In the beginning I saw neither hide nor hair of the animal known as the American marten. Then I found a suspicious dropping, and then I glimpsed the animal in a video in my own backyard. Still, it took years to set eyes on my first wild marten.

Say G'day To Songbirds

May 28th, 2015 5m 2s

Human music may well have been inspired by the music of birds. But where did birds get the idea? Recent research findings suggest that songbirds, also known as perching birds or passerines, trace their ancestry to the land of kangaroos.

A Stranger On The Lawn

May 22nd, 2015 4m 55s

Life brings its humbling moments. For me, a leader of bird walks, one came recently when a sparrow turned up, and I had no idea what kind it was. What to do? I confessed my ignorance and invited my companions to peer through binoculars and join

When Butterflies Fly Free

May 18th, 2015 3m 41s

Spring brings the eyes a feast of color, and after a long, black-and-white winter, they're hungry for it. Some of the finest color of the season comes to us on the wings of butterflies. Listen and meet the mourning cloak, the comma, and the spr

The Day I Got A Black Eye From A Blue Crab

May 8th, 2015 5m 1s

Have you ever injured yourself by accident, felt stupid afterward, and found yourself the brunt of jokes? I have. My story involves a crowd of kids and a very large and menacing blue crab. Hear it here.

Bugged By Caddisflies

May 8th, 2015 4m 4s

Believe it or not, there are common insects that build armor around themselves like turtles grow shells. As larvae they live in streams, ponds, and lakes and are known as caddisflies.

Bluebirds Shop Around

Apr 24th, 2015 4m 15s

Build a bird house for bluebirds and they will come, or not, depending on intangibles known only to the birds. In our yard in the Adirondacks we've created a virtual country club for bluebirds, yet still the birds tend to come, survey the real

The Bursting of the Buds

Apr 17th, 2015 4m 51s

In the Adirondacks and throughout most of eastern North America, we know spring has arrived when the red maple buds pop. Did you know that some red maples are girls and some are boys, and that you can tell the two apart from a car speeding alon

The Marsupial Habit

Apr 10th, 2015 4m 8s

Riddle: What makes a marsupial a marsupial? Hint: it has little or nothing to do whether the animal has a marsupium, or pouch, for carrying its young. In fact, two mammals that have pouches for carrying young are not considered marsupials. Conf

Buck Tooth, Pride of The Beavers

Apr 3rd, 2015 5m 32s

'All Things Natural' Celebrates 100th Episode! Listen here as Mr. Buck Tooth, "Rodent of the Year," accepts his honor at a meeting of the American Association of Gnawing Rodents.

Mite Versus Right

Mar 25th, 2015 5m 14s

Pets bring us joy and the pleasures of companionship. And sometimes they bring us pain. Listen to a horror story of a house---my house---invaded by hordes of hungry mites.

Geography Of A Bird

Mar 20th, 2015 4m 12s

Start looking at birds, and you have to master a whole new vocabulary of lingo. Pretty soon you'll be talking about wingbars, eye-lines, eye-rings, throat patches, rump patches, and if you're a real voyeur, crissums. To know birds, you have to

An Ornithologist Shaken, Not Stirred

Mar 12th, 2015 3m 57s

Before there was James Bond OO7 the secret agent and ladies' man, there was James Bond the distinguished ornithologist and expert on birds of the West Indians. The real Bond met the creator of the fictional Bond on the island of Jamaica, and th

Great Snowy Owl

Mar 9th, 2015 4m 29s

Everybody knows the bird, but most us have never seen it in the flesh: the great white owl of northern North America and Eurasia known as the snowy. Snowy owls used to be cigar salesman. Today, they gain appreciation as the most striking and ma

Penguins of the Southern Oceans

Feb 26th, 2015 5m 3s

You don't have to be crazy to believe in the existence of Little People. They exist. We call them penguins. Join me in reminiscing about wild penguins I have known.

Mink May Stink, But They're Fun To Watch

Feb 19th, 2015 3m 45s

If you have the privilege of getting close to a mink, it'll stink. But don't let the smell scare you off. These fierce, wide-ranging members of the weasel tribe offer fine entertainment to those who watch them.

From Dirt Comes Healing

Feb 12th, 2015 4m 35s

If the history of medical science can teach us one thing, it's this. Don't underestimate dirt. From ordinary backyard soil and composted compost have some of the world's most useful wonder-drugs. Tuberculosis, a world-wide plague that killed an

Animal Attitudes, It Takes All Kinds

Feb 6th, 2015 4m 16s

We may be all cut from the same cloth, yet every one of us is one of a kind. The same holds for wild animals. In a given family of wild owls, robins, or raccoons, no two individuals share the same personality. Vive le difference!

The Strange Case of the Ice Flows Cargo

Jan 30th, 2015 5m 37s

Men are often drawn to women by their eyes. So it was with me as I was getting to know my wife, Debbie. In this case, there was more to it than just the color and depth I found in her luminous blue orbs. It also was what they saw.

A Winter Walk, And Home Again

Jan 23rd, 2015 4m 26s

On a cold winter day, I go out, then come in. Between the start and finish lie ninety brisk minutes of exercise and illumination. Join me!

What's It All About, Algae?

Jan 16th, 2015 4m 58s

Meet Corinne Parnapy, a real live phycologist. She studies that slimy stuff, green or brown or red, that we call algae. Is it interesting? Listen and judge for yourself.

Trees, Shrubs, and What Ails Them

Jan 16th, 2015 4m 53s

Bacteria do it. Viruses do it. Even pesky little fungi do it. Make plants and people sick, that is. Listen to how it goes for plants.

The Little Drummer Boy

Dec 23rd, 2014 4m 25s

Do you hear what I hear? It's late on a cold winter night. Snow lies softly over the ground, and the red stuff in the thermometer is plunging.

Bringing Up Babies

Dec 22nd, 2014 4m 50s

I've raised baby possums, raccoons, skunks, robins, starlings, and great-horned owls. Which are the most cuddly and fun to be around? The answer may surprise you.