The Naturalist Podcast

In this episode we get to talk to John Dillon and Janna, who are part of the Minden High School Nature Club in Louisiana.  We talk about what has made for the exceptional popularity of the club, and cover some of the amazing adventures that members and sponsors of the club have had over the last several years, including finding Black Rails!  Janna gives us a spring report for north Louisiana, and John shares some of his insights into keeping teens interested in Natural History and getting outside.

If you wish to support the club, you can contact Mr. Dillon via his email address:

kisforkryptonite (at) gmail.com

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In this episode, Sea talks with mammalogist Nicole Edmison of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History.  Nicole works on mammal diversity and helps to curate the national mammal collection of the USA.  Nicole talks with us about her work with an island population of Vervet monkeys, camera traps, and netting bats.  We also talk about close calls with big cats, squirrel diversity, and the fauna of backyards in North America.

Some of the links:

The Mammal Collection:  https://vertebrates.si.edu/mammals/

Emammal:  https://emammal.si.edu

Vervet Monkeys in St. Kitts:  https://youtu.be/tgSmzZ1tB8I

 

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With raptors migrating through Florida, and the first spring rains in Canada, we check in with some of the Master Naturalists around the continent for signs of spring. Lev is back from extensive travels, with news of birds and opossums in Costa Rica. A small discussion about avoidable snakebite and common names, and an introduction of the new iNaturalist application ‘Seek’ for Natural History kids.

 

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With Lev adventuring in Costa Rica, Sea talks to Adam Walleyn, a global Natural History guide about his recent trip to Cuba, Endemic bird species of Cuba (…Ivorybill?), Spring Migration starting up into North America, Marbled Salamanders, North Atlantic Right Whales, and how he got started into the field.

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In Episode 12 Sea talks with Sadie Dingfelder, a reporter from the Washington Post in preparation for her first trip to Costa Rica as a naturalist.  Talk ranges from herons and quetzals to surfing snails and sleeping dolphins.  Two of the books mentioned are “The New Neotropical Companion” by John Kricher, and “Tropical Nature” by Forsyth and Miyata.  Don’t forget your headlamp!

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Season 2 of the Naturalist Podcast begins with Episode 11!  Lev goes on a hunt for big weasels. Sea checks out the Lake Apopka Wildlife Drive with the King of the Soras and finds fish in the road.  A brief review of the new “Field Guide to the Fishes of the Amazon, Orinoco & Guianas”.  Tropical adventures with Semester at Sea and in Costa Rica and great plans for the coming season!

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In this episode Sea and Lev discuss the arrival of Fall and the coming of winter, some spectacular shearwater feeding flocks off of Cape Cod, Lev sees Blue Whales in person, a new book by Walt Judd, and some discussion of what are the things we carry with us in our field bags.

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This episode starts with Lev and 300 of his closest friends singing for wolves, and quickly goes from there as we discuss the end of summer and the start of fall and all that means:  migrating birds and high calorie diets, and how life is just unfair to ‘teenagers’.  Sea pitches his favorite book of the week:  http://www.bioquip.com/specials/book_special.asp , a new* spectacular fossil from Alberta, and the search for the star-nosed mole in Ohio.  If you are on the Facebook, please join us for discussions at the new group ‘The Naturalists’  ( https://www.facebook.com/groups/1820615177955503/ ), email us at naturalistpodcast@gmail.com, or tweet @thenaturalists !

*Yes, we realize that fossils are not really ‘new’.

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In this episode Lev goes to the bogs of Northern Ontario, Sea gets way excited about shrewmoles, talk of how to get into studying Odonates, and both guys would prefer not to be eaten by bears.

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In this episode Sea gets to dig down deep into the leaf litter with “Creepy Crawly” specialist Casey Richart.  Casey studies harvestmen, millipedes, slugs, snails and has developed a unique perspective on evolution, biodiversity, and conservation from his studies.  The vocabulary might be a bit heavy, but we’ll have some helpful notes on the Facebook page as people chime in.

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