The chick, part of the Cal Academy’s “species-survival plan” colony of African penguins, was born in November and had its name put up to open online voting earlier this month. Suggestions poured in, among them Waddles, Turtle, Beaky Smalls, the obligatory Penguin McPenguinface, Lolita (whoa, calm down there, guy), Pudge, Gandalf the Grey and Happy Plappy. Four winners have emerged, which will be voted on through tomorrow, Jan. 18:

Greta — “in honor of youth climate-activist Greta Thunberg”Hope — “for the Cape of Good Hope and future of the species”Penny — “for Cape Peninsula, South Africa”Pogo — “because they do little hops!”

The winning name will be announced on Friday, Jan. 20, and henceforth people will be able to watch Pogo or Greta or whoever paddle around on a live penguin cam.

Interested in what the fuzzball is doing right now? The academy provides this recent update:

Hatched right here at the Academy to parents Stanlee and Bernie, the chick is currently behind-the-scenes with our Steinhart Aquarium biologists learning to eat fish fed to her by hand, working hard to grow wing feathers in place of her chick down and, of course, doing lots of snuggling with her penguin stuffie. When her wings stiffen and her swimming feathers come in, she’ll begin testing the waters in a small pool and broadening her gastronomic horizons to whole herring.

Either way, if you weren’t a dessert person before this, you will be after reading this take on the region’s hottest new bakeries — from a Walnut Creek shop crafting Romanian specialties to an Oakland cheesecake house and a Santa Clara bakery where a couple has found their encore career in Portuguese recipes.

East Bay Bakery, Danville

Across the street from Blackhawk Plaza, this stand-out bakery with the simple name has been wowing locals with its sweet and savory offerings since it opened in July. Glass cases display in jewel-like fashion the laminated croffles, curry puffs and pretzels that have become proprietor-baker Gaby Lubaba’s signatures. East Bay Bakery has no seating but the counter offers views of the open kitchen, where the bakery crew prepares Lubaba’s unique spins on danishes, cookies and croissants. (We recently spied both a baklava croissant and a pastrami-cheese version.)

Lubaba, who made our 2022 list of Rising Stars, offers a wide selection of classic treats and fresh baked breads, too, including rye brownies and a craveable olive fougasse. But there is a certain magic in the seasonal items — hello, pistachio chocolate escargot — and treats inspired by her native Indonesia. Be sure to get your hands on the crispy beef curry puffs filled with real curry leaves. They go fast.

The treat: Made from buttery croissant dough, the croffle ($5) is a crowd-favorite that taps into something deeply nostalgic. The crispy, almost caramelized outside leads to a chewy, satisfying interior that’s buttery and not too sweet. Perfection.

Details: Open 8 a.m.-2 p.m. weekdays and 9 a.m.-2 p.m. weekends at 6000C Crow Canyon Road in  Danville. Also Saturdays at the Orinda Farmers Market and Sundays at the Walnut Creek Farmers Market; https://theeastbaybakery.com

LeLe Cake, Los Gatos

Elena Leskina says she’s pretty fearless when it comes to challenges — whether it’s “new business, new skills, new country.” An electrical engineer by trade, she taught herself how to bake intricate desserts by watching YouTube videos during her young daughter’s two-hour naps back in Moscow. When she and her family immigrated to the U.S. five years ago, she opened a commercial kitchen.

Last June, she launched LeLe Cake, a cute all-day cafe where brunch is as popular as the pastries and custom cakes. It’s worth waiting for a table to try one of the Euro-style dishes that customers rave about — the Syrniki (Russian cheese pancakes) with berries, perhaps, Homemade Salted Salmon Toast or the Gruyere Waffle with goat cheese and onion marmalade.

If you didn’t save room for dessert, stop at the bakery case for a takeout order of, say, Kartoshka (chocolate cake “truffles” topped with fruit), Pavlova or Trifle. The full-size cakes are multi-layer, highly decorated beauties with selections such as the Choco Girl, Poppyseed & Lemonade, flaky Napoleon cake or the Sever, a Norwegian national favorite topped with meringue.

The treat: The star is Leskina’s version of the Medovik, a Russian honey cake layered with fresh raspberries and a light white chocolate and sour cream frosting. It’s available by the slice (three layers) or as a full-size cake (five or six layers).

Details: Open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily at 14178 Blossom Hill Road, Los Gatos; https://lelecake.me/

Crumble & Whisk, Oakland

Charles Farrier’s somewhat random entry into the bakery world came when a coworker asked if he could contribute to a potluck dinner. “I was like, ‘Sure.’ I brought a cheesecake. Everyone loved it,” he recalls.

That revelation triggered a slow and deep dive into the art of baking, with Farrier studying cookbooks, experimenting with different styles of cheesecakes, and then distributing them at barbershops and businesses along Oakland’s MacArthur Boulevard and later at farmers markets. This December, he opened a brick-and-mortar location in the Laurel District, where he prepares not just the confection that put him on the map but scrumptious pastries, artfully decorated cookies and so much more.

“This is about building up community, so people can get to know me as a neighborhood staple,” Farrier says. For his breakfast peeps, he has coffee cake, overnight oats and huge cinnamon buns with a jiggly, custard-like frosting. (Try to get them hot.) Folks celebrating a special occasion – or who just want to treat themselves – can order his super-creamy cheesecakes in full and puck-sized versions, with vegan options to boot. And for dinner, you can pick up a flaky-crusted pot pie and a banana pudding that’d fool your Southern grandma, with vanilla wafers and the obligatory toupee of whipped topping.

The treat: The much-lauded cheesecakes are not dense but rather melting, creamy delights with seasonal surprises. Cold weather might see a maple-pecan crumble or apple-cider cake version with chunks of fruit. In the summer folks, rave about the blackberry and corn cheesecake, made with a puree of off-the-cob kernels, thyme and brown butter.

Details: Open 8 a.m.-4 p.m. Tuesday-Friday and 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday at 4104 MacArthur Blvd., Oakland; www.crumbleandwhisk.com.

Little Sky Bakery, Menlo Park

For years, Tian Mayimin was focused on the law. Since 2017, it’s been all about leavening.

In the beginning, the self-taught baker delivered her naturally leavened breads, baked in her Menlo Park home kitchen, to neighbors. Then she became the darling of the Peninsula and South Bay farmers market circuit with her creative lineup of loaves. Next came pop-ups. And soon she set her sights on a dedicated brick-and-mortar.

Last March, she and her team opened a storefront location on Santa Cruz Avenue near the Caltrain station. Late in the year, she expanded the hours of their indoor pop-up at the State Street Market in Los Altos, all while maintaining a strong farmers market presence. They staff 16 markets every week, with four seasonal ones starting up again this spring.

With the expansions came more innovation. Pistachio Bundt Cakes and Caramel Nut Tarts for the holiday season. Roman-style flatbreads. Baozi, yeast-leavened, filled buns. Open-face lox sandwiches on European rye. Jalapeno Cheddar Rings. A signature Challah made with orange juice and honey and brushed with olive oil. And Volkornbrot, the hefty German loaf nicknamed the king of seeded breads. Some creations are available weekly; some rotate into the lineup.

The treat: The popular Raisin-Walnut loaves go fast. And keep your eye out for batches of the Provencal herbal flatbread called fougasse.

Details: Open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily at 506 Santa Cruz Ave. in Menlo Park, with a permanent indoor pop-up at State Street Market in Los Altos; https://littleskybakery.com/

European Delights, Walnut Creek

Since opening in July on Walnut Creek’s east side, this bakery has become a haven for European expats and others craving Italian coffee and classic pastries without gobs of frosting or other sugar bombs. From the open kitchen, Romanian co-owner and head baker Rica Zaharia, a native of Transylvania, greets customers with a smile and talks them through the day’s fresh bakes while the Lavazza brews on the counter.

The glass case holds a medley of goodies, like almond and honey shortbread, apple morning buns and giant, 7-inch cookies packed with caramel and chocolate chips. Some items, like the covri dog, a frankfurter wrapped in golden pastry dough, are a nod to Zaharia’s Romanian roots. Others are collaborations between Zaharia and staff baker, Vida. One such creation, the tiramisu cookie, features pastry cream sandwiched between soft, round ladyfinger-like cookies.

The treat: We’re big fans of the börek. Thin, flaky, phyllo-like pastry dough is filled with ham, vegetables, cheeses and other savory ingredients. Our favorite is the mushroom ($5), which has flecks of herbs and a distinct truffle flavor. Keep an eye out for heart-shaped treats in February.

Details: Open 8 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday-Saturday and until 2 p.m. Sunday, at 2236A Oak Grove Road in Walnut Creek; https://european-delights.com.

Max’s Cakes, Hayward

This classic, family-owned bakery opened five weeks ago and has already added much-needed pizzazz to downtown Hayward. Horchata cheesecake and café de olla and buñelo cupcakes, nods to baker Max Soto‘s Mexican-American heritage, line the pastry case alongside cookies and brick-sized slices of his Instagram-famous layer cakes. Those cakes come in five flavors, including coconut cream, burnt almond and confetti, and are already proving to be top sellers.

After ordering your dessert, take a seat — or a selfie inside the giant picture frame against the white subway-tiled wall. Or spend some time admiring the historic black and white photos of downtown Hayward lining the walls. Soto appeared on Buddy Valastro’s “Big Time Bake” in 2020 and became the youngest contestant ever to win a “Food Network” competition. There are some pretty cute photos of him eating cake as a baby, too.

The treat: You have to get a slice of cake ($8). Two, actually. The 24-Karrot cake is super moist, topped with cream cheese frosting and brimming with shredded carrots and toasted walnuts. If you’re a lemon fiend, Lemon Supreme, a lemon cake layered with lemon curd and vanilla buttercream, is your jam.

Details: Opens at 11 a.m. Wednesday-Friday and 10 a.m. Saturday-Sunday at 1007 B St., Hayward; https://maxscakesofficial.wixsite.com

Portuguese Tasty Desserts, Santa Clara

What’s new in Santa Clara is delightfully old school: a bakery specializing in nostalgic Portuguese recipes that made their way from the Azores to the Bay Area many decades ago.

When Teresa and Nelio Defreitas retired from school district careers (she as a kitchen supervisor, he as a campus maintenance manager), they decided to resurrect her parents’ Portuguese Bakery, which had been in business locally for more than 40 years. They found a spot and opened a year ago.

“This is what we love to do, especially the interaction with the customers,” she said. “We have such an amazing mix in this community.”

Customers come from as far away as Sacramento for the pillowy Portuguese sweet bread, pastel de natas (custard tarts), rice pudding, a rich, smooth flan and other goodies. The malasadas — the Portuguese doughnuts so popular in Hawaii — are available in 12 flavors (including guava and custard) on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Know you won’t have time to cook for that upcoming potluck? They will bake to your specifications. “Bring me your Pyrex dish and I’ll fill it up with rice pudding,” Teresa said.

The old-school touches extend beyond the recipes. Walk in and you’ll be welcomed, as all customers are, with a complementary cup of coffee, sweet bread samples and conversation. You won’t walk out empty-handed.

The treat: Biscoitos, the not-too-sweet cookie rings, come in almond, lemon, cinnamon, anise, chocolate and other flavors and are perfect for dunking in coffee or snacking.

Details: Open from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday at 1085 El Camino Real, Santa Clara; www.facebook.com/PortugueseTastyDesserts/.

Simurgh, Emeryville

If you took a bagel, crusted it in sesame seeds and stretched it out like one of those old-timey hoops kids pushed with a stick, you’d get simit. Every Turkish city has shops hawking simit – and around here, there’s no better place to try them than Hatice Yildiz’s cafe that opened on San Pablo Avenue in late 2022.

A daughter of Istanbul restaurateurs who took an interesting journey to baking – she got a PhD in religious studies in Berkeley – Yildiz makes simit that’s crackling outside, soft and stretchy inside and kissed with the smoke of the oven. Order it with lox and cream cheese or, more traditionally, with tahini and grape molasses. There’s charred-top rice pudding, too, and baklava with housemade phyllo and imported “emerald” pistachios, famous for their startling green hue and nutty-fresh taste. Try the chocolate version, whose honey and bitter cocoa notes somehow improves on the original.

A heartier bite can be found in boreks, quichelike pies with fillings of goat cheese, mushrooms and kale, and stuffed eggplants that were sun-dried in Turkey. Yildiz plans to diversify her savory side this year with lahmacun, as well, a thin flatbread topped with minced beef, peppers and herbs and baked to perfection. (Just don’t call it “Turkish pizza.”)

The treat: The Russian/Ukrainian honey cake is a masterfully constructed slab of housemade graham crackers, condensed milk and brown butter. The sweet-sensory overload is like sticking your head in a honeybee hive, without the bees.

Details: Open daily from 10 a.m.-6 p.m. at 4125 San Pablo Ave. in Emeryville; www.simurghbakery.com.

Forest & Flour, Fremont

Many Bay Area residents with dietary issues have found sweet salvation at Sway Soturi’s farmers market booths over the past few years. Now the San Jose wellness entrepreneur can offer a larger menu of organic and gluten-free, dairy-free, peanut-free, soy-free and corn-free savories and sweets to a broader audience at her new cafe in Fremont’s Mission San Jose district.

“We try to make things that people would miss,” said Soturi, who started baking allergen-friendly fare for herself. Take, for example, monkey bread and soup. Her Monkey Party muffins are as ooey-gooey as expected, thanks to a coconut-sugar caramel. The creamy, satisfying Clam Chowder is made with chicken broth, coconut milk and cashews, which naturally add an interesting nutty tone.

You’ll also find gluten-free muffins (carrot, matcha and seasonal), baguettes, brioche, chocolate chip cookies and more. For lunch, she and her team offer congee and French toast too.

By the way, this greenery-filled cafe is located near Mission Peak, which is good to keep in mind if you need fuel for a trip up or replenishment after coming down.

The treat: The big hit is the aromatic Lavender-Lemon Bread. It’s available by the loaf or as a small toast order, with a side of locally made Rose Petal Jam. Soturi also showcases other like-minded Bay Area purveyors.

Details: Open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday-Friday and 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday-Sunday at 43587 Mission Blvd., Fremont; https://forestandflour.com/.

Bake Sum, Oakland

As a kid, Joyce Tang loved to eat at bakeries in Oakland’s Chinatown. “When I got older, I didn’t really feel like I saw anyone iterating those types of flavors at the patisseries I’d visit around the Bay Area,” she says.

Her solution: Quit a Facebook job, land an internship at a three-star Michelin restaurant in Spain, then come back and start her own bakery specializing in memories from her childhood. The philosophy at Bake Sum is pastries should not just be beautiful (though they are, wonderfully so), but also meaningful to a staff of predominantly Asian and female bakers.

“We always try to find nostalgic flavors that speak to us and our upbringings,” Tang says.

Walk into the charmingly decorated shop in Grand Lake and you might see lilikoi “mochi bites” and loco-moco danish with a meat patty, gravy and runny egg. There’s a croissant and Spam musubi crossover called a “crusubi” and an okonomiyaki danish with garlic oil-roasted mushrooms, Kewpie mayo and furikake. It all sounds hearty, but with the skill of the bakers in making delicate, flaky doughs, you’ll be ready for seconds in no time.

The treat: The green-onion croissant is a popular offering that blends two styles of scallion pancakes from Northern and Southern China. It has a pleasantly bready, oily and crunchy exterior, with a soft interior of scallions, toasted sesame oil and sea salt.

Details: Open 8 a.m.-2 p.m. Friday-Sunday and 8 a.m.-1 p.m. Thursday and Monday at 3249 Grand Ave. in Oakland; www.bakesum.com.

Moves, expansions and other new-ish bakeries to check out:

Lolita Bakery Cafe: Silvia Leiva Browne has supplemented her Hillsdale Shopping Center location, which opened in 2018, with a larger retail shop where fans of Argentinean baked goods can find her alfajores, empanadas and more. 3790 S. El Camino Real, San Mateo; www.lolitaalfajores.com

Republic of Cake: This longtime Orinda bakery known for cupcakes moved to Danville in 2022, expanding its offerings to include more pastries, quiches, sandwiches and ice cream. 730 Camino Ramon, Suite 196, Danville; www.republicofcake.com

Wingen Bakery: Peek into a new bread room and enjoy extra seating with a bistro-style menu of breakfast and lunch items at this recently-expanded Livermore bakery known for bread and pastries. 50 S. Livermore Ave., Livermore; www.wingenbakery.com

Ono Bakehouse: The East Bay’s only dedicated Hawaiian bakery has been open since Dec. 2020 and continues to wow with malasadas, savory ham-and-pineapple buns and tropical Queen Emma cake. Best to pre-order. 1922 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Berkeley; https://ono-bakehouse.square.site

Sunday Bakeshop: StarChefs 2022 Rising Star Award winner Elaine Lau marries classic French training with the Asian flavors of her childhood for magically nostalgic treats that have mass appeal: White Rabbit cookies, a char siu croissant, Thai tea milk buns and halo halo cake are all stunners. 5931 College Ave., Oakland; www.thesundaybakeshop.com

Weir’s latest sci-fi novel, “Project Hail Mary” (Ballantine Books, $29), is very much an apocalyptic story. It deals with an imminent climate disaster that threatens all of humanity. And if that sounds familiar, you’ve either been reading the news or you’ve stepped into a bookshop.

The past few years have seen an explosion of speculative fiction mirroring real-life emergencies, from the rise of fascism to environmental degradation to the toxic legacy of colonialism.

Why would authors want to dabble in apocalypse and dystopia, when the world is doom-filled as is? For Weir, a former Mountain View resident who lives in Chicago now, it boils down to the belief that society will eventually make things better.

“I’m a fairly optimistic person, at least when it comes to humanity. I think we’re a fairly cool species,” he says. “I think we can all agree that 2020 sucked, right? But I’d rather live through 2020 again than 1920. I don’t know about you, but none of my friends has died of typhoid fever. My Black friends can go into any business they want. I would rather live through the peak of the pandemic than the routine year of 1920 – although they had a pandemic just finishing up then, too.”

In “Project Hail Mary,” scientists notice that the sun is dimming at an alarming rate. The culprit is a weird space organism that imbibes the star’s energy in order to breed. Astronauts must venture forth and figure out what makes it tick. Fortunately, Weir has given his hero, Ryland Grace, some tools to battle Armageddon – he’s a former microbiologist from San Francisco, albeit a goofy one prone to making dad jokes. (Grace is partly based on the author himself; look for Ryan Gosling to play him in the movie version.)

The novel’s enemy is reminiscent of blue-green algae blooms, which are caused by pollution and warming waters and can extinguish life from vast marine zones. Weir wasn’t particularly inspired by such real-life concerns; he was more interested in structuring a book around a nifty, hypothetical space fuel. “I’m just a dork who for some reason gets to write about science stuff, and people like it,” he says. “For me, it’s just like, ‘Look at this cool science-y thing! Isn’t that cool? This is so cool.’”

Indeed, the novel has gotten the stamp of approval from science-y types the likes of Bill Gates who, in his typical expression of enthusiasm, dubbed it a “fun diversion.” Of course, not all speculative fiction offers such a romp. “The Confession of Copeland Cane” by Keenan Norris presents a near-future Oakland that’s a little too close to today’s urban dystopia.

“What I wanted to do is imagine forward some trend lines that are already present,” says Norris, who lives in San Leandro, “and think about their logical conclusions, particularly for those who are not so privileged, aren’t receiving the best education and who live in places with environmental harms.”

On his first birthday, the Black protagonist of “Confession” is automatically entered into California’s gang database. He spends time in the exclusive city-within-a-city known as Piedmont – sorry, “Piedmontagne” – which has its own private police force. After trying to sterilize black mold in his home with chemicals, he’s imprisoned for attempted arson and goes on the run. Tracking his movements is a powerful media corporation called the Sinclair Broadcast Group – whoops again, that’s “Soclear” – that was founded by Stephen Miller and signs off with “Sieg Heil.”

At one point, the hero falls into a sinkhole on Treasure Island and believes he’s irradiated. “It is left up to the reader to decide whether these are simply the maturations that a young man, given his circumstances, would go through,” says Norris, “or whether there’s something deeper related to the environment of Treasure Island, which both in the book and actual fact is a hazardous-waste site.”

“Confession” won the 2022 Northern California Book Award for fiction, putting it in a crowd of dystopian novels that have garnered critical acclaim this year — “Babel” by RF Kuang and “The City Inside” by Samit Basu among them. These works build upon a long literary tradition of imagining how much worse things could get. It’s a tradition some would argue dates back to the Bible or at least to Mary Shelley’s “The Last Man” and George Orwell’s “1984.” So why the genre’s enduring popularity?

There’s evidence that dystopian content triggers something powerful in the human brain. In a study published in 2018, researchers exposed people to “The Hunger Games” and “Divergent,” two YA series that feature heroes who rebel against totalitarian regimes. Afterward, those people were “more likely to believe that radical and even violent political action against a government perceived as unjust would be justified,” says Calvert Jones, one of the authors at the University of Maryland.

Young people connected especially vigorously with dystopian narratives. “A strong attraction here may be a need for agency against powerful forces, which characters like Katniss in the ‘Hunger Games’ or Tris in the ‘Divergent’ series showed,” says Jones. “When people feel relatively helpless against forces beyond their control – wars, economic distress, natural disasters, for example – that feeling of efficacy can be very compelling.”

Charlie Jane Anders is a sci-fi author in San Francisco who’s won the Hugo, Nebula and Theodore Sturgeon awards. Her latest trilogy is geared directly at this demographic. It’s a space opera about exploring far reaches and fighting quasi-fascists. (It’s been picked up for TV by Amazon and Michael B. Jordan’s Outlier Society.) The middle book, 2022’s “Dreams Bigger Than Heartbreak,” opens in the “Age of Despair,” something kids today can probably relate to.

“I think young people are painfully aware at this point we’re living in a slow-motion compound apocalypse in which climate change, the collapse of unsustainable systems and our political dysfunction are leading to problems that will eventually cause damage on a scale that’s hard to comprehend,” Anders says.

The series’ universe has many clever technologies you can imagine breaking into our own world. Because it’s an advanced space community, home to many LGBTQ characters, people use an automatic translator to ensure they use correct gender pronouns. There’s a popular game called “WorstBestFriend” that pits the player against a virtual frenemy who passive-aggressively bullies them – self-destructive fun at its best.

The bad guys are called the Compassion, cynical doublespeak that could have been torn from today’s political playbook. They believe in the innate superiority of humanoids with two arms and legs over, say, a species with tentacles or a head in a different place.

“They don’t just go around trying to motivate people on anger. They really play on fear and uncertainty and chaos,” says Anders. “I think for a story for kids and teens about saving the galaxy, it’s good to explore the fact that the adults around you don’t always know what they’re doing.”

Anders hopes her books might inspire action for a future not so far, far away.

“People who grew up on stories like ‘The Hunger Games,’ we’re starting to see them believe they can fight against unfair regimes in real life,” she says. “And I really hope that they do. I hope everyone who grew up reading those books – and that’s a lot of people – all become adults who want to tear down oppressive systems.”

“Overcrowding has become an epidemic for shelters across the country, and in Oakland, dog intake has been increasing over several months,” the shelter writes on Facebook. “In 2022, OAS took in 555 more dogs compared to the same period in 2021. There is now an urgent need to find 50 big dogs a home by Monday.”

To help sweeten the deal, the shelter is waiving adoption fees. It’s also offering extended hours through MLK Jr. Day: until 7 p.m. Thursday and noon to 5 p.m. Friday to Monday. No appointment is needed, just show up at 1101 29th Ave., Oakland, and grab your preferred dog.

And come on, are you really going to say “no” to faces like these? (Head to OAS’s website for all the dogs they have available for adoption.)

“Tarantula Treks” will be offered twice a year instead of once, announced the conservation group, Save Mount Diablo. Sure, that’s only an increase of one, but that’s one more chance to get up close to the creatures.

The easy, 2-mile hikes are scheduled for Sept. 2 and 9, the former is a hike for families and the latter for adults. Save Mount Diablo describes them thusly: “Find out if you have arachnophobia or fall in love with spiders, as you are introduced to the gentle giants of Mount Diablo.” You can book these  free events two months beforehand — and be sure to do so early, as they’re more popular than you might think.

The tarantula expansion comes courtesy of financial support from the Martinez Refining Company. Along with spider hikes, the Mount Diablo group is planning an ambitious schedule of events throughout the year, beginning Jan. 21, from plein-air painting to meditation walks, rock climbing and the exploration of places rarely seen by public visitors. Check here for the full 2023 schedule.

The bison in Golden Gate Park always have a tree-mendous time with Christmas tree enrichment! They love to throw the trees in the air with their horns and rub and scratch on fallen tree trunks pic.twitter.com/zzpai5FxzX

— San Francisco Zoo (@sfzoo) December 24, 2022

Or so it goes with the herd living in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park. This year, the local bison were gifted the present of holiday pines, which they tossed around like orcas toying with their prey. Wrote the San Francisco Zoo on Twitter:

“The bison in Golden Gate Park always have a tree-mendous time with Christmas tree enrichment! They love to throw the trees in the air with their horns and rub and scratch on fallen tree trunks…. I mean, who doesn’t love to smell all of the Christmas tree smells?”

(To which one person sarcastically commented, “Practicing for when the next dumb sightseer gets too close.”)

“This video was taken around Christmastime with trees that were donated by one of the tree farms that we get our trees from,” says Nancy Chan, the zoo’s director of communications. “We do not accept the public’s leftover trees as we cannot guarantee they are free from sprays and other toxins.”

She adds: “Enrichment is basically any type of stimulation or something new for the animals to engage with or in some cases, eat.”

Wait, the bison eat the trees? “The bison will sometimes eat the trees, but mostly throw them up in the air and rub on them,” Chan says.

Bison have occupied Golden Gate Park since the 1890s, a time when they were nearly extinct in America. They were among a number of larger species to live there, including elk, sheep and bears. Learn more about their history in the city and how to visit them at the San Francisco Recreation and Park Department.

The concept is simple: You sit in a grand architectural space to listen to live performances artfully lit with an ocean of candles, like what a crazy ex would do to win you back (but not as creepy). The locations range from Oakland’s Chabot Space & Science Center to San Francisco’s Grace Cathedral and the International Art Museum of America, while the musical offerings are typically stringed-instrument tributes to crowd-pleasing acts like Taylor Swift, Beyonce, Radiohead and Adele. So dress to impress and get ready for an unforgettable night with your boo – and please, try not to sneeze and kill everyone’s light.

Details: Concert dates, times and venues vary in Oakland and San Francisco. Check candlelightexperience.com for the latest details. Tickets start at $30.

People reported the crash off of Buena Vista Drive around 2:40 p.m. on Jan.1. First responders arrived at the scene, and roads in the area were closed off. A photo the city shared on social media shows the aircraft planted nose-down into the dirt at almost a 90-degree angle.

The pilot was flying solo and nobody else was injured, the city said.

The rocks tumbled down Saturday night on Highway 50 near Kyburz by the Eldorado National Forest. (Fun and seemingly relevant fact here: Kyburz used to be called “Slipperyford.”) Nobody was injured and there was enough room in one lane to allow traffic to pass, slowly, in both directions.

However, the rocks will need to be severely injured in order to move them. Caltrans District 3 wrote on Facebook they will “require explosives” to clear. That’s gotten a lot of folks excited. “Can you post a video of said explosions?” asked one man. “Explosives….,” wrote another. Said a third: “Dang, you’re pretty much seeing it all with this storm.”

Highway 50 is far from the only road seeing difficulties in this weather. Traffic all across the Bay is wonky due to flooding and closures. Rocks and mudslides shut down major roads in Mount Diablo State Park on Sunday. And the Oakland Zoo announced it will need to close until Jan. 17, or possibly later, due to rain that opened a 10-foot-deep sinkhole at the vehicle entrance.

“We have concerns in a lot of areas,” said National Weather Service meteorologist Brooke Bingaman about the upcoming “atmospheric river” storm that will start Wednesday. “There are going to be mudslides. There are going to be lots of downed trees. And that’s gonna happen across the entire Bay Area.”

The NWS said it expects the upcoming storm to bring 2 to 4 inches of rain to the Santa Clara Valley, San Francisco and East Bay, while slightly higher elevation areas in the region could receive 3 to 6 inches.

In the region’s mountainous areas – specifically in the North Bay, Mt. Tamalpais, the Santa Cruz Mountains and the Santa Lucia Range – up to 10 inches of rain could fall.

“Whatever you saw on the 31st (of December), be prepared to have similar impacts, if not worse,” Bingaman said.

VIDEO: Record-breaking atmospheric river floods Bay Area on New Year’s

Wednesday’s storm will carry heightened flood risks because recent rains in the Bay Area have left the soil saturated. Saturday’s storm saw record-breaking amounts of precipitation.

Areas especially at risk for flooding are the Santa Cruz Mountains, as well as Marin and Sonoma counties, according to the NWS. Bingaman said her agency is also keeping a close eye on wildfire burn scars in Monterey County, where there’s a heightened risk for mudslides.

Flooding throughout the region could last into Friday, according to estimates from the agency.

On Sunday, the Bay Area started its New Year off with a sunny, dry start — temperatures hovered in the 50s — after a weekend storm that closed roadways, trapped drivers, forced evacuations and overwhelmed creeks. One death was reported; a tree fell on a 72-year-old Santa Cruz resident at Lighthouse Field State Beach.

In hard-hit Sacramento County, emergency officials declared that failure of the Cosumnes River levee at the town of Wilton could be imminent, and ordered nearby residents to seek higher ground and others to shelter in place.

Saturday’s deluge saw downtown San Francisco record its second-wettest day in 173 years with 5.46 inches of rainfall Saturday, which was just shy of hitting the all-time record by 0.08 inches. The storm accounted for nearly half of all rainfall in December. Oakland was soaked with 4.75 inches of rain in 24 hours, beating out the previous record set back on Jan. 4, 1982, by just 0.01 inches.

One of the largest evacuations took place in rural Santa Cruz County, where the sheriff’s department and the Red Cross teamed up to relocate 27 people from a farmworker camp. In San Ramon, 13 residents were evacuated from a flooded neighborhood in the southern part of the city, authorities said.

Pleasant Hill resident Patsy Costello, 88, was among many keeping an eye on the weather Saturday even before the first raindrop fell, rivers started to rise and the floodwater began to swell up along her street.

While driving her son from an appointment, she knew the road in front of her was wet but continued on until she realized her mistake: The water was deeper than she anticipated. She was stuck, and water began rushing into her car.

With law enforcement nearby reluctant to take action, she found herself at the mercy of nurse Katie Leonard, who lives down the block and had a blow-up kayak ready to go. She paddled down.

“I saw no one was helping, and she told me she was cold, so I brought her blankets and snacks until she could be safely taken out of her car,” Leonard said.

Costello said Sunday that she was feeling just fine. “I went to a party last night with my gentleman friend, and I’m OK. My kids are all calling me. I’m a celebrity,” she said, referring to the media highlighting her story.

By midday Sunday, many roadways impacted by flooding had reopened, including Highway 101 at Oyster Point in South San Francisco.

But others still had issues.

In Hayward, a portion of A Street washed out near Fourth Street, going north toward Castro Valley, at the point where the street crosses San Lorenzo Creek. Police said the road will be closed indefinitely.

Elsewhere in Alameda County, flooding, debris and landslides between the cities of Fremont and Sunol shut down portions of Niles Canyon Road near Mission Boulevard, according to Caltrans’ social media. And some floodwaters remained along Whipple Road in Hayward, Redwood Road in Castro Valley and Gleason Drive in Dublin, according to the CHP.

In Palo Alto, El Camino Real remained flooded and closed in both directions under University Avenue, as well as between Alma Street and Wells Avenue, according to the city’s police department.

Near Santa Cruz, the California Highway Patrol reported that all northbound lanes on Highway 1 south of Highway 17 were closed due to debris. Motorists were being diverted to Ocean Street.

Santa Clara Valley Water District Spokesperson Matt Keller said there weren’t any immediate concerns for flooding from the spillover – but Wednesday’s storm could potentially cause nearby Highway 101 and the Gilroy Sports Complex to flood due to high flows into the creek.

The heavy rains have even temporarily closed the Oakland Zoo until Jan. 17 — or possibly later — because of a massive sinkhole that is blocking cars from accessing the site.

As of Sunday, 106,000 people in the greater Northern California area were without power, according to Pacific Gas & Electric. Santa Cruz County was hit particularly hard with power issues and PG&E said it was forced to halt operations and remove work crews on Saturday due to hazardous conditions in the mountains. Work had begun again on Sunday, but many were still in the dark. Flooding and closed roadways were making it difficult for crews to get around, the utility company said.

Bay Area News Group editor Rebecca Parr and the Santa Cruz Sentinel contributed to this report.