Monterey County Animals Digest

A sticky and fluffy substance has been seen falling in Monterey, Santa Cruz and San Benito counties—a natural phenomenon called ballooning, when spiders use their webs to fly through the air.

There’s an official state bird, mineral, tree, fish, insect, lichen, fabric, sport, dance, soil and even dinosaur.

Less than 400 of the majestic birds live and fly in the wild.

Daniel Laggner, founder of Santa Cruz-based Wildstag Provisions, is on a mission to protect American wildlife by selling free range game meat.

In some areas, kelp has declined over the past 10 years to historically low levels. Yet kelp forests in other areas of the sanctuary appear to be holding their own against the voracious urchin hordes.

The SPCA Monterey County Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation Center responded to the unique hawk, found on the ground in San Benito County.

Many people kayak through Elkhorn Slough, but the El Cat is a very different watercraft: a 37-foot, ADA-compliant catamaran.

In a new study published Aug. 17 in the journal Science, fossil records at La Brea Tar Pits indicate that the disappearance of California’s sabertooth cats, dire wolves and other large mammals nearly 13,000 years ago was linked to rising temperatures and fire activity spurred by people.

California’s only native sunfish, the Sacramento perch, was once abundant before invasive species decimated it. As the planet heats up and threatens cold-water game fish, the Sacramento perch may be on the cusp of a comeback, thanks to its ability to tolerate warm water.

In two incidents, women were injured by repeated otter bites while swimming.

While the toxic algae bloom that sickened California marine mammals has dissipated, rescue centers prepare for more events as oceanographic conditions continue to present challenges.

The new pack consists of at least five individuals not previously detected in California, including one adult female, who is a direct descendant of California’s first documented wolf in the state in recent history, (OR7), and four offspring (two females, two males).

Keep in mind that most insect repellents don't kill insects. Insects that bite—not ones that sting—are kept away by repellents.

Luis Yauri Oyola hopes one day to buy a tractor to start a business in Peru; he estimates that he is six years away from that goal, for which he will have spent more than a decade of his life living thousands of miles away from his family. He is on call 24/7 and doesn’t leave the job site except for necessities.

Research by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s snake fungal disease project indicates that the pathogen is occurring in more locations and impacting more snakes in California than previously known.

In December, the Land Trust of Santa Cruz County spent $17 million to buy Rocks Ranch, a 2,600-acre property near San Juan Bautista that has been eyed by developers. The group is working to build a crossing so that wildlife can traverse Highway 101 without being killed.

The SPCA Monterey County Wildlife Center partnered with The Tree Man—a Salinas-based tree service company—to install a heavy-duty nest designed by the wildlife rescue team after the young hawk’s nest was damaged.

California condors will receive a vaccine for a deadly strain of avian influenza that threatens the already critically endangered vulture species. More than a dozen condors recently died from the bird flu.

A federal regulatory group voted to officially close king salmon fishing season along much of the West Coast after near-record low numbers of the fish returned to California rivers in 2022. The approved closure of the 2023 season is for all commercial and most recreational fishing.

Bembidion brownorum was last seen in 1966, but it had not been named or described until one was collected near a creek on Brown’s ranch in Colusa County.

The salmon industry, worth about half a billion dollars, is devastated. The culprits: Drought and decades of water diversions and development.

A whale-watching voyage yielded photographs and video of North Pacific right whale, a species nearing extinction.

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife and many wildlife rehabilitation centers have received reports of sick and dead band-tailed pigeons from locations along California’s Central Coast, the San Francisco Bay Area and Sierra Nevada foothill communities.

“This is a long-term project we're starting from nothing, with very little funding,” said Vincent Christian, of the nonprofit Sunflower Star Laboratory.

Woodland and beach regions known for tick activity across northwest California could be even more prone to the disease-carrying arachnids this year.

A small white deer is the sole survivor of a once-large herd created by famed publisher William Randolph Hearst.

“This is great compared to three years ago; this is not great compared to three decades ago.”

The Monarch and Pollinator Highway Program requires the Department of Transportation to provide grants to states, Indian tribes, and federal land management agencies to carry out pollinator-friendly practices on roadsides and highway rights-of-way.

These birds spend most of the year at sea “but we're finding them in neighborhoods, in backyards, in business parks—places where they shouldn't be,” said Beth Brookhouser, of SPCA Monterey County.

They have been pushed to the brink of extinction by dams, drought, heat and wildfires, but winter-run Chinook salmon now appear to face a new threat—their own ravenous hunger for anchovies.

As whale populations swell along the California coast, Dungeness crab fishermen are struggling to stay afloat. Fear of entangling whales has forced state regulators to delay the traditional start of the commercial crabbing season year.

Repeated delays of Dungeness crab season chips away at the long-term stability of the local industry.