Encounters: Radio Experiences of the North, with its wildly exuberant and brilliant host, Richard Nelson, first aired on Public Radio Stations in 2000. Since that first show, enthralled audiences have accompanied Richard on his adventures into the heart of nature, from riding a wind whipped spruce tree in an Alaskan gale, to hearing polar bears feast and roar over a pile of whale bones, to listening to the exquisite song of a Swainson’s thrush on the soft air of an arctic evening. Rapt listeners have learned about Native traditions and knowledge of the natural world, and have celebrated the awe and wonder of nature and the interconnections of all life. The show aired for ten years on public radio—with over 100 episodes. They are more engaging and important than ever. Brought to you by Encounters North (www.encountersnorth.org), Encounters is a production of KCAW in Sitka, AK. The show is hosted by Richard Nelson and edited and produced by Lisa Busch, with special consulting by Ken Fate. Theme music by Outback.
On a small island off the southern coast of Australia, spend some time with Richard and one of the world's all-time favorite wild animals.
Join Richard Nelson along a kelp-fringed stretch of the Alaska coast, with a beautiful Sitka black-tailed deer. Explore the ancient, many-dimensioned relationship between humans and deer.
Join Richard Nelson near Fairbanks, Alaska, tromping through a winter wonderland. Another “lost” episode rediscovered and coming out to play for the first time since 2004!
Join Richard Nelson in a snow-blanketed muskeg, as he talks about a winter subsistence activity that's been going on along the southeast coast of Alaska for many thousands of years.
Richard Nelson gliding on a beam of moonlight, out on the lake ice in Southeast Alaska. A rediscovered gem from the very first season of Encounters.
Join host Richard Nelson and 1,200 bald eagles, taking advantage of a late run of salmon in the Chilkat River in Southeast Alaska.
Hang out on the far north coast with Richard and some hungry polar bears and learn about the meticulous study of these fascinating animals by Inupiat people, who have passed along and added to this vast body of knowledge over many, many generations.
Celebrate Thanksgiving with Richard Nelson on an island off the southeast coast of Alaska, in this very special episode of Encounters.
Tromp through a winter wonderland with Richard Nelson, 60 miles north of the Arctic Circle near Cold Foot, Alaska in the Brooks Range.
Join host Richard Nelson on a glorious October day, keeping company with 154 harbor seals on a tiny island off the coast of Southeast Alaska.
Join Richard Nelson on a precarious, rocky perch, smack dab in the middle of Sergius Narrows, a place famous for its roaring tidal current.
Join Richard Nelson on a beautiful autumn afternoon along the Chilkoot River, where a getting-fat-for-winter black bear is feasting on silver salmon.
Join Richard Nelson on a chilly fall morning in Canada's Yukon Territory, watching and listening to bull elks' eerie, bugling-whistling calls and impressive shoving matches, as they show off for a harem of females ready to mate.
Join Richard Nelson and a huge congregation of thousands of birds —with trumpeting voices like nothing else on earth—on their fall migration stopover in the interior country of Alaska. Theme music by Outback.
Join Richard Nelson and a fat-for-winter black bear, along a stream swirling with a fall run of coho salmon. In this episode, Richard talks about Koyukon Indian knowledge of black bears—a vast and intricate knowledge, deeply rooted in respect for an animal with a very powerful spirit.
Join Richard Nelson and throngs of swirling, splashing, spawning salmon on one of more than five thousand salmon streams in the Tongass National Forest.
Join Richard Nelson in spectacular Glacier Bay National Park and witness one of nature's most awesome manifestations of raw, physical power.
On a quintessential Alaskan summer day in Denali National Park, join Richard Nelson, caught between a huge bull moose and a surprise guest. Have a listen and see who shows up!
Join Richard Nelson on a wild, uninhabited island off the coast of Alaska for this very special episode about the pleasures of a deep commitment to one place as home.
Join Richard Nelson and a group of humpback whales bubble net feeding—one of the most impressive, powerful and vociferous activities of any animals in the world. Episode Update: Currently only four of the world's fourteen distinct populations of humpback whales are still classified as “endangered” and one is classified as “threatened.”
Join Richard Nelson perched on a rocky ledge, a thousand feet up from the waters of Glacier Bay National Park, watching a mammal with extraordinary super powers of agility, balance and survival.
Join Richard Nelson and a huge swarm of noisy, biting insects. Learn all about these tormentors and their surprising, wide-ranging ecological importance in the north country.
Join Richard Nelson on a gorgeous summer evening, pond side in the Alaska Brooks Range, with one of the best known and intriguing animals of the north, the beaver—nature's engineer.
Join Richard Nelson gazing out on a spectacular scene—thousands of adult caribou and calves, grazing and dancing across the Arctic coastal plain, so close you can hear the clicking of their hooves!
Join Richard Nelson on a wild, rocky island off the coast of Alaska and marvel at one of the most amazing of all predatory animals, distinguished above everything else by its blinding speed.
Join the audience in a packed, standing room only hall at the Sitka Whale Fest, for this talk about the miracle of salmon by Richard Nelson (doing one of the things he was such a genius at) in this rare Encounters episode.
Dress extra warm and hold onto your hat for this one! Join Richard and a group of mountain sheep, high up on a steep mountain outcrop, five miles in from the Alcan Highway. Magnificent horns and a gymnastic ability to scale nearly vertical rock walls—it's a rare treat to be this close to these iconic mammals. Theme music by Outback.
Revel in some of the continent's greatest virtuosos with host Richard Nelson, along the edge of an old growth forest in southeast Alaska. Swainson's, hermit and varied thrushes, the iconic robin, and even some eagles muscle in on the audio action. A fascinating and joyful episode.
Walk along a forest game trail high above the arctic circle with host Richard Nelson, in Gates of the Arctic National Park. The boreal forest is home to many indigenous people, and mammals such as bear, caribou, moose and wolves. It is the “bird factory” of North America for billions of birds and plays a major role is moderating climate change.
Join Richard as he keeps company with some of the largest bears on earth, along the Katmai Coast of Alaska. Learn about bear behavior and ways to stay as safe as possible in the bears' country.
Out on the vast wilderness of the North Pacific Ocean, join host Richard Nelson and a noisy gang of black-footed albatrosses. These are big, beautiful, long-lived, ocean-going birds that few people ever get to experience. Learn about their absolutely mind-boggling feats of soaring flight, long distance travel and so much more.
Join host Richard Nelson along the tide flats of the Copper River Delta in Alaska, surrounded by the flurry and flutter of thousands of shorebirds who congregate there during their spring migration. (Program Update: Of the 57 species of shorebirds that breed in the U.S., 5 are listed as “Endangered”, 7 are listed as “Species of Greatest Concern”, and 19 are listed as “Species of High Concern”.)
Who can fly, walk underwater and sing its heart out even in winter? The American dipper of course! Join host Richard Nelson stream side and spend some time with North America's only aquatic songbird, also known as the water ouzel. (Program Update: The “winter wrens” of the western U.S. have been renamed “Pacific wrens”, as they are now considered distinct from Eastern U.S. and European populations.)
Join host Richard Nelson, off the far northern coast of Alaska, sharing the polar sea ice with a ringed seal basking in the spring sunshine. Explore the complex and fascinating lives of these Arctic seals and the genius of Iñupiat subsistence hunters. (Episode update: Data from monitoring the Alaska Native subsistence harvest has shown no sustained negative effects of the current level of sea ice decline on the ringed seal population so far.)
Join Richard Nelson as he paddles his kayak amid a surging, swirling, roaring herd of about 100 Steller sea lions. Get ready for some awesome sounds and close encounters with this amazing marine mammal!
The herring have returned to Sitka Sound, so it's time to join Richard as he tries to catch herring in a traditional way dating back many thousands of years. Listen to Tlingit elder Steve Johnson explain how his grandfather described the spring returns of herring in unimaginable numbers—and the rich body of knowledge of the elders, as important a resource as the herring themselves.
Grab your pb&j sandwich and join host Richard Nelson in his skiff, off the coast of southeast Alaska. A surprise guest is diving for its lunch nearby—a bottom-feeding baleen whale, the beloved gray whale. There's the heart-shaped blow, the sediment sucking for food and so much more to learn about these fascinating cetaceans.
Head out to the dew-soaked paddocks in southeastern Australia with host Richard Nelson and a rich array of magical morning creatures. Meet sugar gliders, kookaburras, giant huntsman spiders and so much more. Another favorite Encounters Down Under episode! (Recorded in 2013)
Prepare your ears for what many consider to be the most exquisite voice of any bird in the world–the superb lyrebird. Tag along with this incredible bird and your host Richard Nelson, in the forests of southeastern Australia, for another fascinating Encounters Down Under episode.
Mooooo! Join Richard Nelson right smack in the middle of a herd of munching and mooing black Angus cows, on a livestock property in Australia. One of the most wide spread, most abundant animals on earth, which most everyone is somehow connected to, in one way or another. This fascinating and intimate portrait is a favorite Encounters Down Under podcast.
Join Richard Nelson in Tasmania, the island state south of mainland Australia, spending time with a most curious animal recently featured in the news—the wombat. After this program was produced, scientists have discovered how wombats, unlike any other mammal, deliver cube-shaped poo (now attributed to having stiff and flexible sides of their intestines). But there's so much more to learn about this unique and wonderful marsupial, in this classic Encounters Down Under episode.
Keep company with host Richard Nelson and some VERY noisy birds, along the chilly bank of a winter river in southeast Alaska. These glorious trumpeter swans are as vociferous as they are beautiful. Learn about their fascinating natural history and inspiring comeback story.
Join host Richard Nelson in his skiff off the coast of southeast Alaska, on a winter's night ablaze with curtains of light—the Aurora Borealis. Learn about people's understanding of this magical phenomenon throughout history, through their observations and traditions, and from a western scientific perspective.
Join host Richard Nelson in the heart of winter, tromping through deep snow in the Brooks Range in northern Alaska. Follow the tracks of animals, learn about human and animal adaptations to deep cold, and discover the rich beauty and unique challenges that await anyone venturing out into this frozen world of the north.
Join host Richard Nelson and a gang of NOISY polar bears at a bone pile on the north coast of Alaska. Learn about the fascinating lives of these iconic marine mammals, accompanied by sounds of roaring and feasting, as the bears work on a bowhead whale carcass.
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