By KELLY ZITO, San Francisco Chronicle

Bill Merkle presses a button on his remote control, and the "ooh ooh ahoo" of an adult barred owl spills out of a black speaker and ricochets through the canyon at the heart of Muir Woods in California. Moments later, three fluffy fledgling barred owls alight nearby and start screeching for food.

SAN FRANCISCO - Federal wildlife regulators are considering carpet-bombing the Farallon Islands off California next fall with potent pesticides aimed at eradicating hordes of house mice, an invasive population grown so large officials say it has radically altered the islands' ecology and now threatens rare seabirds.

SAN FRANCISCO - Far fewer great white sharks ply California's coastal waters than biologists had expected, according to the first-ever census of the predators' population in the northeast Pacific Ocean.

April's warm, dry weather melted the Sierra Nevada snowpack to two-thirds of normal, according to the last measure of the season Thursday, as agencies serving cities and farms across California prepare to cut water use this summer.

Is it time to stick a straw into the Pacific Ocean?
About 20 water agencies up and down the California coast seem to think so.

With California in a critical drought, every shower, load of laundry and glass of tap water counts. But only in Bolinas could those things cost you your water connection.

The giant state and federal pumps in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta that funnel water to 25 million Californians should be shut down until certain Central Valley farmers retire hundreds of thousands of acres of chemical-laden farmland, according to a lawsuit filed this week by a state water watchdog.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Worn oxfords, floral flip-flops, in-line skates, sparkly high heels, fuzzy blue slippers.Each pair of shoes placed early Saturday morning in a neat rectangular block on the green lawn of Crissy Field represented a person -- teenager, artist, mother, doctor, war veteran -- who has taken a fatal jump from the Golden Gate Bridge.

By growing less thirsty crops and investing in more efficient irrigation technology, California farmers could save billions of gallons of water each year -- the equivalent of three dams to 20 dams, according to a controversial new report by an influential water policy think tank.

SACRAMENTO -- Anticipating another bone-dry winter, California is preparing to act as a water go-between next year, buying from water-rich districts in the north and selling to cities and farmers hit hard by drought.