet below sea level, the refuge is just 40 miles from the Mexican border. Conditions in this desert land can be extreme--summer temperatures regularly exceed 100F.

Yet the site is the largest stop in California for birds on the Pacific Flyway, houses more than 70% of the state's burrowing owl population, and an array of mammals like the coyote, desert pocket mouse, and Merriam's kangaroo rat live within its boundaries.  Another fun fact about this unusual place is that Sonny Bono learned to water ski at the Salton Sea and in 1998 the Refuge was renamed for the Congressman as a result of his efforts to help protect it.

Pixley National Wildlife Refuge

Sandhill cranes at Pixley National Wildlife Refuge (Photo Beth Pratt)

In the winter months, I'll always try to make a stop on my drive to or from Los Angeles at Pixley National Wildlife Refuge, located about 45 miles north of Bakersfield, to view the sandhill cranes. From the observation deck, you can watch these graceful birds fly in and out of the refuge, sometimes with the tule fog creeping through the fields creating a ghostly backdrop.

These cranes have journeyed from as far as Alaska, and the refuge has housed over 6,400 of these weary travelers at times. Located on the shores of historic Tulare Lake--once the largest lake west of the Great Lakes-- Pixley also provides habitat for the many threatened and endangered species such as the San Joaquin kit fox, vernal pool fairy shrimp and Tipton kangaroo rat.

Lake Merritt

A river otter hangs out on a dock in 2013, the first to be seen in at Oakland's Lake Merritt in decades. (Photo by Randy Gorringe)

Lake Merritt is a 155-acre tidal lagoon in downtown Oakland that has the distinction of being the first wildlife refuge in the country. In 1869, the then mayor of Oakland designated the lake as a refuge for migrating birds, followed by the state of California naming it a state game refuge in 1870. But like the larger San Francisco Bay to which it is connected, the Lake suffered from pollution as the population in the Golden State grew, and just a decade ago the lake’s stagnant water and littered shores made it an eyesore.

The community rallied and voters in Oakland agreed to fund restoration efforts in 2002. Nature responded with a noticeable increase of wildlife, and in 2013, a river otter paid the ultimate compliment by hanging out on a shoreline dock. He’s the first to be seen in the area in decades.

Farallon National Wildlife Refuge

A humpback whale breaches in the waters off the Farallon National Wildlife Refuge (Photo by Isidore Szczepaniak).

Often referred to as California's Galapagos, the Farallon Islands hosts the largest seabird nesting colony in the contiguous United States, along with the largest colony of western gulls in the world.  An abundance of marine life swim in its waters including humpback whales, Risso's dolphins, and elephant seals. The Farallons also rank as one of the best places in the world to study great white sharks, who frequent the waters in search of a pinniped mealEven if you can't visit, you can check out views of the refuge at the live Farallones Cam.

Unlike the other refuges listed in this blog, I have never visited the Farallon National Wildlife Refuge,  located about 30 miles west of the Golden Gate Bridge, as the site is closed to public access. My friend and scientist, Izzy Szczepaniak with Golden Gate Cetacean Research, has made frequent journeys to the area for his research, and wrote his master’s thesis was on “Abundance, Distribution, and Natural History of Harbor Porpoise in the Gulf of the Farallones.” I have lived vicariously through him as he often shares both photos and tales of the Farallons.

Happy National Wildlife Refuge Week!