Peering through binoculars, a flock of volunteer raptor watchers perched high in the Marin Headlands reacts excitedly to a pair of peregrine falcons swooping through the Golden Gate.

Muir Beach restoration project, alongside the National Park Service, will benefit endangered species, residents, and visitors alike.

The best view of the Marin Headlands may be from across the Golden Gate at Battery East, which was revamped and unveiled to the public this week.

The Golden Gate Raptor Observatory, a Parks Conservancy program, helps in the recovery of two red-tailed hawks contaminated from the Cosco Busan oil spill in November.

Experience the sights, sounds, and science of hawk-watching with the Golden Gate Raptor Observatory (GGRO) in the Marin Headlands. The GGRO, a volunteer-driven program of the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy, monitors and bands raptors during their fall migration to assess the health of bird populations.

Get an inside look at the penitentiaries and reformatories that once held inmates, have become increasingly popular tourist attractions.

In this installment of BioBlitz 2014 video coverage, we highlight the taxonomists whose job it is to find and identify species, and to organize the wide variety of life on earth.

As America's population become more diverse, will its changes be reflected in park visitors?

In an upcoming landmark exhibition, set to open Sept. 24, off San Francisco Bay in the off-limits areas of the former prison Alcatraz, Ai will present a show cheekily titled “@Large” a reference to the area’s heritage of incarceration, Ai’s own flight from China’s clandestine security apparatus, and the artist’s persistent and active use of Twitter to disrupt China’s forces of censorship that have long dogged his efforts to promote increased respect for human rights in the Asian country.

Fifty years ago, the notorious Alcatraz prison shut its gate behind guard Jim Albright as he escorted the last inmate off the island on March 21, 1963.