How to Recognize Spiders By their Webs - Bay Nature Magazine
WEBSep 29, 2015 · Illustration by Rachel Diaz-Bastin. Orb webs are the classic, wheel-shaped webs that have inspired everyone from engineers to poets to, well, designers of computer networks. They are primarily associated with their namesake, the family Araneidae, commonly known as the orb-weaver spiders, and have …
Bay Nature: The Bizarre World of the Banana Slug
WEBSep 30, 2018 · Branson reportedly clocked a banana slug covering 6.5 feet in two hours, a speed of 0.000275 meters per second. Slugcycle. Banana slugs lay a few dozen eggs at a time in moist cracks, crevices, or holes. After one or two months the eggs hatch and the inch-long baby slugs emerge to look for food. This is a …
Meet the Rare Dawn Redwood at a Bay Area Park
WEBFeb 4, 2021 · The dawn redwood grows an average of 50-60 feet, but can reach heights above 150 feet, and live for hundreds of years. Its distinctive red bark contrasts with its feathery lime-green needles, which unlike the coast redwoods and sequoias, change color to turn burnt orange in the fall. Despite its smaller stature, it is a true survivor, thought ...
ENature.com Website Launch
WEBApr 1, 2002 · Share This: If you haven’t checked out eNature.com, now’s the time. The website has been acquired by the National Wildlife Federation and offers a tremendous resource and tools for exploring Bay Area nature. Local-Guides on the site provide you with a zip-code-based photographic primer on the wildlife common in any area, including birds ...
Sand Dollars on the Beach and in the Water - Bay Nature
WEBOct 11, 2021 · When the water gets too rough, the sand dollar lies flat or shelters beneath the surface of the sand. Though it digs in, it can’t burrow deeply enough to escape predators, including birds, fish, and short-spined sea stars. The purple and red sea urchins of our coast prey on kelp and other algae. Sand dollars, on the other hand, eat tiny food.
Ask the Naturalist: How Does a Spider Make Silk? - Bay Nature
WEBAug 15, 2017 · These spiders generally make horizontal orb webs. When an insect gets caught in a feather-legged spider’s web, the spider responds by wrapping it in copious amounts of silk. The silk then contracts, and in a manner not unlike some snakes, crushes the prey’s exoskeleton, thus allowing the spider to feed on the insect’s body fluids as they ...
Bay Nature: What Is the Stringy Green Stuff Hanging from …
WEBDec 18, 2018 · Sometimes beard lichens are mixed in with lace lichen or hanging by themselves on branches. You can tell them apart by the laciness; lace lichen really does look like lace. Beard lichens, scientifically known as Usneas, have more of a branching structure. If you pull on a beard lichen, there is a stretchy elastic inner core inside.
Look Close for The Blue-Eyed Coyotes of Point Reyes
WEBApr 5, 2022 · The peninsula’s striking blue-eyed coyotes made national headlines in 2019 after they were photographed by Point Reyes photographer Daniel Dietrich, spurring articles in National Geographic, Smithsonian, and Atlas Obscura. People have also photographed blue-eyed coyotes in other populations in Santa Cruz and Sacramento.
What’s It Like Inside a Woodrat Nest? - Bay Nature
WEBJan 3, 2021 · Woodrats, pack rats, and trade rats are all common names for the same remarkable rodent genus, Neotoma.Our local species, the dusky-footed woodrat (Neotoma fuscipes), has a nice multicolor coat—unlike the nasty nonnative Norway and black rats, all too common in urban areas.It’s also extremely cute, with big Mickey Mouse ears and a lovely, lightly fuzzy tail.
Bay Nature Magazine: Can a Plant Live Without Photosynthesis?
WEBApr 17, 2018 · Typically, plants “fix” carbon from the air as CO 2, mix it with water, and convert it to glucose through photosynthesis. Powered by energy from sunlight, this reaction takes place in specialized structures called chloroplasts — organelles contained in the cells of plants. Each chloroplast acts like a small solar factory, bringing in raw ...