The fall raptor season is upon us, and that means Peak Week is coming quickly. What is Peak Week, you ask? Peak Week is the mini-season of absolute high-count, high-banding days each year at the Golden Gate Raptor Observatory.

Large and majestic, the Ferruginous Hawk is arguably one of the most beautiful raptors we see at the GGRO. And it’s spotted from Hawk Hill no more than 20 times in a given year—adding to its allure and mystique.

The Institute’s Food for the Parks program convened food service leaders in New York last week to expand the healthy and sustainable food options in parks and other establishments across the country. Read on to learn how the Institute made an impact.

In addition to our annual hawkwatch, banding, and radiotelemetry programs, the Golden Gate Raptor Observatory has launched several new research projects to further understand raptor movements and health. Read on to discover how you can help!

On the heels of a productive 2013, the Institute at the Golden Gate has released Change Makers, a report summarizing the Institute’s five years of leveraging parks as places to address some of society’s most pressing challenges.

The Institute at the Golden Gate recently participated in a historic gathering of national park leaders working on initiatives around the National Park Service’s centennial in 2016. The Golden Gate National Parks’ programs played a key role; read on to see how the Bay Area is taking a leadership role.

From Anaheim to Baltimore, the Institute at the Golden Gate is sharing knowledge and establishing itself as a leading voice on Food for the Parks and Healthy Parks Healthy People. Read how the Institute is taking its place in a movement to position parks as catalysts for healthful change.

The Marin Headlands are a dramatic landscape, with striated red seafloor cliffs rising from the frothy currents of the Golden Gate. With such a storybook backdrop, hasn’t someone set a poem or manuscript here? You bet.

The Marine Mammal Center, based at Fort Cronkhite, rescued 1,800 animals in 2015—three times the average. Learn about one culprit, domoic acid, and how it’s produced, how seals and sea lions are affected, and why El Niño exacerbates its effects.

Even Charles Darwin, the preeminent biologist, had trouble defining a species. The more we learn, the harder it gets. Life does not always supply black-and-white categories—which can impact how we conserve and protect the species around us.