Bats, Birds and Planes: Stories from California's Skies
Thousands of drivers cross a bridge to Sacramento every day, with no idea what lurks beneath them: a quarter-million Mexican free-tailed bats. Each summer at sunset, they burst out in swirling formation, drawing crowds to guided tours. As part of KQED’s Hidden Gems series, reporter Srishti Prabha visits the Yolo Causeway to find out what makes these misunderstood creatures worth a closer look.
Whether they’re stealing hamburgers or swiping ice cream cones, seagulls have earned a bad reputation. In the San Francisco Bay Area, their presence appears to be growing, as California Gulls have become year-round residents. For the Bay Curious podcast, KQED’s Pauline Bartolone found out why tens of thousands of birds ditched breeding grounds in the Eastern Sierra and have permanently relocated to the Bay.
Along Highway 5 in Glenn County, Nancy’s Airport Cafe has spent decades serving pie and hospitality to rice farmers, truckers, and pilots who fly in just for the food. As part of the California Foodways series, reporter Lisa Morehouse visited the restaurant in 2017, when walls were covered in photos of regulars, and waitresses always remembered their orders.