Explore every episode of the podcast Urban Wildlife Podcast

Billy and Tony are back with their first episode in almost two years. After some updates they talk about their uneasy relationship with fishing and how to connect urbanites with aquatic biodiversity. Here’s that Meateater article Billy mentioned.

Billy and Tony sit down with Rich Conroy of the Militia Hill Hawk Watch and of the Dresher, PA Wild Birds Unlimited to chat about the joys of hawk watching and lots of other birding topics in the conversation. Topics … Continue reading →

Billy talked with author Scott Weidensaul about the wonders of bird migration and how urbanite humans can make their city habitats better for avian visitors. Topics include shorebirds, songbirds, raptors, outdoor cats, dogs, urban parks, window collisions, artificial light at … Continue reading →

Tony and Billy talk with one of their urban wildlife heroes, Stan Gehrt, who has been studying Chicago’s coyotes for more than 20 years. Dr. Gehrt has just authored a new book Coyotes Among Us: Secrets of the City’s top … Continue reading →

Tony and Billy talk about one of their favorite critters, the (urban) woodchuck (a.k.a. groundhog, monax, whistle pig, etc.) and its marmot relatives around the globe. Other topics include yellow-bellied and hoary marmots; when iNaturalist makes it look like a … Continue reading →

Tony and Billy got together ostensibly to talk about urban beavers (Castor canadensis), but the conversation wandered far and wide, touching on such subjects as hunting and conservation, rowhouse rednecks, groom cakes, Coleman coolers, the absurdity of private land ownership, … Continue reading →

The biggest animal in Philadelphia (and other port cities) isn’t a deer or a coyote, it’s a fish. We talk with biologist Shannon White about Atlantic sturgeon and her research into their depressingly reduced populations. We talk about how the … Continue reading →

In memory of Scott McWilliams, who passed away from brain cancer recently, we are reposting this episode from 2015. Scott was a great Philadelphian, physician, Billy’s herping buddy and close friend, and an endlessly inquisitive naturalist.

Andrew Budziak traveled from Vancouver to St. John’s and four cities in between to photograph Canadian urban wildlife for his video series Edge of Frame. Billy and Andrew talk about the wildlife he saw and the humans too. You can … Continue reading →

The San Francisco garter snake (Thamnophis sirtalis tetrataenia) is shockingly beautiful and sadly endangered. It’s small range lies within the San Francisco Bay Area (no surprise there), one of the most densely populated regions of the United States. Billy is … Continue reading →

You might only think of them as paths from here to there, but roads are vast structures whose density largely defines urban areas and determine what can survive in them. Darryl Jones, author of A Clouded Leopard in the Middle … Continue reading →

Seattle naturalist and author David B. Williams talks with Billy about the urban nature world of Seattle, including the geology of building stone, backyard eagles, and mountain beavers. (and if anyone out there wants to do a full episode about … Continue reading →

There are too many white-tailed deer for forests in much of eastern North America to regenerate. Should we put them on birth control? Should we let hunters take care of the problem? Is more-intensive culling the solution? Can wolves and … Continue reading →

Billy’s book, Exploring Philly Nature: A Guide for All Four Seasons is out! Buy your copy ASAP! (go ahead, this podcast episode will still be here when you’re done). Tony’s got some book ideas too (and a R.A.M.B.O. album due … Continue reading →

(English/Español) The City Nature Challenge starts on Friday, April 29, and in this episode Billy talks with Angel Mario Hualpa Erazo of Ecuador’s Green Jewel, based in Loja in southern Ecuador. We get to know Loja, hear about Green Jewel’s … Continue reading →

Urbanites are starting to learn to live with predators like coyotes, bobcats, and hawks, but what about their rodent prey, like rats? We talk with political scientist and human/wildlife researcher Christian Hunold about his paper looking at rodenticide bans and … Continue reading →

Troy Bynum (@tb_wildlife_photography on Instagram) is Philly naturalist, wildlife photographer, and a new urban hunter. Troy talks with Billy about the experience of hunting for the first time, and they discuss issues of race and hunting.

Local wildlife lovers and cat lovers can all feel outgunned and overwhelmed when the national, multi-million-dollar organizations that push TNR come to town. Tulsans for Public Safety shows how one community has organized on a grassroots level to promote sound … Continue reading →

Billy and Tony chat about a summer spent doing urban environmental education together.

Learn about the neighborhood galagos and the red-banded rubber frogs of urban Zanzibar with Jonathan Richard Walz. Billy and Tony talk with Richard about the urban wildlife of this corner of East Africa as well as the impact of the … Continue reading →

Inspired by a conversation with past podcast guest Brad Gates, Billy, who has been vegetarian for over 25 years, is thinking about taking up urban hunting. Tony and Billy talk about the implications, ethical and ecological.

The city can be a tough place for a little bird, unless that city has lots of pine trees and cozy places to build nests. Dark eyed juncos have adapted to Los Angeles, and we’ll hear about it from ornithologist … Continue reading →

Tony and Billy talk with Tony Lee, film producer and author of The Cat that Changed America, the story of Los Angeles’ P22 mountain lion.

Tony and Billy talk with Singapore nature guide Ivan Kwan about wild boar, huge water monitor lizards, introduced myna birds, and what it’s like to explore nature in one of the world’s greenest cities, Singapore.

Philly naturalist Robin Irizarry and Billy talk with their antipodean urban bioblitz colleague Stephan Fricker about the Great Southern Bioblitz, the fall (or spring if you’re down under) counterpart to the City Nature Challenge.

Wherever you live, it’s time to start looking up! Billy brings his lawn chair and watches some West Philly peregrine falcons with local birder Schubert Sweat. He then talks with Peter Green about his Providence Raptors blog and book.

Billy talks with Colombian biologists Sara Acosta and Rodrigo Mutis about their urban mammal coloring book, Mamíferos de Bogotá y Donde Encontrarlos (Mammals of Bogota and Where to Find Them). The episode kicks off with a summary of the conversation … Continue reading →

The trash panda of Europe is also an urban critter in North America. Billy talks about fox range expansion in in North America and urban fox evolution in England with Kate Garchinsky, illustrator of the Secret Life of the Red … Continue reading →

We take a look at one of our most humble companions in civilization, the house mouse. Michelle Niedermeier of the Penn State Cooperative Extension’s Integrated Pest Management program joins Billy as we talk about research into how mouse genetics can help us … Continue reading →

Tony talks with Dr. Joshua Moody of the Partnership for the Delaware Estuary about living shorelines, which work for us (fighting erosion, helping us cope with the effects of Global Warming) while working for nature.

What happens when a snake isn’t welcome in a back yard? Billy talks with Mike McGraw about a milk snake (Lampropeltis triangulum triangulum) named Lucille and how she ended up in a tank on his desk. This is a co-post … Continue reading →

How do you do an urban international bioblitz during a pandemic? Navin Sasikumar, Robin Irizarry, and Billy talk about the City Nature Challenge 2020 and how we can all take part on our own, together. (here’s that dead porcupine video) … Continue reading →

Smash invasive spotted lantern flies with Billy and Michelle Niedermeier of Penn State’s Community Integrated Pest Management program. Billy talks about the Japanese beetle invasion a century ago (working off Ken Frank’s paper about the topic), and we (joined by … Continue reading →

Our domestic pig’s wild Eurasian cousins enjoy urban living all the way from Spain to Japan. Billy and Tony talk about urban boar and the increasingly urban feral hogs on their own continent. They also discuss the research of Barcelona’s … Continue reading →

Is science a match for the pathological passions of the bighearted but monomaniacal people who maintain outdoor cats? We talk with the Urban Wildlands Group‘s Dr. Travis Longcore, whose critique of “trap-neuter-release” (TNR) is still one of the best out … Continue reading →

Urban night life isn’t just about bars, clubs, and theater. When night falls, the bugs fly. Tag along with Billy and Ken Frank (author of the Ecology of Center City Philadelphia) as they have a moth night in Billy’s community … Continue reading →

Do you like pumpkin pie? Thank the pollinators who make squash (fruit of members of the genus Cucurbita) possible. But don’t thank a honeybee, look to the squash bee, Peponapis pruinosa, a solitary bee that, centuries ago, followed the original … Continue reading →

White whales don’t have to be white. Billy and Tony talk with Brad Gates (hunter and bear wrangler extraordinaire) about the culmination of years-long personal urban wildlife quests: a black rat snake for Billy and a black bear for Tony. … Continue reading →

Research Ecologist Lara Roman and Arborist Jason Lubar try to convince Billy that London Plane Trees aren’t just taking up space better used for more interesting trees in the urban canopy.  Recording outside on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, they are … Continue reading →

Tony and Billy talk about the City Nature Challenge 2019 and hear from four other participating cities: Kelly O’Donnell from NYC, Peter Kleinhenz (remember him from Right Under Our Noses?) from Tallahassee, and John Starmer from Maui, AND we hear … Continue reading →

Tony and Angie covered a lot of topics with their guide Dominic, and we’ve split off some of the non-urban-wildlife topics in this Part 2, namely Dominic’s fascinating life growing up Samburu Maasai plus more about the Maasai’s place in … Continue reading →

Tony (and of course Angie) went on safari for their honeymoon. They spent most of their time out in the bush, but that didn’t stop them from observing urban wildlife when they were in cities and talking about marabou storks, … Continue reading →

What does the non-human community of a city look like? Is it the same species everywhere (pigeons, dandelions, bridge spiders, yawn) or does the wildlife from the surrounding area show up? We hear from Dr. Misha Leong of the California … Continue reading →

Billy joins entomologist and bug ambassador Isa Betancourt on her BugScope Periscope cast to talk about urban snakes. We focus on urban garter snakes from Philadelphia to Mexico City, but Billy fits in a few Philly milk snakes too. Be sure … Continue reading →

Tony and Billy are back after a hiatus, talking about Tony’s new house next to a trail head and the urban raptors you happen to see while counter-protesting fascists. Then (at around 27 min) we hear from Dr. Cynthia Skema the … Continue reading →

The 2019 City Nature Challenge is a competitive urban bioblitz. Tony and Billy talk about the CNC and Philadelphia’s plans after talking about Tony’s new rescued cat (about 15 min). We also go through a grab bag of fun urban … Continue reading →

What do we owe the animals that live around us? Do we spend money on animals when there are humans in need? Do we feed animals to animals to save animals? We tackle the tough questions as we wrap up … Continue reading →

What do we owe the animals that live around us? Do we spend money on animals when there are humans in need? Do we feed animals to animals to save animals? We tackle the tough questions as we wrap up … Continue reading →

How can you use up 50,000 meal worms per week? Try rescuing injured and sick bats. In this latest post on our series on wildlife rescue and rehab, Tony talks to Stephanie Stronsick of PA Bat Rescue (along with podcast … Continue reading →

So you find a snake in your backyard, or your kitchen, or your toilet. Who do you call? And what do THEY do with the snake? In this episode we talk with Yatin Kalki, snake rescuer interested in harnessing snake … Continue reading →