Bay to Sierra Nature Programs

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Bay to Sierra Nature Programs 🌿 Nature experiences designed and implemented for all sectors.

Learn about ecology, wildlife, and stewardship
🥾 Join workshops and explorations for all ages
🌎 Based in the SF Bay & northern Sierra Nevada, California

24/05/2026

Observation Station 12: Tide levels dropped to a negative low, exposing a wide stretch of intertidal habitat along the north San Francisco Bay coast. Tide pools are living systems – best explored slowly, carefully, and with respect for what’s underfoot.

24/05/2026

Observation Station 12: Tide levels dropped to a negative low, exposing a wide stretch of inner title habitat along the north San Francisco Bay coast. Tadpoles are living systems – best explored slowly, carefully and with respect for what’s under foot. How many species do you see?

11/05/2026

A Bay-to-Sierra snapshot—Variable Checkerspot (Euphydryas chalcedona) and Checkered White (Pontia protodice) reflecting California’s wide elevational range, from coastal and foothill systems into Sierra Nevada habitats. Both species track seasonal host plant availability across changing climates and elevations.

09/05/2026

Spring has a way of booking the same headliner every year in Sierra Valley — a Sage Thrasher singing like it’s open mic night.

A seasonal return visitor in the northern Sierra Nevada, showing up just in time for Migratory Bird Day.

29/04/2026

A small find on the redwood forest floor: a jaw fragment photographed alongside a penny for scale.

It’s striking how often something as ordinary as a coin becomes useful in the field. Keeping a consistent size reference makes identification easier—especially when documenting animal sign like s**ttered or partial remains, s**t, tracks, frass, scratch marks, diggings, etc.

This was recorded in the North Bay (Northern Marin County), below a northern spotted owl (Strix occidentalis caurina) roosting site, where even small mammal traces can help add context to how food webs function in older forest systems.

iNaturalist identifiers have assisted with the ID, and it’s currently leaning toward dusky-footed woodrat (Neotoma fuscipes). Feel free to weigh in if you see it differently.

One simple field habit worth adopting: keep a coin in your pocket for scale—it comes in handy more often than you’d expect.

observationstation redwoodforest ecologyfieldwork naturedocumentation fieldbiology trackandsign smallmammals wildlifescience oldgrowthforest spottedowlhabitat californianature bioblitz natureeducation baytosierra ecologicalfieldwork scaletool naturestudy

27/04/2026

Looking for the perfect Sierra birding basecamp?

I’m excited to share that Starry Pine Retreat in Graeagle, CA () is now the central hub for my Bay to Sierra Nature programs!

This cozy cabin is ideal for small, focused naturalist groups and individuals. Bird right from the wraparound deck — regularly spotting Mountain Chickadees, White-headed Woodpeckers, and more over morning coffee. Inside, it’s stocked with nature and bird-themed books, puzzles, and games.
Just steps from Plumas National Forest and a short drive from prime spots including Sierra Valley Preserve (Sandhill Cranes, White-faced Ibis, Yellow-headed Blackbirds & more), Mill Pond, Graeagle Creek, Middle Fork Feather River, Plumas Eureka State Park, and Gold Lake Recreation Area.
As a wildlife biologist, California naturalist, and credentialed teacher, I’m expanding Bay to Sierra Nature programs into the Lost Sierra with Starry Pine Retreat as our home base. The cabin is available for short-term rental for immersive birding and nature retreats.
Open to Instagram collaborations! I’m relatively new here and love learning/sharing about birds. If you know birders, photographers, or small nature groups who’d enjoy this, I’d greatly appreciate you sharing this post.
DM me or check the Linktree in bio for booking details and photos.


Graeagle, California

MountainBirding PlumasNationalForest SierraNevadaBirds WhiteHeadedWoodpecker MountainChickadee CaliforniaNaturalist WildlifeBiologist NatureRetreat PlumasEurekaStatePark

25/04/2026

Jepson Prairie Preserve, CA, The Delta green ground beetle, Elaphrus viridis, is a federally listed Threatened species under the U.S. Endangered Species Act.

This highly specialized beetle is restricted to seasonal wetland systems of the northern Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta, where it inhabits the shallow margins of vernal pools and adjacent moist grassland microhabitats. As an active ground-dwelling predator, it plays an important ecological role in regulating small invertebrate populations within these ephemeral wetlands, contributing to the structure and balance of vernal pool communities.

Our amazing docent who works in these habitats at the preserve has never observed this species to fly, making its rapid, ground-level movement across the mosaic of vernal pool basins and grassland openings especially intriguing in the context of how it disperses and persists within these isolated systems.

All organisms shown here were handled under appropriate permit, as part of educational programming in collaboration with the Solano Land Trust at Jepson Prairie Preserve. SolanoLandTrust DeltaGreenGroundBeetle SeasonalWetlands CaliforniaGrasslands BayDeltaWildlife InvertebrateEcology GroundBeetle Carabidae FieldNaturalist NatureEducation ConservationScience NativeHabitat EcologicalRestoration CaliforniaWildlife ElaphrusViridis

23/04/2026

Observation Station 10: Roadside Ecology
🌿 An anise swallowtail caterpillar (Papilio zelicaon) actively feeding on wild fennel along a roadside habitat.

Even small, overlooked edges like parking lots and roadsides can function as living ecosystems.

Here, you can see feeding behavior—and the small dark frass spheres is direct evidence of digestion and plant use.

A reminder: ecology is happening everywhere, if you slow down enough to observe it.

21/04/2026

Happy Earth Day 🌎

A small seasonal puddle can support a much larger ecological system. A vivid dancer damselfly (Argia vivida) rests near still water while other insects move through emergent vegetation growing in serpentine soil.

Serpentine is California’s state rock and is found throughout the state, including across the Bay to Sierra region. It forms from ancient oceanic crust and is naturally low in nutrients and high in heavy metals. These conditions are challenging for most plants, but they create a unique habitat that supports many endemic plant species found nowhere else on Earth. Because of this specialization, serpentine areas often limit invasive plants and allow rare native wildflowers to persist.

Seasonal wet areas like this puddle also serve important ecological functions. They filter water, store carbon, slow storm runoff, and provide breeding and feeding habitat for insects, amphibians, and birds.

Together, serpentine soils and temporary water sources create small but important pockets of biodiversity that often go unnoticed, yet are essential to the health of California’s landscapes.

A reminder this Earth Day that even the smallest spaces can support complex living systems worth protecting.

✨ Exciting news from Bay to Sierra Nature Programs! 🌲 We now have a hub in the Sierra Nevada, based in the Lost Sierra. ...
01/04/2026

✨ Exciting news from Bay to Sierra Nature Programs! 🌲 We now have a hub in the Sierra Nevada, based in the Lost Sierra.

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