Dozens of domestic rabbits roam through one San Jose neighborhood each night. They emerge at dusk, appearing on lawns and gardens and munching on rose and hibiscus flowers. Without intervention, just a couple of abandoned pet rabbits can quickly form colonies numbering in the hundreds.
Read MoreLatifat Apatira is a botanical nature printmaker based in the Bay Area. As a physician who nearly became a botanist, the power of her creativity lies at the intersection of her passions and identities. Describing herself first as a Muslim-woman, this identity punctuates all the others: artist, daughter, sister, Nigerian-American, educator, plant person, and botanical activist. The many themes that make up her life’s work—faith and spirituality, the rich history of nature printing, botany, ethnobotany, and art—come together to form the whole of her creative work.
Read MoreWaking up every two hours to feed an orphaned newborn bat pup, providing emergency maternal care for a hoary bat giving birth to breech twins, or grooming sleek bat fur with a mascara brush are all routine parts of life for JoEllen Arnold, a retired teacher, who is a bat "rehabber," and conservation advocate.
Read MoreIt's a typical summer morning at the lagoon. The air is filled with a strange dinosaur-like soundtrack as the continuous sound of babbling and squawking travels across the water. It's nesting season for a co-mingled flock of snowy and great egrets who have taken over several Monterey pine trees at the water's edge. Beneath the trees, Cindy Margulis is checking on the birds.
Read MoreBianca Ana Chavez is a botanical artist living and working in Japan. She grew up in the Monterey County countryside surrounded by six acres of chaparral and a kitchen garden.
Read MoreOn a late July morning, a group of volunteers gathered in Wildcat Canyon. They were there to assess the health of a population of Santa Cruz tarplant, a rare plant that grows in the canyon.
Read MoreEasels, paint, colored pencils, and drawings cover every surface of Keith Hanson's small wildlife studio in Marin County, California. A spotting scope is aimed out the front window at a Red Elderberry tree frequented by visiting birds. Birds flitted in and out of the courtyard.
Read MoreAn interview and portrait of Oakland based artist and illustrator, Maria Schoettler.
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