Jewelweed (Impatiens capensis) is a very common, very attractive and conspicuous species on the landscape. We see them often and are probably pretty familiar with the flowers, fruit and form. I see them down by the river, in the understory of thick forests, and sometimes on the edge of wet meadows. I have also been hanging out with them recently in areas which can be called “post-industrial wastelands”; lands where industry has so polluted and harmed that there are still pollutants and chemicals wrapped up in the soil. But still the Jewelweed thrives.

For this episode, like most episodes, I wanted to explore a little bit more about the Jewelweed I so commonly see. I wanted to ask some questions about the flower development, the explosive seed pods, and about a non-native cousin who seems to be showing up in places more commonly these days. I also dig in on the concept of “post-industrial wastelands” a little as these lands are probably very common across the Great Lakes Bioregion where I live.

Hope you enjoy the show!

To learn more :
Wild Urban Plants of the NorthEast by Peter Del Tredici. Cornell University Press, 2020.
The Book of Swamp and Bog by John Eastman. Stackpole Books, 1995.
Summer Wildflowers of the North East by Carol Gracie. Princeton University Press, 2020.

As an aspiring wildlife tracker I want to know about the signs that animals leave behind. Due to my annoyingly excitable curiosity this includes all animals, and all types of sign. This includes the regurgitated masses of undigested food that makes up a bird pellet.

When it comes to pellets, I have found a couple before. Some full of hair, assorted skulls and other bones, feather parts and even a couple full of seed husks from plants. But when it comes to sorting out who left these pellets behind, there is an extraordinary lack of resources to help folks figure it out.

I got excited to interview Ed Drewitt again. His new book Bird Pellets, out now on Pelagic Publishing, has tons of photos, lots of detailed info and some great hints on how to identify the makers of the pellets we find. While the book was written with a British and Irish context in mind, there are many overlaps with Turtle Island/North American species which I find quite helpful.

As for Ed? He is a professional naturalist, wildlife detective, and broadcaster for the BBC. He has been studying urban Peregrines for over 15 years, and looking into the contents of bird pellets for even longer. He has been on the show before and has been a great help in answering some of my ornithological mysteries pertaining to Peregrine Falcons in the past. It was nice to reconnect over his great new book.

To learn more :
Ed Drewitt’s website
Bird Pellets book website
Ep. 142 : Raptor Prey Remains with Ed Drewitt
Blog post on predated Herring Gull which I consulted with Ed on to determine the predator.

When I look into the authors who wrote most of the naturalist, ecology, natural history books on my shelves, I mostly see white people, especially the older books. When I do interviews with folks in the field, I still find a majority of those who I am talking with are white folks. I wholly recognize that is on me in a lot of ways, but I also recognize that historically, access to these fields has been gatekept by and for white folks, mostly men.

When I come across initiatives that challenge that dynamic, I get stoked. When I find out they are taking students out to some of the places I have and continue to go to to learn about the natural world, I get really stoked, so much so, that I reached out to see about an interview.

Alannah Grant and Jonathan Chu are graduate students in Integrative Biology at Guelph. They are also the University of Guelph liaisons for FREED where they lead the organization and fund-raising (amongst other things) for UoG students to participate in FREED excursions. I wanted to ask them about recent movements to bring awareness to and correct the lack of representation of Black, Indigenous, and people of colour in environmental sciences, how they organize themselves, what is working and what they do on these excursions?

I am always excited when the things I love are made more accessible, so more folks can appreciate, participate, teach and learn. We all live on this wild planet and we should all be able to take part in the profound experiences of exploring, examining and connecting with the land, on the land. This is what FREED helps folks do.

To learn more :
FREED website
FREED instagram

About 30 km from Lake Huron, there is a proposal to dig a 500m mine (“deep geological repository” or DGR) on 1500 acres along the Teeswater River. Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) wants to fill the mine with radioactive waste with a halflife of up to 1,000,000 years. They intend to monitor the dumpsite for a few years and then seal it and forget about it.

Thankfully there are folks resisting the proposed nuclear waste dump. Today’s show I talk to Michelle Stein and Bill Noll from “Protect Our Waterways - No Nuclear Waste” to find out what the proposed project is all about, and how they are working with their neighbours, both near and far, indigenous and settlers, from both sides of Lake Huron, to challenge the NMWO and the proposed DGR.

Sure, this show mostly covers natural history, wildlife, book reviews and such, but there are other things happening out on the land which must highlighted and explored, and resistance to huge industrial radioactive mining projects with possible catastrophic consequences which could still be playing out a million years from now are also worth taking a deeper look at.

Eastern Loggerhead Shrikes (Lanius ludovicianus migrans) have been listed on the COSEWIC as an endangered species since 1991, and more recent population analysis indicates that there may be only 50 breeding pairs remaining in Ontario. With uncertainty around what has been and is continually causing the decline in populations, along ongoing habitat fragmentation, growing impacts of climate change, the future of the Loggerhead Shrike in Ontario is unknown.

But there is work being done to help populations recover. Hazel Wheeler, lead biologist on the Eastern Loggerhead Shrike Recovery Program with Wildlife Preservation Canada has been helping to coordinate captive breeding programs to support the rearing, and release of thousands of Loggerhead Shrikes since 2003.

Hazel joins the show to talk about some of the natural history of the Eastern Loggerhead, along with detailing the recovery project and how they are working hard understand what impacts are affecting the populations, and what they are doing in the breeding programs to assist these amazing and endangered birds.

Want to learn more?

Wildlife Preservation Canada

images credits, clockwise from top :  S Matheson, G Pitman, A Samuelson,

For this interview I get to talk with Jeremy Pustilnik and Paul Curtis about a recently published paper from the journal “Urban Ecosystems” on the interactions of Eastern Cottontail Rabbits (Syvilagus floridanus) and Red Foxes (Vulpes vulpes) around the use of Groundhog (Marmota monax) burrows and if the scent of Red Fox urine would dissuade the Cottontails from using the burrows. Not only does the paper cover this issue, but also invites some more complexity by looking at other animals, including specific reference to the Striped Skunk (Mephitis mephitis), and how and when those Skunks use the Groundhog burrows themselves.

The paper offers a lot of depth and detail around the broad intersectional ecology of the Groundhog burrow, who uses this burrow and why, and if by use of olfactory inputs from a local predator, would this act as deterrent to those species who use the burrows.

It was a lot of fun to get to dig in with these two biologists on their research, their experience and their passion for the work.

To read the paper :

“The effects of red fox scent on winter activity patterns of suburban wildlife: evaluating predator-prey interactions and the importance of groundhog burrows in promoting biodiversity” by authors Jeremy D. Pustilnik, Jeremy B. Searle, and Paul D. Curtis

image of Eastern Cottontail (Sylvilagus floridanus) taken from study, provided by Jeremy Pustilnik.

The first show of 2021 is a great one. My guest is Sophie Mazowita, naturalist, educator, wildlife guide, tracker and much more. We talk about her journey as a naturalist and a tracker, how she gets off the trail and gets into the wilder world around her.

When I talk to folks about creating cultures of connection with the land, putting in the time, effort and passion into the work of learning ourselves and teaching others, Sophie is right on that. She has been working hard, as evidenced all over the internet with her videos, her career as a naturalist and educator, and her ongoing work getting folks on board with paying attention to the wilder world around them.

On top of her own personal endeavours, she shares her work with the Burlington Mammal Tracking Project where she led groups of trackers to map large mammal occurrence throughout the region. She shares more Conservation Northwest's Community Wildlife Monitoring Project where she is doing similar work, “organizing citizen-scientist volunteers to monitor and document wildlife using remote cameras where state and federal agencies don’t have the resources to go.” We also get to talk about a recent project of hers where she has been making space for folks to come together over video conferencing online to share their own tracking stories. What a great idea!

For more information about the work she is up to now, check out trackingconnection.com.

This is an older interview with cybersquirrel1.com creator SpaceRogue on why we need not worry about the threats of nationalistic warlike cyber attacks on the power grid on the continent, but instead we must be more concerned about THE SQUIRRELS!!! (sort of..)

Squirrels, Birds, Snakes, Raccoons have caused 2,123 power outages around the world since 1987, and possibly more. SpaceRogue has been collecting, documenting, and sharing details of these mischievous  animal attacks against the power grids. Tune in to hear about how the power infrastructure works in North America and how the wilderfauna are fighting back against “the grid”!

"I don't think paralysis [of the electrical grid] is more likely by cyberattack than by natural disaster. And frankly the number-one threat experienced to date by the US electrical grid is squirrels." - John C. Inglis, Former Deputy Director, National Security Agency 2015.07.09

Originally aired April 17, 2017.

Cycles of the year are very important to me. Spring Equinox is always quickening as you smell the winter dripping away. Summer solstice for dancing with friends throughout the shortest nights. Autumn Equinox is a celebration of the bounty the summer has brought, and a reminder of the coming winter.

But none really carry the weight for me as much as the Winter Solstice. The returning of the Sun fills me with hope and relieves the anxious dark which settles deeper into my bones. It used to be a time of depression and despair, when I only saw death and bad, but as I have learned more about the land, the Winter Solstice has become a quiet promise that this dark, too, will pass.

Many cultures throughout history have marked the Winter Solstice with story and fire, communal celebrations which tie in tradition and custom from years back. Sadly this year we can't gather like we might like, and many of our  traditions are going to have to change dramatically or be skipped altogether. Luckily, playing “Solstice” is a Winter Solstice tradition that I do not have to skip.

“Solstice” is a guided journey led by a Shaman character, walking through our modern world of Christmas consumption and traditions revealing how they are overlayed on top of ancient earth based practices.  Along the way we meet a witch, a hunter, a Raven, and a Wolf who help guide us back to the origins of Yule.

This the third year that I get to play this radio play by Alison Mcleay originally broadcast on BBC Scotland  December 21st, 1985. With the voices of Michael Elder, Diana Olsson and Paul Young with producer Patrick Rayner, this is an archival piece of radio which deserves so much more air time. I will continue to rebroadcast this radio play each year that I have a show.

**Alison Mcleay’s (Martin was her married name) obituary

9xm8bfix

The work of Forest schools is becoming a bustling landscape of small organizations and business' trying their best to teach and share alongside the land in the best ways they can. But how do we transplant a European sourced model onto colonized indigenous lands without repeating the same racist patterns of harm? How do we not only stop harm, but work towards healing, reparations, and good relationships with all the communities we serve through the context of learning and teaching on the land?

Heather Wilson is the new (as of Nov. 18, 2020) Executive Director of Child and Nature Alliance of Canada and has been working towards some very specific goals:

• Building an inclusive organization that welcomes all people, especially Black, Indigenous and People of Colour
• Empowering staff to carry out their work to the best of their ability
• Embracing and activating healthy experimentation and innovation
• Decolonizing CNAC’s work
• Creating an organization that can scale

With these commitments in mind, I wanted to ask how CNAC is moving forward, building decolonial futures in the world of Forest Schools/Nature Connection, and how do we do this work in pandemic times and beyond? 

With humility and grace, Heather shares some of the work she and the CNAC are doing to push Forest Schools towards a more inclusive, safe, meaningful, and culturally relevant option for all stakeholders.

*Illustration by Jeff Kulak

Coyotes have expanded their range in the last century more so than any other mammal on the continent, and is still going. Highly adaptive, intelligent, “wily”, and resilient, Coyote is not going to stop just because our human made landscapes get in the way. In fact, Coyotes make the way for themselves within our constructed spaces, finding edges and cracks and turning them into home.

But how do we c0-exist with an animal that so many have feared, hunted and sought to destroy for so long? How can we share the urban environment with a predator? When animals re-occupy the urban in novel ways, or ways that humans didn’t intend, how do we make space for that?

Lesley Sampson of Coyote Watch Canada, and animal geographer Lauren Van Patter take the time to share some of their experiences with Coyotes in urban environments, and share about how they are looking to help communities learn how to coexist with these wonderful animals.

Coyote Watch Canada

Lauren Van Patter’s website

Advancing best practices for aversion conditioning (humane hazing) to mitigate human–coyote conflicts in urban areas - Lesley and Lauren’s paper from Human-Wildlife Interactions journal

"How coyotes and humans can learn to coexist in cities" ,  article by Lauren and Lesley featured at theconversation.com

The Anthropocene’s animal? Coywolves as feral cotravelers by Stephanie Rutherford

*Coyote image by Joanne Merner c/o Coyote Watch Canada

Today I air a fanboyish interview with author, educator, terrestrial ecologist and inspiration, Tom Wessels.

Tom has written extensively on “forest forensics” and what I call “landscape tracking”, learning to read the signs of the forest to identify the ecological history and disturbance events which have affected that landscape. He looks to topographical features such as hills or the lack there of, floral composition of forest sites (which trees are present and who is not), and presence of any human made structures even when those structures have no relevance and therefore are invisible to the modern eye. These signs and more point to a hidden history revealed by his humble presentation of  He has been known to be able to identify a storm event from hundreds of years ago, which has toppled a tree in a random forest in New England down to the minute. He explains some of the ways he is able to deduce this throughout the show.

We also talk about his books, Reading The Forested Landscape, The Myth of Progress, and Forest Forensics among others. Tom shares ideas on ways we can imagine the future based on models of organization seen in nature, which we could adopt to create more sustaining, transformative, healing culture. He truly is a wealth of ecological knowledge and understanding of the New England forest landscape. Tom was, as I expected, detailed, sharp and full of insight. Well worth the listen.

This interview was originally broadcast November 18, 2019.

I get excited by finding dead animals on the land. There is so much we can learn by looking at these animals when they are in front of us. We can really examine their physical characteristics which isn't always that easy when the animals are alive, going about their own business, and generally trying to avoid interactions with humans.

When examining a dead bird there is a lot we can observe, such as their feathers, their bills, talons, bones the body has been opened by predators or by decomposition. We can move some of the limbs to better understand articulations, weight and possible range of motion. But sometimes it is difficult for us to know which animals we are finding out in the field. That's were Ed Drewitt helps.

For Episode 142 I get to talk to Ed Drewitt, naturalist, Peregrine Falcon researcher, and author of Raptor Prey Remains : A guide to identifying what’s been eaten by a bird of prey. On the show we discuss what is happening in England (where Ed is located), what the birds are up to this time of year, and also who is migrating and who is staying put. We talk about raptor ecology on the broad sense and also get focus on Peregrines. He also shares about his own efforts, from a school boy to working on his PhD 30 years later, all the while investigating feathers, skulls, and other prey remains.

It was a nice and relaxed interview, with Ed sharing so much of what he has learned through his years of observation and study, and how his book can help those who are getting started in the world of tracking birds of prey by learning to correctly identify that which they prey upon.

Ok, so this is weird, but I love death.

Dying, decay, decomposition, breakdown.. synonyms that sort of warm my heart in a strange kinda way. When I think of death I think of nutrients breaking down into small parts, making it easier for other things to consume and to continue to grow and live. I think of how death makes all life possible. How without consuming things like veggies, grains, fruits, mushrooms, and maybe even meats, all things which were once alive, we could never live. I am grateful to death so that I may live. I too am grateful to those things which help break things down. The decomposers which turn trees into soil and enable all the plants to grow, soil bacteria to thrive and create suitable substrates to all the fungal bodies in the dirt.

Today’s show is all about those fungal forms which help breakdown trees into consumable soil nutrients; white rot and brown rot. I have talked about them before on the show, but I wanted to dig in a little bit more. I hope you enjoy it!

To Learn More :
Field Guide to Tree Diseases of Ontario (pdf)
Polypores and Similar Fungi of Eastern and Central North America by Alan E. Bessette, Dianna G. Smith, and Arleen R Bessette. University of Texas Press, 2021.
Plant Pathology by George N. Agrios. Harcourt Academic Press, 1997.
Disgustipated by Tool

The show is a conversation with Jam Doughty, discussing the facets of their career as an artist creating beautiful works interpreting a diversity of lush flora, strange crustaceans, migrating autumn waterfowl and songbirds. We go over some of the complexities of being a white nature educator in the predominantly black community of Garfield Park neighbourhood on the west side of Chicago, working to push for more equity, and being and out spoken non-binary role model to the kids they work with.

How do we talk to our students, or the young people in our lives about our the complexities in the world around us? What about the subtleties and possibilities within our own experiences of ourselves? How do you challenge those we work with and for to push beyond lip service to racial equity and create real solidarity in our daily jobs? How does one do this amidst a culture of white supremacy, heterocentrism, and a pandemic, seemingly getting more and more out of hand?

We can’t answer it all, but there is open hearted conversation and sometimes that can help us through to the next day.

Check out their instagram here, and the Etsy account here .

Rhamnus cathartica, or Common Buckthorn, is a non-native opportunistic species of shrub that many love to hate, myself included most of the time. It seems to crowd out local species and possibly even poisons the soil beneath to make it even harder for other plants to take hold. Birds act as vectors for the seed dispersal and soon enough, another forest has a Buckthorn problem.

But what if we try to look at the species as a whole, trying to understand a little better, trying to learn a bit more about the relationships which are built around Buckthorn? Long used medicinally, for craft and beauty, we may already know some positives for this maligned plant. Can we look deeper and find something else? Something beyond the human?

This episode is a small step towards getting to know Common Buckthorn, R. cathartica, a little better.

Here is the link to the cabi.org write up on Buckthorn.

From Wikipedia :

In mythology, medieval literature and occultism, the language of the birds is postulated as a mystical, perfect divine language, … angelic language or a mythical or magical language used by birds to communicate with the initiated.

A look into some of the varied ideas of what the Language of the Birds might mean. Less of the tracking and scientific approach to bird language, but instead exploring the mythic knowledge, fairy tales and legends, and history of  the language of the birds.

Originally aired August 12, 2019.

Going to Hawk Cliff to go watch migrating Raptors is becoming a bit of a pilgrimage for me. It’s only the second time I’ve gone there, but the quality of the experience is profound. To get to see these Birds whom, when you see individually during your everyday, it is always a highlight of the day. But to go see hundreds of these amazing predatory birds is just astounding. What a gift.

Hawk Cliff is a chance to be social, a chance to learn, a chance to share and be in awe and wonder at some of the most beautiful birds on the continent.

This episode is recording a trip down to Hawk Cliff with some dear friends, including Matt, Britta, Adrian, and Danielle. The structure is similar to old audiozines I used to make, describing in situ as well as voice overs to tell the story a little better and to give context to the audio.

List of books mentioned:

Hawks and Owls of the Great Lakes Region, Chris Earley. Firefly.

The Life History of North American Birds of Prey, Arthur Cleveland Bent. Dover.

Hawks at a Distance, Jerry Liguori. Princeton University Press.

Birds of Ontario, Andy Bezener. Lone Pine.

Peterson Field Guide to Birds, Roger Tory Peterson. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Field Guide to the Migrating Raptors of Hawk Cliff. Hawk Cliff Foundation.

The Crossley ID guide to Eastern Birds, Richard Crossley. Princeton University Press.

Useful references and links:

Hawk Cliff website

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gynandromorph

Danielle and I speak with Pinar and So of Queer Nature about how it might look feel and be to queer and decolonize our understandings of who we are in connection with the places we live. How can we interrupt the dominant narrative of ecologies viewed through the lenses of heterocentric, capitalist, white supremacis colonial narratives? Does the land make space for divergent identities, life ways and lifeforms? How do we as queer folks who seek to learn more about ancestral skills and the land bases we live on practice on lands we may not be ancestrally connected to?

Originally aired April 9th, 2018.

Matt Iles has been studying birds for about 12 years. He is humble, thoughtful and a wonderful teacher. He has taught me a lot and is a treasured friend and colleague. For this show we walk through the old fields of tall grass, Goldenrods, and assorted shrubs asking questions about his career as a bird biologist, about bird migrations, and his upcoming workshop “FlockShop #1 - The Eramosa River as Migration Stopover” put on with naturalist Adrian Iacovino at the Guelph Outdoor School.

Matthew’s instagram is   https://www.instagram.com/wild_m.iles/

Some useful online resources:

birdscanada.org/apps/checklist/ - Birds Canada Checklist tool.

audubon.org/field-guide - Online Bird Field Guide.

allaboutbirds.org - Useful information on I.D., Habitat, Range and assorted Natural History

ebird.org/canada/home - Keep track of your own finds, and support researchers.

Wonderful interview with Mountain Lion biologist and author Dr. Mark Elbroch, talking about his new book "The Cougar Conundrum : Sharing the World with a Successful Predator". Mark Elbroch shares some Cougar natural history and we hear his thoughts on the role media can play in Cougar conservation and his work with Panthera, a large Cat conservation organization protecting Cats around the world.

https://markelbroch.com/

https://islandpress.org/books/cougar-conundrum

https://www.panthera.org/

Sometimes it is hard to find ways to connect with the landbase in our daily lives. Our built up environments; navigating a world that seems to orient away from the land; and living with communities that don't support our goals of intimacy with nature.. but imagine how it might be trying to challenge this disconnect while locked up? 

Prisons are terrible places that don't really do much towards the healing of those incarcerated there nor the communities where they come from. They really just replicate and reinforce the ways our culture hurts us - alienation from our communities, from ourselves and from the land. But there are renegades. Folks in prisons looking out for the small life which breeds in the gaps and cracks, uncontrolled by the guards and their world. Today we hear some of those stories.

Originally aired January 16, 2017.

Discussing some hows and whys about storytelling as reciprocating interaction and interspecies language making. How can we work with stories to learn, teach and communicate better with each other in regards to the natural world, and then on top of that, how can we hear the stories of the natural world better so we can be a part of the learning, teaching and communication which is always already ongoing?

This passed weekend I was able to go out tracking with folks at Wiijindamaan where I once again notice the Poplar Vagabond Aphid Gall. And last week, I was having another conversation with folks about the Spruce Pineapple Adelgid Gall. Galls persist through the Winter and into Spring when many of the insects which have created them will begin to emerge.

Since now is the time to be keeping an eye out for the insect emergences, I figured I would share my excitement for these two galls. Not only are they beautiful and unusual, but they also highlight my growing feelings on what I call “biology 202”, a deep appreciation for the complexity of life beyond our cultural assumptions. It’ll make more sense when you hear it.

To Learn More :
Petiolegall Aphids : Swollen or disfigured leaves of poplars (pdf)
First record of antipredator behavior in the gall-forming aphid Mordwilkoja vagabundaPoplar Vagabond Gall Aphid (Aphididae: Mordwilkoja) video on youtube.com by Carl Barrentine
InfluentialPoints.com entry on Mordwilkoja vagabunda
Life History and Gall Development of Mordwilkoja vagabunda (Homoptera: Aphidae) on Populus deltoides
Life History and Gall Development of Mordwilkoja vagabunda (Homoptera: Aphidae) on Populus deltoides. Part II—Gall Development
The Insects and Arachnids of Canada part 22 : The Genera of the Aphids of Canada - Homoptera : Aphidoidea and Phylloxeroidea : pg 472 (pdf)Influential Points entry on Adelges abietisINTRA- AND INTER-CROWN DISTRIBUTION OF THE EASTERN SPRUCE GALL ADELGID, ADELGES ABIETIS (L.), ON YOUNG WHITE SPRUCE

Did you know that birds are more closely related to turtles, than turtles are to snakes? I just learned that. Did you know that the scutes on a turtle’s back are made from keratin, the same stuff as our fingernails and Rhinoceros horns? Just learned that one too. Even better, do you know what cloacal breathing is? I bet you do… but how does it work? That’s some of the interesting stuff I got to ask naturalist, author and educator Kyle Horner recently when we spoke about his new book Turtles of North America out now on Firefly Books.

It’s a pretty good book, with range maps and conservation status’ which are more relevant and up to date than many of the older field guides to turtles, and covers more species. It is a book full of photographs which help detail the information written in the species accounts and natural history sections.

And this week’s show isn’t just about turtles! It is a bit of reptilian and amphibian mashup, because for the second part I give a short report back from a recent field trip down to Sudden Tract to check on Spring salamander migration. Tis the season!

To Learn More :
Turtles of North America at Firefly BooksSeagull Is Not a Dirty Word - Kyle Horner’s Blog
Kyle Horner’s Instagram

I just got home from Algonquin Park. I got the privilege to spend the past week tracking Wolves, Moose, Martens, Grouse, Flying Squirrels, and so many other creatures throughout the length of the park. We woke up at 6am every morning and were out by 7, scouting for new trails. When were were through with our day we came back to hit the books and share stories of all that we’d seen. It was magical, inspiring and motivating. Restful as much as exhausting.

One animal I spent some time learning about over the week was the Pine Siskin (Spinus pinus), a small brown finch like bird edged in yellow who flew down on to the new snow, skipped, hopped and flew off again. The Pine Siskin was my focal species for the week. Sadly on our last day, two dead Pine Siskins were found on highway 60, hit by vehicles as they were on the road, consuming the de-icing salts.

I got to hold the birds and take a closer look at their small amazing bodies in the sunlight pouring through the window at the wildlife research station. I measured their feet, admired their plumage, and wondered at how they could survive so long out there in the cold and snow. What were they eating to warm their fragile little bodies through the Winter nights? If they hadn’t died on the road, where would they go to in the Spring? I decided on the way home I would do a little research and make the next show all about them.

Here’s to the Siskins and all they’ve taught and inspired in me.

Sources used in this episode:
Birds of Ontario by Andy Bezener. Lone Pine Publishing, 2000.
Peterson Field Guide to North American Bird Nests by Casey McFarland, Matthew Monjello, and David Moskowitz. Houghton Mifflin Harcout, 2021.
The Birder’s Handbook by Paul Ehrlich, David S. Dobkin and Darryl Wheye. Simon & Shuster, 1988.

It’s that time of year again, when the animals are getting out and getting down. While driving home the other day I drove past a forest where I had once trailed a part of courting Coyotes (Canis latrans) and realized that now is the time we will be seeing these courting behaviours. I had written about them before, but it was worth revisiting as it will likely be coming up on the land, and in my classes.

As I had written before:

“Getting the chance to follow along and watch the intimate lives of other animals can feel a little awkward in the retelling. I don’t want to come across as voyeuristic but instead as being witness to the possibility of a litter of new life. Coyotes are often a maligned species, where the conversation surrounding them is often of management and control, loaded with tones of fear and frustration. But following these two highlights an individuation and animism we don’t afford Coyotes very often. I hope only to remind of the struggle to survive, adapt and thrive amidst the persecution they endure. Reflecting on the day, I feel like it’s a study in the mess of courtship which many of us can relate to, and it feels like the news I wish we saw more of: first kisses, late night dinner parties with old friends, meeting a newborn family member. It is the joy of being and relating to others in deep meaningful ways in a world which often separates and isolates, harms and hinders. It’s romantic as hell, and I love it…”

To Learn More :
Examining Coyote Courting Behaviours : Tracking at Bell’s Lake
Tracking Journal : December 25, 2020
Behaviour of North American Mammals by Mark Elbroch and Kurt Rinehart. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2011.
The Natural History of Canadian Mammals by Donna Naughton. University of Toronto Press, 2012.

We had just crossed over from the thick White Cedar forest into a little more spacious deciduous forest, when, in a very unassuming tone, a friend called us over to check out some tracks. I don’t know if he realized at first how cool the trail he had just found was, but as we stepped off of the path and looked down at the tracks everyone leaned in a little closer, and our voices started to ring with a little more excitement. Our colleague had found a Fisher trail.

Once again I have been inspired by the Fisher to dig a little deeper into their ecologies, behaviours and the signs they leave behind. There is always so much to know that another show about them, relating another story of following the Fisher trail seemed worthwhile.

To Learn More :
Natural History of Canadian Mammals by Donna Naughton. University of Toronto Press, 2012.Mesopredator release facilitates range expansion in fisher by Dr. Scott LaPoint.Ep. 180 : Winter of the Fisher
Ep. 211 : Fisher Researcher Dr. Scott LaPoint
Tracking Journal 2021.11.27 (mostly about trailing a Fisher at the same location as the entry above)

s we get ready for the longest night of the year, it’s also a time to celebrate traditions and set our sights for the new year with the rebirth of the Sun.

Making radio for me also holds traditions embedded within the episodes. Every Solstice I dig into the archives and pull out a rebroadcast which was originally aired December 21st, 1985 at 10:30pm on the BBC. And now, for the 6th year in a row, I get to broadcast one of my favorite pieces of radio. Step aside War of the Worlds or Gunsmoke (both of which should be listened to at least once in your life), Alison McLeay’s “Solstice”, is the best radio I have ever heard. A guided journey beyond our contemporary world of christian Christmas consumerism and looking deeper to reveal the ancient earth based practices and traditions where so many of our modern traditions arise from. Along the way we meet a rattle wielding Shaman, a witch, a hunter, a Raven, and a Wolf who help guide us back to the origins of Yule.

Here’s hoping for a solstice of peace, rest, and joy… some hard things to find these days.

You know when there is someone kicking around the party whom you recognize, maybe even say hello to, but you just don’t know that well? Or perhaps you two have been acquainted for a while but something comes up and that gets you talking a little more intimately? I feel like that with Turkey Tail (Trametes versicolor). I wanted to try my hand at foraging and creating some medicine, but really I needed to read up on what others have sorted out before I prepare anything for ingestion. To learn more, listen to the show.

Here are the sources I read from:
National Audubon Society Mushrooms of North America. Knopf, 2023.
Polypores and Similar Fungi of Eastern and Central North America by Alan E. Bessette, Dianna G. Smith, and Arleen R Bessette. University of Texas Press, 2021.
Medicinal Mushrooms : The Essential Guide by Christopher Hobbs. Storey Publishing, 2020.

If you didn’t know already, I work at an outdoor school doing place-based, or nature-based education. Through this work I have come to know many people who have challenged and supported me to grow and to learn more about the complex relationships that exist within this field of work. How do we aim to teach about a land which has been occupied through theft, displacement, war, and genocide? How can we say we work towards loving relationships with ourselves, with each other and the land when this is the past and present reality of the place we inhabit and the position of the states we are governed by?

I got to talk with a mentor, friend, and elder in my community, Lisa Donahue, about how we can struggle to do the work of bringing folks outside and teaching them alongside the land when the context is rife with harm. As always, Lisa shared from the heart with precision, passion and a poignant reckoning of the ongoing need to work towards justice, peace and good relations. I am so grateful for her wisdom, her humility and her care.

I wanted to have this write up yesterday, but my heart is so weighted with sorrow over the ongoing genocide in Palestine, here in Canada, and the other ongoing wars and injustices throughout the world right now. I had to take an extra day to collect my heart and thoughts.

While looking into possible Red Wolf (Canis rufus) genetics found in a Coastal Louisiana Coyote (Canis latrans) populations, biologist Dr. Joseph Hinton set a trap. Sadly, when a Coyote, later named LA25M was caught in this trap, his leg was irreversibly damaged. Joe decided to bring this Coyote to a vet and get the leg amputated, an unusual procedure when working with study animals, but possibly better than euthanizing the canid. Shortly after the surgery, the LA25M was released with a radio collar and monitored to determine his use of territories. Turns out this Coyote did quite well, regardless of the amputation.

When I read Joe’s paper, I was intrigued and had to ask about an interview. Graciously, he replied and we set one up.

Joe and I discuss his working getting to know Red Wolf genetics present in Gulf Coast Coyotes, why it may be important to keep track of the mixing of Red Wolf and Coyote DNA, and what a three-legged Coyote may get up to on their home range, and off of it, once released. It’s a pretty cool story. Worth a listen.

To learn more :
Space use and fate of a three-legged coyote – a case study by Joseph W. Hinton, Kelsey San Martin, Kristin E. Brzeski, Jazmin J. Murphy, & Amy C. ShuttWolf Conservation Center

My room, my house, my bags are all full of books, twigs, fruits, feathers, seeds, nuts, and bits of mushrooms this time of year. So too my stomach, my dreams, and my heart. My bedroom is littered with naturalist books and books of fairy tales and myths which I pull out and read before I turn out the light. I love the folk tales because if you read them in the right light, they share stories of relationships with the land from before christian colonization. For me, of european descent, this gives insight to how my ancestors may have gotten to know the places they lived and who they depended on to live good lives in relation with the lands they lived with.

I have shared stories of snakes, or the Winter solstice, or wildflowers throughout the years of doing this show, but never have I told a story about mushrooms. Until recently I only knew one or two, but recently I read a new one, a magical one, which I have really come to love. So on this week’s show I share the story of the “Berry-sisters and the Mushroom-brother” from the book Echo of the Green Mountains : Ukrainian Folk Tales as well as read a little about the internationally praised edible mushroom Boletus edulis.

This episode might be well suited for a cup of tea. But I’ll leave that up to you.

Image : Boletus edulis LC0371.jpg by Jörg Hempel⁠. 2014. Image. Wikimedia.org. (CC BY-ND 3.0)

To learn more :
Echo of the Green Mountains : Ukrainian Folk Tales by Serhiy Vladov and Mary Skrypnyk. Dnipro Publishers 1988.
National Audubon Society Mushrooms of North America. Knopf, 2023.

Every big mast year for Black Walnuts (Juglans nigra) I like to harvest a ton of them and then process them for both the husks and the nutmeat inside. While the nutmeats are very troublesome to access it is getting easier as I learn which tools are better than others, and the food value is totally worth it. As for the husks, it’s pretty easy to rip or cut them off of the nut. This year, as in previous years as well, there has been a small ethical dilemma which has come up when using the husks for dye. Nestled in the husks are small larvae of what I believe to be the Walnut Husk Maggot Fly (Rhagoletis suavis) which is a fruit fly I don’t know much about. But because I love Walnuts, I figured I should learn.

And that’s what this week’s show is all about. A fruit fly who loves Walnuts… Can’t live without ‘em. Sometimes I feel that way, too.

To learn more :
Walnut Husk Fly How to Monitor and Manage Walnut Husk Flies
Decomposition: fly life cycle and development times
University of California IPM page on Walnut Husk Fly

A week ago, I got to join the Field Botanists of Ontario on a field trip to the Dufferin County Forest Main Tract site for a mushroom I.D. walk. We saw all sorts of different mushrooms and had a ton of fun.

Scattered in the back of the Main tract there are many American Beech (Fagus grandifolia) trees. Some tall, some small, but they are there amidst the Red Oaks (Quercus rubra) and Sugar Maples (Acer saccharum). If you look close at the branches of these Beech trees you'll find little white fluffy insects dancing about in huge colonies. These are the Wooly Beech Aphid (Phyllaphis fagi) and they are there sucking sap out of the Beech tree. Now when any animal consumes their fill of whatever it is they are consuming, they must release the waste, and so too with the Aphids. This waste, called Honey Dew, is dropped and as it falls lands on the leaves, branches, and ground below. When this happens, the spores of the Honey Dew Eater (Scorias spongiosa) come around and land on the Honey Dew and begin their life cycle.

This weeks show I share some of what I have been reading about in regards to this community but specifically focusing on the life cycle of the Honey Dew Eater fungi.

To learn more :
Mushrooms of Ontario and Eastern Canada by George Barron. Partners Publishing/Lone Pine 2014.
Ascomycete Fungi of North America: A Mushroom Reference Guide by Michael Beug, Alan E. Bessette, Arleen R. Bessette. University of Texas Press, 2014.
National Audubon Society Mushrooms of North America. Knopf, 2023.

Lichens been a draw for me for the last few years. When it comes to a diversity of lifeforms coming together in a fungal structure to draw down nutrients from the atmosphere, to beautify a landscape, to feed some of the largest land mammals down to sheltering some of the smallest arthropods, I’m hooked.

For many of us, the problem has been where to start, how to get into the lichens, how to identify them and how and where do we learn what roles and functions these forms of life have on the land?

In comes Dr. Troy McMullin, lichenologist with the Canadian Museum of Nature, author of dozens of papers on lichens, describer of 10 species new to science, and author of the new book Lichens : The Macrolichens of Ontario and the Great Lakes Region of the United States out on Firefly Books.

A hefty book full of colour photos, illustrated glossary, detailed keys to the 113 genera found in Ontario and some adjacent states, this book is helpful for beginner lichen lovers and for the professional lichenologist. Not only that, Troy came on to talk about his career learning about these unstudied organisms, why they are so important to him and how they can help us understand the changes we are seeing in the climate.

It’s not everyday you get to talk with one of the foremost researchers in a field. I am so grateful for the chance. I got to ask a bunch of questions which I have been wondering for a long time.. some of which are answered fully in the book, some of which it took a conversation with the author. Thanks again, Troy!

To learn more :
Lichens : The Macrolichens of Ontario and the Great Lakes Region of the United States
Troy McMullin’s page at the Canadian Museum of Nature

Last Thursday a call came over the radio at work. “I just want to let everyone know that there are two Walking Sticks mating on the tent”. I can’t really remember what I was doing with the students at the time, but we all dropped everything and made our way, some faster than others. I had seen a couple of Walking Sticks over the Summer, but realized, while jogging through the forest on my way to see these two going at it, that I knew very little about the life cycles, ecology and overall natural history of this species or the order as a whole. I figured I should observe the mating pair carefully, and then research a bunch when I get home.

The species native to my area of Southern Ontario, known as the Northern Walking Stick (Diapheromera femorata), has been making many appearances in my life over the past few years but I still know so little about them. Inspired by the most recent sighting mentioned above, I decided to learn a little bit more about them.

Big thanks to Jen for letting everyone know the Walking Sticks were there.

Resources I pulled from for this episode:
Insects : Their Natural History and Diversity by Stephan A Marshall. Firefly Books, 2006.
Insect Enemies of Eastern Forests by Frank Cooper Craighead. US Department of Agriculture, 1950.
Princeton Field Guides Insects of North America by John C. Abbott and Kendra K. Abbott. Princeton University Press, 2023.
The Complete Insect by David A. Grimaldi. Princeton University Press, 2023. (highly recommended!)
Tracks & Sign of Insects and Other Invertebrates by Charley Eiseman and Noah Charney. Stackpole Books, 2010.

and a blog post of my own : Tracking Journal for 2021.08.15

Animal Forms is a project is all about empathy, about remembering how to be in connection with the other-than-human world. As Miki asks, “aims to explore how we (humans) can imagine ourselves in the place of the other people we share our planet with. How might our thoughts and actions change if we practiced seeing the world through another's eyes?”

Miki Tamblyn has created a project where folks can practice being an other-than-human animal. What does that look like? We are invited to sit in the woods by ourselves with a mask, a journal and pen, a camera, and a mirror and take on being the animal whose face we put on.

We sat down at the site of the project, along the Eramosa River in Guelph to discuss inspiration, project formation, overall response to the project and its goals, as well as the experience of embodiment of another form of life.

There was really so much to say, but you’ll have to listen to hear it all.

To learn more :
Animal Forms page
In depth look at Joanna Macy’s Council of All Beings

In some circles, reciprocate is the new “sustainable”, a hot word which implies a lot but isn’t always doing what we might imagine. But how can we try to actually live up to, and create the reciprocity, the giving back and forth, to that and those who give us so much?

For me, Moth Garden feels like a project trying to demonstrate reciprocity in a real, tangible, replicable ways. Christina Kingsbury and Lisa Hirmer have been researching, planting, growing and shaping a garden with an intention of creating sensory worlds for/of the more-than-human, nourishing spaces planted with food, shelter, and room for transformation and rest; planted for often maligned and misunderstood members of our broad interspecies communities.

With Moth Garden, Lisa and Christina are shifting the focus of attention to not singly acknowledge the diurnal, sun loving species, but to also welcome and include to the night flying beings through all life stages. Our gardens are so often, pretty much nearly always, built for the human eye, to be celebrated during the day, full of sun. Now this garden is still very attractive to my human eye, and obviously requires the Sun, but how does it move away from those conventional relationships and move towards new ones with the night, with other animals, with other senses?

How beautiful and full of care and consideration reciprocity can be.

Big big thanks to the moths, the bees, the plethora of tiny lives that live within and visit this garden. Thanks to the plants which sprout, shoot, blossom and bloom. Thanks to Lisa Hirmer and Christina Kingsbury for creating this space for us to visit.

To learn more :
www.mothgarden.ca
Heather Holm’s book Pollinators of Native Plants

A couple of days after my recent interview discussing Mulberries with Matt Soltys, the Arboretum at the University of Guelph shared a couple of posts on instagram about the Red Mulberry Recovery Program where researchers are looking into how to identify, propagate, and eventually distribute Red Mulberries (Morus rubra) to their partners (mostly conservation organizations). They are also trying educating the public on how the White or Asian Mulberries (Morus alba) can be detrimental to conservation of the Red Mulberries. Immediately I wrote to them to try and set up and interview.

Some of the same questions from the first interview came up, and some new ones as well, but mostly I wanted to hear about the Recovery Program and see how it was being put together, why this conservation of Red Mulberry biodiversity is so important, the effects of a changing climate on Red Mulberries, and how the conservation efforts of the University of Guelph Arboretum can mitigate the harms of human caused habitat loss and fragmentation.

Gratefully Sean Fox, senior research associate at the Arb, took the the time to get into the complexity and nuance of dynamic movements of species and how we can take actions towards conservation of a species which is endemically endangered.

It’s great to have a resource like the Arboretum so close so I can both talk to and learn from the folks doing the research and conservation work, but also to wander and explore the grounds (for free) and learn through my own observation. It’s a great place.

To learn more :
University of Guelph Arboretum’s Red Mulberry Conservation Program

University of Guelph Arborteum's instagram

I have had a long curiosity regarding Water Hemlock (Cicuta maculata) ever since I had heard of them. Perhaps the most toxic plant on Turtle Island/North America. Of course I would be enamoured! I misidentified them for a couple of years thinking I knew who they were, but it wasn’t until the past four or five years that I began taking a closer look, seeking them out, learning the lore, and reading the sometimes sparse literature on the plant. This show is an effort to collect my thoughts and learning, and to make the recent blog post, which has lots of good photographs to assist with proper i.d., more accessible to those who don’t want to read it all but would rather listen to it instead.

It seems my series on plants is growing every week. I promise to get back to some interviews soon, but this one is pretty important to me.

The Serviceberry (Amelanchier spp.) is a widely distributed edible fruit tree which fills my heart as much as my belly. It’s just sweet enough, with berries just big enough, just in reach to make me so happy to come across. Sometimes we happen upon them wandering through the woods, sometimes we go visit our favourite individuals, sometimes we make detailed extensive maps of every tree the city has planted… or maybe I just do that.

To eat something builds relationship in a very particular way, which I appreciate, especially when that edible is shared by many species. We really become part of the broader ecosystem when we participate as other animals do, and if we choose to enter into that relationship in a reciprocal way we can begin to tend and propagate the ones we care for.

Serviceberries, Juneberry, Shadbush, Saskatoon, whatever we call them, our affinity with them grows as we get to know them more. That’s what this episode is all about - learning some of those more meticulous details to compliment our own personal relationships with the plants we hold so dear in our hearts… and bellies.

To learn more :
Fruit and Seed profile of AmelanchierShrubs of Ontario by James H. Soper and Margaret L. Heimburger. Royal Ontario Museum, 1982.
The Book of Forest and Thicket by John Eastman. Stackpole Books, 1992.
American Wildlife & Plants : A Guide to Wildlife Food Habits by Alexander Martin, Herbert Zim, and Arnold Nelson. Dover, 1951.
Growing Trees from Seed by Henry Kock. Firefly Books, 2016.
Botany in a Day by Thomas J. Elpel. HOPS Press, 2006.

Every year I get the privilege of co-leading a spiritual retreat weekend with the wonderful Greg Kennedy at the Ignatius Jesuit Centre. This year we revamped the “Trees” retreat from a couple of years ago and I switched it up, including a talk on Friday night on “What is a Forest : Of exclusion and of Community”.

This wasn’t a talk about a particular ecosystem necessarily. Instead it was an exploration of the shady history of the word and concept of “forest”, The first English use of the word forest doesn’t describe a specific ecozone; instead it was the place where royalty and gentry removed the people to keep exclusive regal hunting grounds for them and their noble guests. It meant the expulsion of peoples, and the emergence of the enclosure movement (so incitefully taught to me by Rain Crowe and Sylvia Federici many years ago), and plausible contribution to the witch hunts across Europe. “The forest” is not neutral territory. It is a contested zone.

This topic is significant to me, as in, it’s important to remember the contexts of where these exclusionary ways of interacting with the land have come from and how the plans and technologies of power were then exported, and are used with colonial intent on different lands and different people. It is important to remember how those who came before resisted this theft of the commons, and it is important to remember that we are as connected to those ancestor as we are to the trees, screes and seas.

To learn more :
Caliban and the Witch by Sylvia Federici. Autonomedia, 2004. (pdf link)
The Once and Future Great Lakes Country : An Ecological History by John L. Riley. McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2014.
The World Turned Upside Down by Leon Rosselson, performed by Billy Bragg

Mulberries are a well known and popular wild urban edible that a lot of foragers come to know early in the development of the craft. They are easily identifiable, taste great, and prolific in urban and peri-urban environments which means lots of people can get to know them. Not only are there an abundant of Mulberry trees out there, each fruit producing tree makes buckets of fruit that litter the sidewalks for a month if the birds, squirrels, Raccoons and humans don’t get at them first. And while Mulberries don’t seem like a political focal point in the world of conservation, I am learning that they can be as well.

I got to visit with my friend Matt Soltys (The Urban Orchardist) to discuss Mulberries and their ecology. We sat in a small backyard cabin adjacent to his Mulberry tree to keep out of the rain and got into some big questions : How many species actually grow around the Great Lakes bioregion? Where does hybridization come in clutch in the context of global change and massive anthropogenic disturbance of the landscape? Are conventional conversations around conservation xenophobic and colonial or do they uplift and support decolonial efforts to retain ancestral cultural and land based relations? While we don’t have the answers, I think these are important questions to be asking.

Additionally, near the end of the podcast we discuss Sam Thayer’s new book Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants of Eastern and Central North America⁠ out now from Forager’s Harvest.

Big thanks to Matt Soltys of The Urban Orchardist for taking the time to be on the show and sharing his research and ideas.

To learn more :
The Urban Orchardist
Matt’s Instagram
Sam Thayer's Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants of Eastern and Central North America

In the previous post I mentioned that I had been watching a specific Chokecherry (Prunus virginiana, or the Anishnaabemowin name asasawemin) looking at Eastern Tent Caterpillar (Malacosoma americanum) egg masses and how the caterpillars had emerged. I ended up taking a closer look at the Chokecherry in the days following as my interest had been piqued.

Chokecherry is a role model. How can we be in good relationship with so many different life forms, transform degraded and barren anthropogenic landscapes in preparation for new life? Yes, there is a note of caution to be had, an awareness of potential hazards, but the overall theme of this shrub appears to be regeneration, repair and creating spaces for life to flourish again.

This episode is a long form exploration of the Chokecherry ecology. I hope it works for you as much as it works for me!

The car broke down on our way to visit my mum. My brother and I got out of the car, and while he researched how to change the alternator, I went behind the vacant garage where we parked the inoperable vehicle. When I explored to the far back of the lot I was grateful to find a small wetland, thriving with tons of species. Trees, tall and low shrubs, and understory thick with both native and non-native, aggressive opportunistic plants vying for life. I was totally impressed and appreciated this wild oasis in the midst of an annoying happenstance.

While I sat there, on an old discarded stump I discovered adjacent to the wetland, I began thinking of weird ecological combinations, novel ecosystems and “invasive” species, both in the context of their potential benefits and their potential harms. I continue to wonder about the role of Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale), Burdock (Arctium lappa), Garlic Mustard (Alliaria petiolata) and Giant Hogweed (Heracleum mantegazzianum) on the landscape of Turtle Island/North America. I continue to weigh all theories and ideas swimming around in the varied academic research and current collected folklore (not so much in the mythic sense, but more so the popular awareness and storytelling of these populations), and try to tease out some path forward : do we leave these populations alone? Do we try to intervene? If so, how? Can we do both? What lessons are already being demonstrated on the landscape? How do we listen to the needs of the lands we cohabit with these contested species?

I guess this is what this weeks show is about, all considered out back of an abandoned garage. Sometimes we can be grateful for the car breaking down. Big thanks though to my brother for the wonderful adventure.

To learn more :
Wild Urban Plants of the NorthEast by Peter Del Tredici. Cornell University Press, 2020.
When Doing Nothing is the Best Invasive Plant Management Tool - youtube video : Dr. Bernd Blossey shares his research on Garlic Mustard

Lately a lot of folks I know have been finding Morels (Morchella spp.) in and around the city where I live. Possibly one of the most prized edible fungi on the planet, everyone seems very excited to bring them home and cook them into an ephemeral dish. If I find a bunch I may do the same, but until then I wanted to look into this amazing fruiting body a little bit more.

It wasn’t long ago that I assumed that this genus was just one or two individual species. Turns out I was incorrect. I have also heard that the False Morels (Gyromitra spp.) look a lot like the Morels and it would be difficult to tell them apart… I reviewed it and I think those folks are missing something important in the id features.

One thing about the show.. I wish there were more books on the natural history of these species, which I could have drawn from. Something akin to John Eastman’s, or Carol Gracie’s works. Alas, there is one, but it’s too expensive right now. But it’s out there if you are looking.

Also, the second part of the show is a review of the new National Audubon Society Mushrooms of North America. I hope you find it useful.

Sources for the show :
Ascomycete Fungi of North America: A Mushroom Reference Guide by Michael Beug, Alan E. Bessette, Arleen R. Bessette. University of Texas Press, 2014.
Mushrooms of the Northeastern United States and Eastern Canada by Timothy J. Baroni. Timber Press, 2017.
National Audubon Society Mushrooms of North America. Knopf, 2023.

I was out with a couple of friends the evening before. We’d been thoroughly engaged listening to the painfully loud calls of the Spring Peepers (Pseudacris crucifer) when I pointed out an Eastern Meadowlark (Sturnella magna) call to one of my pals. He pulled out his phone and got on the Merlin App to try and id the call a little better. Lo and behold, on the list of birds included in his immediate recorded was a Sora (Porzana carolina)! Now, Soras aren’t too rare, or too interesting to many, but they are a bird I have never seen, never heard, and barely heard of. When we were discussing who a Sora is, all I know was that they were a waterbird that didn’t look like a duck. I imagined something more akin to an American Bittern (Botaurus lentiginosa), but I was way off.

Soras are still mysterious to me, but it was fun to go back to the pond, listen to the birds again the following morning, and bring out some books to learn more and reflect on listening. I hope y’all enjoy it as well.

To learn more :
Birds of Lake Pond and Marsh by John Eastman. Stackpole Books, 1999.

Cardinals, Blue Jays, Robins, Mourning Doves, Mallards, Black-capped Chickadees. Quite common and familiar birds most folks seem to know. One of the reasons is that they have very distinct patterning and physical traits that render them easily identifiable. Even some of the Sparrows can be differentiated by a slightly advanced beginner.

Flycatchers? They can be tough. When I see a Yellow-bellied Flycatcher (Empidonax flaviventris) in the woods, despite being one of the more recognizable, determinable Empidonax species, I am still left uncertain, full of doubt and just generally end up calling it a Flycatcher.

But I have found since reading Cin-Ty Lee and Andrew Birch’s new book “Field Guide to North American Flycatchers : Empidonax and Pewees”, I have been looking at the birds with a different lens, one that considers a more holistic view, that asks more questions of often overlooked characteristics which can help lead to a solid id.

I spoke with Cin-Ty and Andrew about their new book and how this new method of identification can help us not only better identify some of the Flycatchers, but also to look at how we regard all birds in ways that encounter them more fully, experiencing them in broader context through investigating narrower characteristics.

To learn more :
Field Guide to North American Flycatchers : Empidonax and Pewees
Cin-Ty Lee’s website
Andrew Birch’s website

Red-tailed Hawks (Buteo jamaicensis) are always exciting to see. However ubiquitous or plentiful they may be on the land, it is always a gift to observe them circling and soaring overhead. I have been noting their behaviours for a few years now, trying to catch a glimpse whenever I can. A couple of years ago I watched a pair eager to find out if they were nesting in the valley I walk or ride on my way into work. I never did find that nest, but I hoped I would in the future.

On Monday, a colleague called over the radio that he was observing two Red-tails building a nest. He later watched as the pair were mating on a different tree down closer to the river. This series of events sparked a great curiosity and enthusiasm between all of my colleagues. We have been trying to find ways to observe, but also not interfere. Trying to research, but not just rely on the books. But as it is still relevant, I decided to hit the books. Thus, this weeks show was created. A deep dive into the nesting behaviours of one of my fav cohabitants.

Thanks Drew for the suggestion to include my sources in the show write-up. And to Matt Hamilton for the photo.

Sources for the show:
Forest Raptors & Their Nests in Central Ontario - this is only a partial pdf, and does not have all of the content. I am searching for a complete pdf.
Peterson Field Guide to North American Bird Nests by Casey McFarland, Mathew Monjello & David Moskowitz. HMH, 2021.
Life Histories of North American Birds of Prey pt 1 by Arthur Cleveland Bent. Dover, 1961.
Stokes Guide to Bird Behaviour vol. 3 by Donald and Lillian Stokes. Little, Brown, 1989.
Birds of Forest, Yard, & Thicket by John Eastman. Stackpole Books, 1997.