Wildlife
River Otters on the Trinity
A morning with a small volunteer otter survey on the upper Trinity River of northern California, where the species' return continues to outpace official monitoring.
Section
Wildlife
Long observation pieces on the animals trail walkers actually meet — bear, owl, pika, fox, the smaller things underfoot.
Wildlife
Salamanders of the Mountain Bridge
A May night census of plethodontid salamanders along a high-elevation seep in the Mountain Bridge Wilderness of upstate South Carolina, where one of the world's densest amphibian assemblages quietly persists.
Wildlife
The Foxes of Suburban Richmond
A long-running study of red fox behavior in the residential neighborhoods of Richmond, Virginia, where the species has become more visible without becoming better understood.
Wildlife
The Fishers of the Southern Greens
A small reintroduction project in the southern Green Mountains of Vermont is producing the first confirmed fisher kits in the region in four decades.
Wildlife
Wolverine Tracks at the Base of Rainier
Three weeks with a small camera-trap crew confirming what biologists had begun to suspect: wolverines have returned to Mount Rainier National Park after a century's absence.
Wildlife
The Owl at Quinault
A field season with the northern spotted owl recovery crew on the western slope of Olympic National Park, where the species' decline has continued in spite of two decades of careful intervention.
Wildlife
Counting Pikas Above Loveland Pass
A three-day American pika survey at 12,400 feet on the talus slopes of the Colorado Front Range, conducted by a small volunteer crew from the Denver Zoo.
Wildlife
What the Bears Left in the Pine Barrens
A May morning with the New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife's black bear team, working a culvert trap on a sand road near Chatsworth.