A show about relationships with the land
There are many ways to listen to the show: Listen live on CFRU 93.3 fm broadcasting from the University of Guelph Mondays at 6pm EST or listen to the podcast via Spotify, Apple, or just follow the rss feed.
Ep. 278 : Getting to know Southern Flying Squirrels
While out tracking in the new snow the other day I came across some relatively small tracks, reminiscent of a Chipmunk. It took a second before I recognized them as Southern Flying Squirrel tracks.
I have been encountering Southern Flying Squirrels in various ways for a few years, including tracks, scat, feeding sign, live sightings, and I even pet one once, but through all of this, I didn’t know much about them. Hence, inspired by my recent tracking outing, I figured I would take some time to get to know the Southern Flying Squirrel a little better. Hopefully we can learn a little more together.
Ep. 277 : Signs of the White-tailed Deer Rut
While tracking White-tailed Deer at Mono Cliffs with the Earth Tracks apprenticeship, we saw lots of signs of the rut and the subtle ways deer communicate. We studied three main signs: scrapes, rubs and lick branches. Together, these clues form a multisensory language of scent, sight, and even ultraviolet signals that share details of identity, territory, and mating readiness. These clues along the trail are a real insight into how deer express themselves across the landscape in ways most of us overlook.
Ep. 276 : Chinook Salmon along the Credit River
I have missed a few of the notable migrations this year; Salamanders, raptors, and until yesterday, the Chinook Salmon. The salmon are a unique one on this list for me though, special in a strange kind of way.
This episode was recorded along the banks of the Credit River, a river which has shaped me deeply and set me on a course I am wading my way through.
I am unfathomably grateful for the salmon and for the river for sharing so much with me and helping to shape this episode.
Ep. 275 : Once Upon a Black Bear Scat
It isn’t often that I get to see bear scat down here in Guelph, but in Parry Sound, there are many Black Bears, and while visiting the Sound for a trailing workshop, we came across some of their scat.
Even if we don’t get to see the bear, their scat was plenty enough to get me thinking about the plants their consuming, how their digestion works, and how their being themselves impacts and plays with the land they make up and inhabit.
Ep. 274 : Black Walnut, again.
Slowly colonizing the sunlit fields and edges, home to all sorts of creatures both large and small, these towering monuments tell of the abundance of the land. Black Walnuts are amazing allies in healing, mentors in boundaries, relative buffet in mast years, and year round marker of beauty. Who doesn’t want to sing their praises! Maybe by the end of the show, you’ll love them a little more too?
Ep. 273 : Canada Goldenrod
Over the years I have investigated Goldenrod on different levels, from the technical and scientific to the intuitive and relational. Both vantage points have served in getting to know these amazing and powerful plants better. I decided to head out with a makeshift milk crate studio to sit with the Goldenrod, Bumblebees and Crickets and make a show together. I hope this helps shed a warm golden glow on these essential components of the Great Lakes bioregion.
Ep. 270 : Rough Horsetail
Inspired by a fun workshop I got to host, along with such an amazing history of evolution though incredible cataclysmic epochs, chock full of climate upheaval, I really wanted to learn more about these amazing plants. Many of the Equisetum genera are now extinct yet there are about 9 species in my area, and of the species which persist in the area, I will be focusing mostly on Rough Horsetail.
Ep 269 : Listening to Grey Treefrogs
Grey Treefrogs are my favourite frog species at the moment. They are cute little colour changing, antifreeze laden, Lichen-Spirits who really belt it out when trying to find a date. I have been hearing them pretty much nightly lately, screaming their short trill all over nearly every wetland I encounter as long as it is fairly adjacent to trees. Because of their powerful calls permeating my late night waking life, I have been wanting to take a deeper dive.
Hope you enjoy!
Ep. 267 : Listening to the Spring Peepers
Eardrum bursting calls of the Spring Peepers are a very welcome sound for me. To borrow a phrase from Kim Stanley Robinson, their “cascading recombinant chaos” preaches a promise of Spring, and it fills me with immense joy. So much so, that when I first heard it this year I dragged my students across the road to listen to the frogs scream their little hearts out. I later went back, twice, to record them. Once on my own, another time with my partner to capture the wailing, and read a little bit about them so as to learn more. That’s all this show is about. Praise for the choir.
Ep. 266 : Getting to know Song Sparrows
I have been excited about Song Sparrows for a while. Theirs was one of the first complex songs I learned to identify, and being such a common neighbour on the landscape it’s hard to go a few days without hearing them, even in Winter, but especially in the Spring.
While out today, I came across a couple Song Sparrow tracks in the silt newly laid down by the receding Eramosa River flood waters and it pricked my interest to dig in a little deeper to this common figure in my life.
Ep. 265 : The Legs of the White-tailed Deer
I have found sign of three dead White-tailed Deer in the past three weeks. One, killed by Coyotes. Another, hit by a vehicle, found on the side of the highway. And also, I found a White-tailed Deer leg while trailing a Coyote. All of these encounters have been teaching me a lot about the legs of the deer and I wanted to look a little bit deeper into these moments, and to share the stories.
I go on to detail what I have been learning about the legs, especially in the context of the hind legs, about the glands located there. Of course, you can read the blog post, or you can learn a little bit more from listening to the show.
Ep. 260 : New Year, New Egg Case
I was out for a walk along the Eramosa River in Guelph with a pal on New Years Day, when she lifted a log and showed me some strange white patches along it. I guessed by the appearance of them, being small, white and silken-like, with many around, that they were likely egg cases of some small invertebrate.
White, circular with a thin shallow dome constructed of webbing got me wondering who may have created this? I decided that this find, like a lot of the small wonders of the world would be worth researching a bit and recording a show about.
Ep. 250 : Jewelweed
Jewelweed 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.
Ep. 246 : Healing Relationships with Land Through Help of Red Clover
I have been feeling a little bit distant lately. Like some sort of anxious attachment distant. Avoidant even. While trying to not be too clingy or handsy with the land, I have slipped into a disconnection, being one that just observes but doesn’t participate in the ways that brought me into relationship with so many plants in the first place. I have been feeling this disconnect, and recognizing something had to be done. Then along comes Red Clover.
Ep. 245 : Cedar Waxwings in Early Summer
Sometimes Cedar Waxwings are regarded as a “just a..” bird. “It’s just a Cedar Waxwing”, you might hear from another birder who is looking for some elusive flycatcher or late migrant. But if we take the time to pay attention to the mundane, we sometimes see some magic in elusive or even commonplace behaviours.
Ep. 242 : I really don’t know much about Earthworms
This past weekend I got to participate in my second track and sign evaluation and one of the most interesting things I learned was some new Earthworm sign which triggered the thought… I really don’t know much about Earthworms.
I ended up crawling through all of my books to see what I had on the topic, but there wasn’t much. A couple paragraphs here, a photo or two there, but there was enough to tickle my curiosity.
Listen to the show if you want to learn more, too. These worms have a lot of interesting things going for them.
Ep. 238 : Looking At Two Unusual Galls
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.
Ep. 235 : Pine Siskins
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. 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, as they were 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 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.
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