This week on Santa Cruz Naturalist Emily heads back to the UC Ford Ord Reserve to chat with the field manager of the reserve, Joe Miller. To learn more about the reserve please visit: https://fortordreserve.ucsc.edu

This week on Santa Cruz Naturalist, Theadora tells you about a wonderful bird that is easily seen all over Santa Cruz, and most of the USA: the house finch. Learn about how their population recently expanded throughout the United States, the sound of their lovely song, and what some of their mating behaviors are like. Male house finches perform a number of elaborate rituals to attract and keep their mates around!

Feel free to ask Theadora your bird questions on twitter @gcsparrow.

This week on Santa Cruz Naturalist Emily speaks with Dr. Yui Takeshita, a scientist at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute. Dr. Takeshita explains how he uses chemistry to better understand the ocean and shares an interesting story about internal waves in the Monterey Canyon.

This week on Santa Cruz Naturalist Emily speaks with Dr. Katie Pitz, a research associate at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute. Dr. Pitz explains what environmental DNA or eDNA is and how it can be used to better understand the critters living within the Monterey Bay.

This week on Santa Cruz Naturalist, Theadora talks about two species of birds that you can easily see in your backyard! Listen with me to learn about Northern mockingbirds and California towhees and some of their fascinating behaviors. California towhees might not be colorful, but they make up for that by being cute and very devoted to their mates – the pairs usually stay together for life!

This week on Santa Cruz Naturalist Emily chats with Brett Bell, Restoration Steward at the UC Santa Cruz Fort Ord Natural Reserve. Listen in as Brett introduces listeners to a rare and tiny flower, Gilia tenuiflora ssp. arenaria, found in Monterey Bay's coastal chaparral.

This week on Santa Cruz Naturalist Emily explores the beautiful UC Fort Ord Reserve with the reserves' field manager, Joe Miller.  Tune in to hear more about what makes the Fort Ord Reserve such a special place! If you'd like to learn more about the reserve please visit: https://fortordreserve.ucsc.edu

This week on Santa Cruz Naturalist, Emily chats with Reef Check CA's climate change coordinator, Kate Vylet. Tune in to hear more about how Reef Check trains volunteer citizen scientists to monitor climate change. To learn more about Reef Check, visit reefcheck.org.

We talk with Regina Spranger, a Ph.D. student at UC Santa Cruz, about California Giant Salamanders and where to find them. Ever wondered how they go from eggs to adults? The amazing things that happen during metamorphosis? They live up to their name and can grow to be up to 12 inches long. Learn all about these enormous salamanders who are the banana slugs’ only predator!

You can imagine how difficult it is to eat a banana slug, but these salamanders are able to get through all the slime.

This week on Santa Cruz Naturalist we follow up with Dr. Zeka Glucs, Director of Santa Cruz Predatory Bird Research Group because we just couldn't get enough of the peregrine falcons (the intro 41 seconds in the same, but don't worry, everything is brand new). In this interview (find part one here) Dr. Glucs tells us about her work with monitoring Peregrine Falcons, how they learn about them, and facts about their migration. Come listen and learn about birds that were once on the brink of extinction and are now thriving today!

For more information about the Santa Cruz Predatory Bird Research Group, visit them here: https://pbrg.pbsci.ucsc.edu/

To see fascinating behaviors from live birds check these nest cams for observations of breeding Peregrine falcons in San Jose and San Francisco. (Make sure you look at the right time of year though!).