to know the land

Grey Treefrogs (Hyla versicolor) are my favorite 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!To learn more :The Dermal Chromatophore Unit by Joseph T. Bagnara, John D. Taylor and Mac E. HadleyMetamorphosis by Peter B. Mills. Self-published, 2016.Energetics of vocalization by an anuran amphibian (Hyla versicolor) Taigen, T.L., Wells, K.D. J Comp Physiol B 155, 163–170 (1985). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00685209Familiar Amphibians & Reptiles of Ontario by Bob Johnson. Natural Heritage, 1989.Reptiles and Amphibians of Toronto : Biodiversity Series pamphlet (pdf)Amphibians and Reptiles of the Great Lakes Region by James H. Harding & David A. Mifsud. University of Michigan Press, 2017.After the Ice Age by E. C. Pielou. University of Chicago Press, 1991.

It started with a little hole at the base of an Eastern White Cedar (Thuja occidentalis) tree, and a couple of seeds. Who had collected and consumed the contents of the seeds? What about the feathers? And the boney remnants of bill?Join me as I go deep down a Deer Mouse (Peromyscus maniculatus) hole. To learn more : Mammal Tracks and Sign by Mark Elbroch and Casey McFarland. Stackpole Books, 2019.Natural History of Canadian Mammals by Donna Naughton. Canadian Museum of Nature and University of Toronto Press, 2012.Bird Feathers by David Scott and Casey McFarland. Stackpole Books, 2010.Animal Skulls by Mark Elbroch. Stackpole Books, 2006.

I have been excited about Song Sparrows (Melospiza melodia) 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. To learn more :Song Sparrow tracks on InaturalistBird Tracks and Sign by Mark Elbroch and Eleanor Marks. Stackpole Books, 2001.Bird Song : Identification Made Easy by Ernie Jardine. Natural Heritage, 1996.Peterson Field Guide to North American Bird Nests by Casey McFarland, Mathew Monjello & David Moskowitz. HMH, 2021.Baby Bird Identification : A North American Guide by Linda Tuttle-Adams. Cornell University Press, 2022.Birds of Forest, Yard, & Thicket by John Eastman. Stackpole Books, 1997.

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. Enjoy!To learn more:Glands on a White-tailed Deer Leg blog postThe Deer of North America by Leonard Lee Rue III. The Lyons Press, 1997.Deer (The Wildlife Series, Book 3) edited by Duane Gerlach, Sally Atwater & Judith Schnell. Stackpole Books, 1995.Deer of the Southwest by James R. Heffelfinger. Texas A&M University Press, 2006.Biology and Management of White-tailed Deer Edited by David G. Hewitt. CRC Press, 2011.What The Toes Show - A question of deer hooves - another blog postMammal Tracks and Sign by Mark Elbroch and Casey McFarland. Stackpole Books, 2019.

Fishers aren't known as an urban adapted species. They tend to avoid our built up landscapes and prefer landscapes of mature forests comprised of appropriate denning habitat such as old trees with cavities and lots of course woody debris (think of big piles of dead branches and fallen logs), characteristics not usually found in urban forests. Because of this Fishers avoid our cities… or so we thought.Sage Raymond is a researcher who studies urban adapted Coyotes in Edmonton. While out checking some trail cams intended to catch Coyotes on the landscape, she happened across a Fisher trail in the snow, in a small wooded area along the North Saskatchewan River. Later confirmed with footage from one of the remote cameras, Sage realized that this was a very unusual circumstance. Thankfully she wrote a paper about it and I had to read it, and, again, thankfully, she agreed to talk about her findings on the show. There is a link to the paper below.To learn more:Ep. 159 : Tracking Urban Adapted Coyote Ecologies with Sage RaymondSage Raymond's Research Gate profileSage Raymond's instagramFisher Use of an Ecological Corridor Near the City Center of Edmonton, Canada, A City of Over One Million People by Sage Raymond and Colleen Cassady St. Clair. Urban Naturalist, No. 77 (2025).Pictorial Guide of Important Fisher Habitat Structures in British Columbia (pdf)

As I mentioned on the previous show about the Lynx trailing trip, I was planning on heading up to Algonquin Park to trail Moose, Algonquin Wolves, Martens, Snowshoe Hare, Flying Squirrels, and whomever else's trails we may come across. Well, I went and it was great. So good that I wanted to offer a bit of a report back from the trip and tell some stories of what we saw. This is the 24th year of this trip, and I am so grateful to get to not only be there, but to be helping lead the week. Kid me would be stoked… hell, adult me is still stoked!Big thanks to Alexis for being a great colleague and mentor, and to everyone who came. It was a blast.To learn more :Algonquins of Ontario overview of land claimMore information on the trip from EarthTracks.ca

I have had a lot of conversations with biologists and ornithologists over the years, trying to learn about how different animals sleep. Are the functions of sleep in humans similar to similar animals? What about different kinds of animals, like insects, or birds?More recently I have seen the Canada Geese along the Eramosa River where I live, standing or sitting still on the frozen river and wondered what's up with the one-legged standing? When I got to thinking about birds resting, roosting and sleeping, I realized that I had a bunch of questions. Sometimes a book comes along with some good insight into the subjects I am wondering about, and at this moment, it was Roger Pasquier, and his new book Birds at Rest: The Behavior and Ecology of Avian Sleep, which helped to answer many of my questions. I arranged for an interview was very glad to talk to him. Do small songbirds have any special adaptations for sleeping through long freezing winter nights? Does photoperiod change the amount of time birds sleep? How does the changing climate affect birds at rest? Do birds dream?Roger Pasquier has taken the time to collect the information from a ton of various studies into avian rest and sleep and consolidated them into a useful and interesting book, and then taken the time to discuss some of this research on the show. Again, I am forever grateful to the folks who can help us, me, learn to better know the land. To learn more :Birds at Rest : The Behavior and Ecology of Avian Sleep by Roger F. Pasquier. Princeton University Press, 2025.

I just got home from an amazing week away up North in Elk Lake, Ontario, Robinson-Huron treaty territory, trailing Lynx with Earth Tracks. It was an amazing time and I had a ton of fun. We trailed Lynx for days, as well as get on some trails of other animals including Peromyscus mice, Short and Long-tailed Weasels, Marten, Snowshoe Hares, Fisher, Grey Wolves, Moose, and more. There are so many stories to tell and so much to integrate over the next few weeks, but I wanted to share some highlights of these weeklong tracking expeditions. I am so grateful to mentor, colleague and friend Alexis Burnett for organizing this week, and for the Lynx for laying the trails for us to follow. To learn more :Earth Tracks.ca

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. We both recognized them from our walk a couple of days before. 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, but I didn't know who may have made them. I also wasn't certain about egg case, but it seemed a likely guess. 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. Happy 2025! To learn more : Tracks and Sign of Insects and Other Invertebrates by Charley Eiseman and Noah Charney. Stackpole Books, 2010.Common Spiders of North America by Richard A Bradley. University of California Press, 2013.Further Studies on the Activities of Araneads, II by Thomas H. Montgomery, Jr. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, Vol. 61, No. 3 pp. 548-569, 1909.The Spider Subfamiliy Castianerinae of North and Central America by Jonathan Reiskind. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard College, Vol. 138 num. 5, 1969.Spiders of North America by Sarah Rose. Princeton Field Guides, 2022.Hearing in a Jumping Spider by Princeton University, 2016. (video from youtube.com detailing Jumping Spider trichobotheria and perception of sound)Spiders of Toronto : A guide to their remarkable world by City of Toronto. 2012. (pdf)

It is nearing the Winter Solstice once more. Only days to go, and that means with the dark nights growing longer, I am spending a little more time indoors. I have been baking, reading, writing, listening to a lot of film soundtracks and just relaxing with friends. This time of year also means the recurring celebrations of the solstice season are upon us again. Story telling, big fires, sharing food and giving gifts are big this time of year. More pertinent to the show though is the rebroadcast of the 1985 radio play by Alison McLeay “Solstice” for the 7th year in a row!! I am so grateful to get to air it again and celebrate the season of darkness with a deep dive into the origins of the my ancestral celebrations this time of year. Get yourself a nice warm drink, a cozy blanket, dim the lights and enjoy.

I spent the day out tracking, first with a class backtracking a Red Fox (Vulpes vulpes) and examining the track patterns and interpreting their gaits, an afterwards, alone, following up a possible Fisher (Pekania pennanti) sighting, and instead finding a Coyote (Canis latrans) bed and trailing them through a rough hewn White Pine (Pinus strobus) plantation. I got to thinking about gifts that are the tracks which are left behind without consideration of how the tracker might feel or what we may want out of the experience. I was struck by awe and wonder when I came across the bed and was truly grateful for this gift left behind by the animal that was there so recently. In philosophy, a true gift is one that doesn't involve reciprocity or exchange, and breaks away from the system of mutual accounting that's created when something is given. A few philosophers have written about this true gift, including wolf tracker Baptiste Morizot. Considering the tracks and sign left behind by animals, it could be that these are examples of true gifts? But what about our responsibility as a culture and as a species to honour the land and our relationships with all beings we share the land with? When and how does reciprocity fit in the context of this gift? I am not a philosopher and likely butchered some of the ideas that I am working with for this episode, but I was also just inspired, sipping hot tea sitting cross-legged on my gloves in a hedgerow beside the Pine plantation watching the first snowy squalls blow in across the fields. I am grateful for the trail that led me there, and for those animals who teach me along the way. To learn more :On The Animal Trail by Baptiste Morizot. Polity Press, 2021.Ep. 178 : A discussion of On The Animal Trail by Baptiste Morizot with Julian Fisher

In 2017 I interviewed Arlene Slocombe for the second time but the first time it was recorded. She was telling the story of a successful event, “Waterstock” where thousands of people came out to support Water Watchers and raise awareness of exploitive water drawing in Wellington county to be sold as bottled water. The harm to the watershed, the incredible amount of plastic garbage, another corporation not listening to their neighbours resounding “No!”, it was the continuation of a bad relationship between, at the time, Nestle, and the people of the county. Blue Triton was formed when two private equity firms bought Nestle Waters Canada with junk bonds and hugely leveraged debt. They continued Nestle's legacy of bottling water across North American into polluting plastic bottles made from fossil fuels. This is totally unsustainable and as many markets are starting to come to understand growing more and more difficult to convince a public they are worthwhile. Blue Triton are now moving out, and may likely try and sell what's left of the operation in hopes to recoup some of the costs. This was a huge victory for local water advocates, and I wanted to learn more so I invited Arlene back on the show to give me the scoop on what was happening and how Water Watchers ran such a successful campaign. Lots to learn here. To learn more :WaterWatchers.ca Water Watchers instagram

In the later part of the Summer, I was walking with my friend and colleague Tamara when we came across some scat with Apples (Malus domestica) in it. I can't remember what brought it up but she mentioned that she has seen more scats composed mostly of Apple left by Coyotes (Canis latrans) rather than by Red Fox (Vulpes vulpes). This got me wondering.. who eats more Apples, Coyotes or Red Foxes? This question began a weird hook in my mind, and everytime I noticed Apples, Apple based scat, Coyote scat or Red Fox scat, the question would come to mind. I decided I would go for a walk and try and measure a ton of scats, look for evidence one way or another and see if I could get any closer to an answer. Ended up making the show about this question.Correction: 3 ft is equal to 91.44 cm. A yard is longer than a meter. To learn more :Mammal Tracks and Sign by Mark Elbroch and Casey McFarland. Stackpole Books, 2nd ed., 2019.Tracking and the Art of Seeing by Paul Rezendes. Harper Perennial, 1999.American Wildlife and Plants : A Guide to Wildlife Food Habits by Alexander C. Martin, Herbert S. Zim, Arnold L. Nelson. Dover Publications, 1951.Behaviour of North American Mammals by Mark Elbroch and Kurt Rinehart. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2011.

Listening to the land, in a very tangible way, can lead to some pretty special moments. Whether it is Black-capped Chickadees (Poecile atricapilus) scolding an Eastern Screech Owl (Megascaups asio), hearing the thunder heralding a powerful storm, or the waves washing up on the beach, the land speaks to us through sound in thousands of ways. We just have to stop and listen. To wake up early and walk only a few feet to track on the chilly morning beach is a gift. To spend time connecting with one of my brothers while connecting with the land, truly a gift. To listen to the waves, the Canada Geese (Branta canadensis) while wandering among the rocks and sand, again, a gift. I brought my recorder with me out to McGregor Point on Naadowewi-gichigami/Lake Huron incase any sounds moved me, and of course, such a big beautiful sea tugged at me in the foggy morning. I had to record. To learn more :Online Etymology Dictionary entry on “gossamer”

Aside of our human cultural space there is the broad other-than human animal place. A world we exist along with, and yet are still achingly removed from. This wilder edge is always calling out, audibly and silently, with gesture, scent, behaviour and sound. George Bumann has been practicing paying attention to this world in ways that I long to. In his new book, Eavesdropping On Animals : What we can learn from wildlife conversations, George shares stories and studies which reveal and inspire would be listeners to hear what that imminently natural world is always already singing out. He looks at animal communication strategies and draws out lessons and tools which he shares in approachable and digestible ways. In the interview we explored various communication strategies, from audible calls to subtle body language including unique alarm and welcome calls. We spoke about our presence in nature and discuss ways to minimize disturbance while recognizing our place in the ecosystem. George and I go deep into the diverse forms of communication throughout the other-than human language-scape. He also shared some insights into how engaging all our senses, especially sound, we can better attend to that wonder full zoolexicon at that wilder edge. This is one of the good ones. To learn more : George Bumann's website Eavesdropping on Animals pageEavesdropping on Animals Online Course with George

As Julie Beeler writes, it wasn't until 1969 that fungi were taxonomically separated from plants and recognized as inhabiting their own kingdom. There is so much that we do not understand about their taxonomy, their natural history, their functions in their ecosystem, or their medicinal values. With all that we do not know, Julie Beeler's amazing work, set on paper as the Mushroom Color Atlas draws a clear path towards understanding the possible tones and timbres of colour and shade which we can pull from some of members of this vast kingdom. The Mushroom Color Atlas showcases the variety of colours derived from the fungi themselves, as well as some of their identification features and where we might find them. The book also highlights the dye preparation process, which fabrics and mordants to use, and the some of the chemistry which makes all the magic happen. We spoke about Julie's history as a designer, artist, and educator, her own deepening relationship with fungi, poisonous mushrooms, and the future of fungi in fashion and beyond. From the colour to the fungi themselves to our human connections with the broader ecology to the movement for a more conscious and considerate fashion, working with fungi creates deep mycelial intimacies with the world we inhabit, and Julie helps guide us through. To learn more : Mushroom Color Atlas.comMushroom Color Atlas on instagram

While teaching up at the Lodge at Pine Cove this past weekend we came across lots of tracks and sign. Tons of Sawfly (wasplike insects) cocoons, some leaf miners, galls a plenty, Eastern Chipmunk (Tamias striatus) holes and feeding sign, Red Fox (Vulpes vulpes) and Moose (Alces alces) scat and lots more. But there was one bit of sign that was really annoying me… something I wasn't sure about. There were mussel shells laying about all along the rivers edge. Along the beach, the rocky cove, and all across the depths of the French River. They had all been opened, most split at the hinge, some cracked, many fragile and crumbling apart when put a bit of pressure on them. Someone had been feeding on these mussels for quite a few years it seemed, and I wanted to, maybe even needed to, figure this mussel mystery out. What kind of mussel whose remains I was finding? Who are the animals who live in this place that consume them? Who was leaving these middens about? Did they leave any other clues behind? Why couldn't I find anything? I really get into puzzles sometimes and this one made for a great distraction from the anxious excitement of teaching in a new place. This episode was recorded just after sunrise, along a wet winding trail in the mist of a gentle rain. It was awesome. Corrections : While I said something along the lines of Clams and Mussels are the same, I think this is incorrect. There seems to be differences based on structure of their shells and how they attach or burrow into substrates. To learn more :Bird Tracks and Sign by Mark Elbroch and Eleanor Marks. Stackpole Books, 2001.The Best of the Raven vol. 1 by Dan Strickland and Russ Rutter. The Friends of Algonquin Park, 1993.Animal Tracks of the Midwest by Jonathan Poppele. Adventure Publications, second ed, 2022.Peterson Field Guides: Mammals by William H. Burt and Richard P. Grossenheider.

For the last couple of years, I have been going to Pawpaw Fest which my friend and neighbour Matt Soltys organizes. Matt Soltys, for those listeners who don't know yet, is The Urban Orchardist. He teaches me about fruit and nut trees and I help him try and sort out which insects are leaving their sign on the trees. But back to the point… Pawpaws. Asimina triloba. A fruit with a comeback story. Have you tried one yet? I bet most folks listening have. They are growing more and more, both literally on the land and metaphorically in all the surrounding hype. Is it worth the hype? Matt Soltys seems to think so. He is growing hundreds of them (I had to fact check this statement, and yes, it is true). We sat down to discuss Pawpaws, a bit about their ecology and about the assisted migration that likely allowed the Pawpaw to arrive in Southern Ontario. I really don't know much about the species but want to get as much info as I can as they are likely going to be seen on the landscape more frequently as people get excited about this peculiar fruit. Why the big leaves? How did they get here? What happens at Pawpaw Fest? Where is it? How do I get there? (Sunday October 6th, Simpler Thyme Organic Farm, 1749 Hwy 6, between Guelph and Hamilton.) For more info listen to the show or check out The Urban Orchardist instagram page. Correction : Matt mentioned Malus floribunda as the name of the apple native to the southern Great Lakes area, but he afterwards he realized he made a mistake, and the species is Malus coronaria. To learn more : Shrubs of Ontario by James H. Soper and Margaret L. Heimburger, ROM Publications , 1982.The Dawn of Everything by by David Graeber and David Wengrow. Allen Lane, 2021.1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus by Charles C. Mann. Knopf, 2005.Growing Trees From Seed by Henry Kock. Firefly Books, 2008.The role of anthropogenic dispersal in shaping the distribution and genetic composition of a widespread North American tree species by Graham E. Wyatt, J. L. Hamrick, Dorset W. Trapnell. Ecology and Evolution, 2021. The Urban Orchardist websiteMatt's Instagram

Jewelweed (Impatiens capensis) 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. For this episode, like most episodes, I wanted to explore a little bit more about the Jewelweed I so commonly see. I wanted to ask some questions about the flower development, the explosive seed pods, and about a non-native cousin who seems to be showing up in places more commonly these days. I also dig in on the concept of “post-industrial wastelands” a little as these lands are probably very common across the Great Lakes Bioregion where I live. Hope you enjoy the show! To learn more : Wild Urban Plants of the NorthEast by Peter Del Tredici. Cornell University Press, 2020.The Book of Swamp and Bog by John Eastman. Stackpole Books, 1995.Summer Wildflowers of the North East by Carol Gracie. Princeton University Press, 2020.

As an aspiring wildlife tracker I want to know about the signs that animals leave behind. Due to my annoyingly excitable curiosity this includes all animals, and all types of sign. This includes the regurgitated masses of undigested food that makes up a bird pellet. When it comes to pellets, I have found a couple before. Some full of hair, assorted skulls and other bones, feather parts and even a couple full of seed husks from plants. But when it comes to sorting out who left these pellets behind, there is an extraordinary lack of resources to help folks figure it out. I got excited to interview Ed Drewitt again. His new book Bird Pellets, out now on Pelagic Publishing, has tons of photos, lots of detailed info and some great hints on how to identify the makers of the pellets we find. While the book was written with a British and Irish context in mind, there are many overlaps with Turtle Island/North American species which I find quite helpful. As for Ed? He is a professional naturalist, wildlife detective, and broadcaster for the BBC. He has been studying urban Peregrines for over 15 years, and looking into the contents of bird pellets for even longer. He has been on the show before and has been a great help in answering some of my ornithological mysteries pertaining to Peregrine Falcons in the past. It was nice to reconnect over his great new book. To learn more : Ed Drewitt's websiteBird Pellets book websiteEp. 142 : Raptor Prey Remains with Ed DrewittBlog post on predated Herring Gull which I consulted with Ed on to determine the predator.

While looking into possible Red Wolf (Canis rufus) genetics found in a Coastal Louisiana Coyote (Canis latrans) populations, biologist Dr. Joseph Hinton set a trap. Sadly, when a Coyote, later named LA25M was caught in this trap, his leg was irreversibly damaged. Joe decided to bring this Coyote to a vet and get the leg amputated, an unusual procedure when working with study animals, but possibly better than euthanizing the canid. Shortly after the surgery, the LA25M was released with a radio collar and monitored to determine his use of territories. Turns out this Coyote did quite well, regardless of the amputation. When I read Joe's paper, I was intrigued and had to ask about an interview. Graciously, he replied and we set one up. Joe and I discuss his working getting to know Red Wolf genetics present in Gulf Coast Coyotes, why it may be important to keep track of the mixing of Red Wolf and Coyote DNA, and what a three-legged Coyote may get up to on their home range, and off of it, once released. It's a pretty cool story. Worth a listen. To learn more : Space use and fate of a three-legged coyote – a case study by Joseph W. Hinton, Kelsey San Martin, Kristin E. Brzeski, Jazmin J. Murphy, & Amy C. ShuttWolf Conservation Center

Every year I get the privilege of co-leading a spiritual retreat weekend with the wonderful Greg Kennedy at the Ignatius Jesuit Centre. This year we revamped the “Trees” retreat from a couple of years ago and I switched it up, including a talk on Friday night on “What is a Forest : Of exclusion and of Community”. This wasn't a talk about a particular ecosystem necessarily. Instead it was an exploration of the shady history of the word and concept of “forest”, The first English use of the word forest doesn't describe a specific ecozone; instead it was the place where royalty and gentry removed the people to keep exclusive regal hunting grounds for them and their noble guests. It meant the expulsion of peoples, and the emergence of the enclosure movement (so incitefully taught to me by Rain Crowe and Sylvia Federici many years ago), and plausible contribution to the witch hunts across Europe. “The forest” is not neutral territory. It is a contested zone. This topic is significant to me, as in, it's important to remember the contexts of where these exclusionary ways of interacting with the land have come from and how the plans and technologies of power were then exported, and are used with colonial intent on different lands and different people. It is important to remember how those who came before resisted this theft of the commons, and it is important to remember that we are as connected to those ancestor as we are to the trees, screes and seas. To learn more : Caliban and the Witch by Sylvia Federici. Autonomedia, 2004. (pdf link)The Once and Future Great Lakes Country : An Ecological History by John L. Riley. McGill-Queen's University Press, 2014. The World Turned Upside Down by Leon Rosselson, performed by Billy Bragg

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. After attending a workshop on edible and medicinal plants I felt called by the Red Clover (Trifolium pratense). Here was a plant that I felt I could harvest without much impact on the populations, or harm to local species who depend on T. pratense. It felt like I could relearn relationships with the broader landscape, incorporating components of taking and consuming - components of relationship making with plants that I have felt conflicted on recently - and therefore helping to heal that separation which has been sneaking in. Since harvesting, I have also been doing deep dives into Red Clover natural history, and ecofunction. It has been a gift from this special plant to learn from them, harvest them, teach about them and drink the tea made from the flowers. That's what this week's show is all about. To learn more :The ROM Field Guide to Wildflowers of Ontario by Timothy Dickinson, Deborah Metsger, Jenny Bull, and Richard Dickinson. ROM, 2004.The Book of Field and Roadside by John Eastman and Amelia Hansen. Stackpole Books, 2003.American Wildlife & Plants : A Guide to Wildlife Food Habits by Alexander C Martin, Herbert S Zim, Arnold L. Nelson. Dover, 1951.Incredible Wild Edibles by Samuel Thayer. Forager's Harvest, 2017.Held By The Land by Leigh Joseph. Wellfleet Press, 2023.The Earthwise Herbal vol. 1 by Matthew Wood. North Atlantic Books, 2008.Rhizobium leguminosarum wikipedia page

In the midst of a lowland forest at the edge of town, out for a slow walk with a pal, we heard the calls of Cedar Waxwings (Bombycilla cedrorum) and started looking for them. We saw them first in an Eastern White Cedar (Thuja occidentalis) tree, as they were quickly making their way towards the South. Then when we turned a corner we got to witness some courting behaviours which somehow reached deep and woke me from a slow low mood I was in. 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. Finding the magic in the everyday is one of the beautiful parts of paying attention to our wild neighbours. The small moves sometimes mean the most. These small moves are what inspired this week's show. Image of Waxwings : Alan Rice, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. To learn more : Birds of Ontario by Andy Bezener. Lone Pine, 2000.Bird Song : Identification Made Easy by Ernie Jardine. Natural Heritage, 1996.Stokes Guide to Bird Behavior Vol. 2 by Donald and Lillian Stokes. Little Brown and Company, 1983.Peterson Field Guide to North American Bird Nests by Casey McFarland, Matthew Monjello and David Moskowitz. Houghton Mifflin Harcout, 2021.American Wildlife & Plants : A Guide to Wildlife Food Habits by Alexander C Martin, Herbert S Zim, Arnold L. Nelson. Dover, 1951.Life Histories of North American Wagtails, Shrikes, Vireos, and Their Allies by Arthur Cleveland Bent. Dover, 1965.Birds of Forest, Yard & Thicket by John Eastman. Stackpole Books, 1997.

For the past few years I have been going out at night in May to record the calls of American Toads (Anaxyrus americanus) and Leopard Frogs (Lithobates pipiens) by the Eramosa River. I used to live much closer to the river and I could hear the songs from my window at night. When I heard those songs, I knew it was time to go record, and that the radio show that week was going to be the calls of the Anurans. The problem was that lately, it has been pretty quiet on the home front. Maybe it was a bit too chilly for the Anurans to sing, or the rain has prevented me from bringing my recorders out, lest they get destroyed. But there have also been some really good nights, quite suitable for toad and frog song, but still it was quiet but for the Canada Geese (Branta canadensis). What was going on? Turns out that the frogs just aren't in the river where they usually are, probably due to an oil spill last April in the spot where I usually go record. I ended up going to a small wetland with a friend and there we recorded a different species, the Northern Green Frogs (Lithobates clamitans melanota) calling in a small Cattail (Typha sp.) swamp. There's a profound beauty in allowing the non-human world to articulate themselves, and to give language voice, sharing their expression on platforms often dominated by our human-centric narratives. Collaborating with other life forms for my show allows me to fill in some details here and there from my books, but really, the other life has other language to carry the show and I don't need to interfere. It really is a gift to listen in on these non-human conversations, and I think we should practice that listening as much as possible. I recognize that traipsing about the river at night is not a sport everyone can enjoy; it may not be safe or may not be fun, but getting the chance to tune into the voices and songs of other animals is definitely a chance to learn. By offering our platforms to amplify the voices of other beings, we can not only expand our awareness of the world, but I believe it helps to promote their selfhood and agency, and remind us all of the inherent worth and value of all the others who take up space, and make place on the lands, and in the waters, we share. And when it comes to us humans, by practicing the art of listening, we are also working to kick at the bounds which isolate us from the rest of the world. Listen in and hear what the Green Frogs have to say. To learn more : Herpetology (3rd ed.) by Laurie J. Vitt and Janalee P. Caldwell. Elsevier, 2009.

The Eramosa River Valley is the place where I live, play and work. Having spent roughly the last 20 years along the banks of the river, sitting, running, riding, and learning about the lives lived along the shores and walls, there are many days where I just sit back and realize how much I love this place. When I heard about a group of folks who were working to conserve the land as a national urban park, I admit I got a little wary. Who were they? Do they care about this place as much as I do? What is their motive? How will this change my relationship with this place? Will it change the landscape of the valley? How will the river be affected? I ended up doing some research into the campaign and decided the best thing to do would be to just reach out and ask about an interview… and nearly right away, Brian Skerrett, spokesperson for National Urban Park Guelph got back to me, and we made the plan. Brian enthusiastically answered my questions and helped me understand the hope and scope of the proposed park and taught me a lot about the land I love. I realized that he too really appreciates this place and wants to see the valley cared for and protected. The National Urban Park Guelph folks are really focused on building community awareness and community participation in developing this park idea, and doing so in a good way. I asked a lot of questions throughout our interview, including some I had never thought about before.. How do you build a national park located in the middle of the growing city? How can a park be a tool for healing and reconciliation? How can an old prison become a tool for social change and the protection of a beloved of a river valley? Hopefully this episode helps build the possibility of a healing place to visit, sit and learn to fall deeper in love with the river I long to know more. To learn more : UrbanParkGuelph.comUrban Park Guelph on InstagramUrban Park Guelph on Facebook

This past weekend I got to participate in my second track and sign evaluation with Tracker Certification North America 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 (class Oligochaeta), but I want to start digging in. 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. They are a slippery group of species to distinguish but there are at least some common characteristics across them. Really this is a good reminder that we often take some of the more common species for granted, ignoring the usual, rather than deepening that already accessible and immediately present relationship. Listen to the show if you want to learn more, too. These worms have a lot of interesting things going for them. Some resources I used include:Peterson Field Guide to Eastern Forests by John C. Kricher and Gordon Morrison. Houghton Mifflin, 1988.Nature's Year by Drew Monkman. Dundurn 2012.Tracks and Sign of Insect and Other Invertebrates by Charley Eiseman and Noah Charney. Stackpole Books, 2010. A Guide to Common Freshwater Invertebrates of North America by J. Reese Vashell, Jr.

I have been thinking a lot about the diversity of sexuality and gender in nature. Wondering about how different animals, plants, and fungi present sexually. How do different species mate? What characteristics are considered belonging to one sex, but in reality, may be shared by many sexes? Many sexes? How many are there? Why do some species have thousands of sexes, and some species only have one? Maxwell Matchim (they/them) has been asking some similar questions but through a different lens, thinking “about the ways in which Trans people exist between worlds, much like amphibians. The way in which Trans people change their bodies over time as means of survival.” And with these questions, they have been making a documentary. When my pal Miki told me about this, my first thought was “this is a conversation I am looking for”. When I reached out, Maxwell was game and we set up the interview. We talked about Maxwell's experience so far in producing the documentary, unisexual Ambystoma salamanders, gynandromorphism (having characteristics of two sexes) in birds, classification of species which might not actually make sense, and so many other queer natural histories and how we might relate to them in the context of the present social political world. This is a conversation I would love to be having all of the time, looking at the parts of life which just don't abide by the dominant narratives. If you're into that, you'll like the show. To learn more:Understanding Myself as an Amphibian gofundmeMaxwell Matchim's instagramQueer Forest Club instagramFeminist Bird Club instagramBiological Exuberance by Bruce BagemihlQueer Ducks (and Other Animals) by Eliot SchreferEvolution's Rainbow Diversity, Gender, and Sexuality in Nature and People by Joan RoughgardenHow Far the Light Reaches : A Life in Ten Sea Creatures by Sabrina Imbler

When I look into the authors who wrote most of the naturalist, ecology, natural history books on my shelves, I mostly see white people, especially the older books. When I do interviews with folks in the field, I still find a majority of those who I am talking with are white folks. I wholly recognize that is on me in a lot of ways, but I also recognize that historically, access to these fields has been gatekept by and for white folks, mostly men. When I come across initiatives that challenge that dynamic, I get stoked. When I find out they are taking students out to some of the places I have and continue to go to to learn about the natural world, I get really stoked, so much so, that I reached out to see about an interview. Alannah Grant and Jonathan Chu are graduate students in Integrative Biology at Guelph. They are also the University of Guelph liaisons for FREED where they lead the organization and fund-raising (amongst other things) for UoG students to participate in FREED excursions. I wanted to ask them about recent movements to bring awareness to and correct the lack of representation of Black, Indigenous, and people of colour in environmental sciences, how they organize themselves, what is working and what they do on these excursions? I am always excited when the things I love are made more accessible, so more folks can appreciate, participate, teach and learn. We all live on this wild planet and we should all be able to take part in the profound experiences of exploring, examining and connecting with the land, on the land. This is what FREED helps folks do. To learn more : FREED websiteFREED instagram

Ok, so this is weird, but I love death. Dying, decay, decomposition, breakdown.. synonyms that sort of warm my heart in a strange kinda way. When I think of death I think of nutrients breaking down into small parts, making it easier for other things to consume and to continue to grow and live. I think of how death makes all life possible. How without consuming things like veggies, grains, fruits, mushrooms, and maybe even meats, all things which were once alive, we could never live. I am grateful to death so that I may live. I too am grateful to those things which help break things down. The decomposers which turn trees into soil and enable all the plants to grow, soil bacteria to thrive and create suitable substrates to all the fungal bodies in the dirt. Today's show is all about those fungal forms which help breakdown trees into consumable soil nutrients; white rot and brown rot. I have talked about them before on the show, but I wanted to dig in a little bit more. I hope you enjoy it! To Learn More : Field Guide to Tree Diseases of Ontario (pdf)Polypores and Similar Fungi of Eastern and Central North America by Alan E. Bessette, Dianna G. Smith, and Arleen R Bessette. University of Texas Press, 2021.Plant Pathology by George N. Agrios. Harcourt Academic Press, 1997. Disgustipated by Tool

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. To Learn More : Petiolegall Aphids : Swollen or disfigured leaves of poplars (pdf)First record of antipredator behavior in the gall-forming aphid Mordwilkoja vagabundaPoplar Vagabond Gall Aphid (Aphididae: Mordwilkoja) video on youtube.com by Carl BarrentineInfluentialPoints.com entry on Mordwilkoja vagabundaLife History and Gall Development of Mordwilkoja vagabunda (Homoptera: Aphidae) on Populus deltoidesLife History and Gall Development of Mordwilkoja vagabunda (Homoptera: Aphidae) on Populus deltoides. Part II—Gall DevelopmentThe Insects and Arachnids of Canada part 22 : The Genera of the Aphids of Canada - Homoptera : Aphidoidea and Phylloxeroidea : pg 472 (pdf)Influential Points entry on Adelges abietisINTRA- AND INTER-CROWN DISTRIBUTION OF THE EASTERN SPRUCE GALL ADELGID, ADELGES ABIETIS (L.), ON YOUNG WHITE SPRUCE

Did you know that birds are more closely related to turtles, than turtles are to snakes? I just learned that. Did you know that the scutes on a turtle's back are made from keratin, the same stuff as our fingernails and Rhinoceros horns? Just learned that one too. Even better, do you know what cloacal breathing is? I bet you do… but how does it work? That's some of the interesting stuff I got to ask naturalist, author and educator Kyle Horner recently when we spoke about his new book Turtles of North America out now on Firefly Books. It's a pretty good book, with range maps and conservation status' which are more relevant and up to date than many of the older field guides to turtles, and covers more species. It is a book full of photographs which help detail the information written in the species accounts and natural history sections. And this week's show isn't just about turtles! It is a bit of reptilian and amphibian mashup, because for the second part I give a short report back from a recent field trip down to Sudden Tract to check on Spring salamander migration. Tis the season! To Learn More : Turtles of North America at Firefly BooksSeagull Is Not a Dirty Word - Kyle Horner's BlogKyle Horner's Instagram

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. We woke up at 6am every morning and were out by 7, scouting for new trails. When were were through with our day we came back to hit the books and share stories of all that we'd seen. 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 (Spinus pinus), a small brown finch like bird edged in yellow who flew down on to the new snow, skipped, hopped and flew off again. The Pine Siskin was 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 got to hold the birds and take a closer look at their small amazing bodies in the sunlight pouring through the window at the wildlife research station. I measured their feet, admired their plumage, and wondered at how they could survive so long out there in the cold and snow. What were they eating to warm their fragile little bodies through the Winter nights? If they hadn't died on the road, where would they go to in the Spring? 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. Sources used in this episode:Birds of Ontario by Andy Bezener. Lone Pine Publishing, 2000.Peterson Field Guide to North American Bird Nests by Casey McFarland, Matthew Monjello, and David Moskowitz. Houghton Mifflin Harcout, 2021.The Birder's Handbook by Paul Ehrlich, David S. Dobkin and Darryl Wheye. Simon & Shuster, 1988.

It's that time of year again, when the animals are getting out and getting down. While driving home the other day I drove past a forest where I had once trailed a part of courting Coyotes (Canis latrans) and realized that now is the time we will be seeing these courting behaviours. I had written about them before, but it was worth revisiting as it will likely be coming up on the land, and in my classes. As I had written before: “Getting the chance to follow along and watch the intimate lives of other animals can feel a little awkward in the retelling. I don't want to come across as voyeuristic but instead as being witness to the possibility of a litter of new life. Coyotes are often a maligned species, where the conversation surrounding them is often of management and control, loaded with tones of fear and frustration. But following these two highlights an individuation and animism we don't afford Coyotes very often. I hope only to remind of the struggle to survive, adapt and thrive amidst the persecution they endure. Reflecting on the day, I feel like it's a study in the mess of courtship which many of us can relate to, and it feels like the news I wish we saw more of: first kisses, late night dinner parties with old friends, meeting a newborn family member. It is the joy of being and relating to others in deep meaningful ways in a world which often separates and isolates, harms and hinders. It's romantic as hell, and I love it…” To Learn More : Examining Coyote Courting Behaviours : Tracking at Bell's LakeTracking Journal : December 25, 2020Behaviour of North American Mammals by Mark Elbroch and Kurt Rinehart. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2011.The Natural History of Canadian Mammals by Donna Naughton. University of Toronto Press, 2012.

We had just crossed over from the thick White Cedar forest into a little more spacious deciduous forest, when, in a very unassuming tone, a friend called us over to check out some tracks. I don't know if he realized at first how cool the trail he had just found was, but as we stepped off of the path and looked down at the tracks everyone leaned in a little closer, and our voices started to ring with a little more excitement. Our colleague had found a Fisher trail. Once again I have been inspired by the Fisher to dig a little deeper into their ecologies, behaviours and the signs they leave behind. There is always so much to know that another show about them, relating another story of following the Fisher trail seemed worthwhile. To Learn More :Natural History of Canadian Mammals by Donna Naughton. University of Toronto Press, 2012.Mesopredator release facilitates range expansion in fisher by Dr. Scott LaPoint.Ep. 180 : Winter of the FisherEp. 211 : Fisher Researcher Dr. Scott LaPointTracking Journal 2021.11.27 (mostly about trailing a Fisher at the same location as the entry above)

s we get ready for the longest night of the year, it's also a time to celebrate traditions and set our sights for the new year with the rebirth of the Sun. Making radio for me also holds traditions embedded within the episodes. Every Solstice I dig into the archives and pull out a rebroadcast which was originally aired December 21st, 1985 at 10:30pm on the BBC. And now, for the 6th year in a row, I get to broadcast one of my favorite pieces of radio. Step aside War of the Worlds or Gunsmoke (both of which should be listened to at least once in your life), Alison McLeay's “Solstice”, is the best radio I have ever heard. A guided journey beyond our contemporary world of christian Christmas consumerism and looking deeper to reveal the ancient earth based practices and traditions where so many of our modern traditions arise from. Along the way we meet a rattle wielding Shaman, a witch, a hunter, a Raven, and a Wolf who help guide us back to the origins of Yule. Here's hoping for a solstice of peace, rest, and joy… some hard things to find these days.

You know when there is someone kicking around the party whom you recognize, maybe even say hello to, but you just don't know that well? Or perhaps you two have been acquainted for a while but something comes up and that gets you talking a little more intimately? I feel like that with Turkey Tail (Trametes versicolor). I wanted to try my hand at foraging and creating some medicine, but really I needed to read up on what others have sorted out before I prepare anything for ingestion. To learn more, listen to the show. Here are the sources I read from:National Audubon Society Mushrooms of North America. Knopf, 2023.Polypores and Similar Fungi of Eastern and Central North America by Alan E. Bessette, Dianna G. Smith, and Arleen R Bessette. University of Texas Press, 2021.Medicinal Mushrooms : The Essential Guide by Christopher Hobbs. Storey Publishing, 2020.

If you didn't know already, I work at an outdoor school doing place-based, or nature-based education. Through this work I have come to know many people who have challenged and supported me to grow and to learn more about the complex relationships that exist within this field of work. How do we aim to teach about a land which has been occupied through theft, displacement, war, and genocide? How can we say we work towards loving relationships with ourselves, with each other and the land when this is the past and present reality of the place we inhabit and the position of the states we are governed by? I got to talk with a mentor, friend, and elder in my community, Lisa Donahue, about how we can struggle to do the work of bringing folks outside and teaching them alongside the land when the context is rife with harm. As always, Lisa shared from the heart with precision, passion and a poignant reckoning of the ongoing need to work towards justice, peace and good relations. I am so grateful for her wisdom, her humility and her care. I wanted to have this write up yesterday, but my heart is so weighted with sorrow over the ongoing genocide in Palestine, here in Canada, and the other ongoing wars and injustices throughout the world right now. I had to take an extra day to collect my heart and thoughts.

My room, my house, my bags are all full of books, twigs, fruits, feathers, seeds, nuts, and bits of mushrooms this time of year. So too my stomach, my dreams, and my heart. My bedroom is littered with naturalist books and books of fairy tales and myths which I pull out and read before I turn out the light. I love the folk tales because if you read them in the right light, they share stories of relationships with the land from before christian colonization. For me, of european descent, this gives insight to how my ancestors may have gotten to know the places they lived and who they depended on to live good lives in relation with the lands they lived with. I have shared stories of snakes, or the Winter solstice, or wildflowers throughout the years of doing this show, but never have I told a story about mushrooms. Until recently I only knew one or two, but recently I read a new one, a magical one, which I have really come to love. So on this week's show I share the story of the “Berry-sisters and the Mushroom-brother” from the book Echo of the Green Mountains : Ukrainian Folk Tales as well as read a little about the internationally praised edible mushroom Boletus edulis. This episode might be well suited for a cup of tea. But I'll leave that up to you. Image : Boletus edulis LC0371.jpg by Jörg Hempel⁠. 2014. Image. Wikimedia.org. (CC BY-ND 3.0) To learn more :Echo of the Green Mountains : Ukrainian Folk Tales by Serhiy Vladov and Mary Skrypnyk. Dnipro Publishers 1988.National Audubon Society Mushrooms of North America. Knopf, 2023.

Every big mast year for Black Walnuts (Juglans nigra) I like to harvest a ton of them and then process them for both the husks and the nutmeat inside. While the nutmeats are very troublesome to access it is getting easier as I learn which tools are better than others, and the food value is totally worth it. As for the husks, it's pretty easy to rip or cut them off of the nut. This year, as in previous years as well, there has been a small ethical dilemma which has come up when using the husks for dye. Nestled in the husks are small larvae of what I believe to be the Walnut Husk Maggot Fly (Rhagoletis suavis) which is a fruit fly I don't know much about. But because I love Walnuts, I figured I should learn. And that's what this week's show is all about. A fruit fly who loves Walnuts… Can't live without ‘em. Sometimes I feel that way, too. To learn more :Walnut Husk Fly How to Monitor and Manage Walnut Husk FliesDecomposition: fly life cycle and development timesUniversity of California IPM page on Walnut Husk Fly

A week ago, I got to join the Field Botanists of Ontario on a field trip to the Dufferin County Forest Main Tract site for a mushroom I.D. walk. We saw all sorts of different mushrooms and had a ton of fun. Scattered in the back of the Main tract there are many American Beech (Fagus grandifolia) trees. Some tall, some small, but they are there amidst the Red Oaks (Quercus rubra) and Sugar Maples (Acer saccharum). If you look close at the branches of these Beech trees you'll find little white fluffy insects dancing about in huge colonies. These are the Wooly Beech Aphid (Phyllaphis fagi) and they are there sucking sap out of the Beech tree. Now when any animal consumes their fill of whatever it is they are consuming, they must release the waste, and so too with the Aphids. This waste, called Honey Dew, is dropped and as it falls lands on the leaves, branches, and ground below. When this happens, the spores of the Honey Dew Eater (Scorias spongiosa) come around and land on the Honey Dew and begin their life cycle. This weeks show I share some of what I have been reading about in regards to this community but specifically focusing on the life cycle of the Honey Dew Eater fungi. To learn more :Mushrooms of Ontario and Eastern Canada by George Barron. Partners Publishing/Lone Pine 2014. Ascomycete Fungi of North America: A Mushroom Reference Guide by Michael Beug, Alan E. Bessette, Arleen R. Bessette. University of Texas Press, 2014. National Audubon Society Mushrooms of North America. Knopf, 2023.

Lichens been a draw for me for the last few years. When it comes to a diversity of lifeforms coming together in a fungal structure to draw down nutrients from the atmosphere, to beautify a landscape, to feed some of the largest land mammals down to sheltering some of the smallest arthropods, I'm hooked. For many of us, the problem has been where to start, how to get into the lichens, how to identify them and how and where do we learn what roles and functions these forms of life have on the land? In comes Dr. Troy McMullin, lichenologist with the Canadian Museum of Nature, author of dozens of papers on lichens, describer of 10 species new to science, and author of the new book Lichens : The Macrolichens of Ontario and the Great Lakes Region of the United States out on Firefly Books. A hefty book full of colour photos, illustrated glossary, detailed keys to the 113 genera found in Ontario and some adjacent states, this book is helpful for beginner lichen lovers and for the professional lichenologist. Not only that, Troy came on to talk about his career learning about these unstudied organisms, why they are so important to him and how they can help us understand the changes we are seeing in the climate. It's not everyday you get to talk with one of the foremost researchers in a field. I am so grateful for the chance. I got to ask a bunch of questions which I have been wondering for a long time.. some of which are answered fully in the book, some of which it took a conversation with the author. Thanks again, Troy! To learn more : Lichens : The Macrolichens of Ontario and the Great Lakes Region of the United StatesTroy McMullin's page at the Canadian Museum of Nature

Last Thursday a call came over the radio at work. “I just want to let everyone know that there are two Walking Sticks mating on the tent”. I can't really remember what I was doing with the students at the time, but we all dropped everything and made our way, some faster than others. I had seen a couple of Walking Sticks over the Summer, but realized, while jogging through the forest on my way to see these two going at it, that I knew very little about the life cycles, ecology and overall natural history of this species or the order as a whole. I figured I should observe the mating pair carefully, and then research a bunch when I get home. The species native to my area of Southern Ontario, known as the Northern Walking Stick (Diapheromera femorata), has been making many appearances in my life over the past few years but I still know so little about them. Inspired by the most recent sighting mentioned above, I decided to learn a little bit more about them. Big thanks to Jen for letting everyone know the Walking Sticks were there. Resources I pulled from for this episode:Insects : Their Natural History and Diversity by Stephan A Marshall. Firefly Books, 2006.Insect Enemies of Eastern Forests by Frank Cooper Craighead. US Department of Agriculture, 1950.Princeton Field Guides Insects of North America by John C. Abbott and Kendra K. Abbott. Princeton University Press, 2023.The Complete Insect by David A. Grimaldi. Princeton University Press, 2023. (highly recommended!)Tracks & Sign of Insects and Other Invertebrates by Charley Eiseman and Noah Charney. Stackpole Books, 2010. and a blog post of my own : Tracking Journal for 2021.08.15

Animal Forms is a project is all about empathy, about remembering how to be in connection with the other-than-human world. As Miki asks, “aims to explore how we (humans) can imagine ourselves in the place of the other people we share our planet with. How might our thoughts and actions change if we practiced seeing the world through another's eyes?” Miki Tamblyn has created a project where folks can practice being an other-than-human animal. What does that look like? We are invited to sit in the woods by ourselves with a mask, a journal and pen, a camera, and a mirror and take on being the animal whose face we put on. We sat down at the site of the project, along the Eramosa River in Guelph to discuss inspiration, project formation, overall response to the project and its goals, as well as the experience of embodiment of another form of life. There was really so much to say, but you'll have to listen to hear it all. To learn more : Animal Forms pageIn depth look at Joanna Macy's Council of All Beings

In some circles, reciprocate is the new “sustainable”, a hot word which implies a lot but isn't always doing what we might imagine. But how can we try to actually live up to, and create the reciprocity, the giving back and forth, to that and those who give us so much? For me, Moth Garden feels like a project trying to demonstrate reciprocity in a real, tangible, replicable ways. Christina Kingsbury and Lisa Hirmer have been researching, planting, growing and shaping a garden with an intention of creating sensory worlds for/of the more-than-human, nourishing spaces planted with food, shelter, and room for transformation and rest; planted for often maligned and misunderstood members of our broad interspecies communities. With Moth Garden, Lisa and Christina are shifting the focus of attention to not singly acknowledge the diurnal, sun loving species, but to also welcome and include to the night flying beings through all life stages. Our gardens are so often, pretty much nearly always, built for the human eye, to be celebrated during the day, full of sun. Now this garden is still very attractive to my human eye, and obviously requires the Sun, but how does it move away from those conventional relationships and move towards new ones with the night, with other animals, with other senses? How beautiful and full of care and consideration reciprocity can be. Big big thanks to the moths, the bees, the plethora of tiny lives that live within and visit this garden. Thanks to the plants which sprout, shoot, blossom and bloom. Thanks to Lisa Hirmer and Christina Kingsbury for creating this space for us to visit. To learn more : www.mothgarden.caHeather Holm's book Pollinators of Native Plants

A couple of days after my recent interview discussing Mulberries with Matt Soltys, the Arboretum at the University of Guelph shared a couple of posts on instagram about the Red Mulberry Recovery Program where researchers are looking into how to identify, propagate, and eventually distribute Red Mulberries (Morus rubra) to their partners (mostly conservation organizations). They are also trying educating the public on how the White or Asian Mulberries (Morus alba) can be detrimental to conservation of the Red Mulberries. Immediately I wrote to them to try and set up and interview. Some of the same questions from the first interview came up, and some new ones as well, but mostly I wanted to hear about the Recovery Program and see how it was being put together, why this conservation of Red Mulberry biodiversity is so important, the effects of a changing climate on Red Mulberries, and how the conservation efforts of the University of Guelph Arboretum can mitigate the harms of human caused habitat loss and fragmentation. Gratefully Sean Fox, senior research associate at the Arb, took the the time to get into the complexity and nuance of dynamic movements of species and how we can take actions towards conservation of a species which is endemically endangered. It's great to have a resource like the Arboretum so close so I can both talk to and learn from the folks doing the research and conservation work, but also to wander and explore the grounds (for free) and learn through my own observation. It's a great place. To learn more : University of Guelph Arboretum's Red Mulberry Conservation Program University of Guelph Arborteum's instagram

I have had a long curiosity regarding Water Hemlock (Cicuta maculata) ever since I had heard of them. Perhaps the most toxic plant on Turtle Island/North America. Of course I would be enamoured! I misidentified them for a couple of years thinking I knew who they were, but it wasn't until the past four or five years that I began taking a closer look, seeking them out, learning the lore, and reading the sometimes sparse literature on the plant. This show is an effort to collect my thoughts and learning, and to make the recent blog post, which has lots of good photographs to assist with proper i.d., more accessible to those who don't want to read it all but would rather listen to it instead. It seems my series on plants is growing every week. I promise to get back to some interviews soon, but this one is pretty important to me.

The Serviceberry (Amelanchier spp.) is a widely distributed edible fruit tree which fills my heart as much as my belly. It's just sweet enough, with berries just big enough, just in reach to make me so happy to come across. Sometimes we happen upon them wandering through the woods, sometimes we go visit our favourite individuals, sometimes we make detailed extensive maps of every tree the city has planted… or maybe I just do that. To eat something builds relationship in a very particular way, which I appreciate, especially when that edible is shared by many species. We really become part of the broader ecosystem when we participate as other animals do, and if we choose to enter into that relationship in a reciprocal way we can begin to tend and propagate the ones we care for. Serviceberries, Juneberry, Shadbush, Saskatoon, whatever we call them, our affinity with them grows as we get to know them more. That's what this episode is all about - learning some of those more meticulous details to compliment our own personal relationships with the plants we hold so dear in our hearts… and bellies. To learn more : Fruit and Seed profile of AmelanchierShrubs of Ontario by James H. Soper and Margaret L. Heimburger. Royal Ontario Museum, 1982.The Book of Forest and Thicket by John Eastman. Stackpole Books, 1992.American Wildlife & Plants : A Guide to Wildlife Food Habits by Alexander Martin, Herbert Zim, and Arnold Nelson. Dover, 1951.Growing Trees from Seed by Henry Kock. Firefly Books, 2016.Botany in a Day by Thomas J. Elpel. HOPS Press, 2006.

Mulberries are a well known and popular wild urban edible that a lot of foragers come to know early in the development of the craft. They are easily identifiable, taste great, and prolific in urban and peri-urban environments which means lots of people can get to know them. Not only are there an abundant of Mulberry trees out there, each fruit producing tree makes buckets of fruit that litter the sidewalks for a month if the birds, squirrels, Raccoons and humans don't get at them first. And while Mulberries don't seem like a political focal point in the world of conservation, I am learning that they can be as well. I got to visit with my friend Matt Soltys (The Urban Orchardist) to discuss Mulberries and their ecology. We sat in a small backyard cabin adjacent to his Mulberry tree to keep out of the rain and got into some big questions : How many species actually grow around the Great Lakes bioregion? Where does hybridization come in clutch in the context of global change and massive anthropogenic disturbance of the landscape? Are conventional conversations around conservation xenophobic and colonial or do they uplift and support decolonial efforts to retain ancestral cultural and land based relations? While we don't have the answers, I think these are important questions to be asking. Additionally, near the end of the podcast we discuss Sam Thayer's new book Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants of Eastern and Central North America⁠ out now from Forager's Harvest. Big thanks to Matt Soltys of The Urban Orchardist for taking the time to be on the show and sharing his research and ideas. To learn more : The Urban OrchardistMatt's InstagramSam Thayer's Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants of Eastern and Central North America

In the previous post I mentioned that I had been watching a specific Chokecherry (Prunus virginiana, or the Anishnaabemowin name asasawemin) looking at Eastern Tent Caterpillar (Malacosoma americanum) egg masses and how the caterpillars had emerged. I ended up taking a closer look at the Chokecherry in the days following as my interest had been piqued. Chokecherry is a role model. How can we be in good relationship with so many different life forms, transform degraded and barren anthropogenic landscapes in preparation for new life? Yes, there is a note of caution to be had, an awareness of potential hazards, but the overall theme of this shrub appears to be regeneration, repair and creating spaces for life to flourish again. This episode is a long form exploration of the Chokecherry ecology. I hope it works for you as much as it works for me!

The car broke down on our way to visit my mum. My brother and I got out of the car, and while he researched how to change the alternator, I went behind the vacant garage where we parked the inoperable vehicle. When I explored to the far back of the lot I was grateful to find a small wetland, thriving with tons of species. Trees, tall and low shrubs, and understory thick with both native and non-native, aggressive opportunistic plants vying for life. I was totally impressed and appreciated this wild oasis in the midst of an annoying happenstance. While I sat there, on an old discarded stump I discovered adjacent to the wetland, I began thinking of weird ecological combinations, novel ecosystems and “invasive” species, both in the context of their potential benefits and their potential harms. I continue to wonder about the role of Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale), Burdock (Arctium lappa), Garlic Mustard (Alliaria petiolata) and Giant Hogweed (Heracleum mantegazzianum) on the landscape of Turtle Island/North America. I continue to weigh all theories and ideas swimming around in the varied academic research and current collected folklore (not so much in the mythic sense, but more so the popular awareness and storytelling of these populations), and try to tease out some path forward : do we leave these populations alone? Do we try to intervene? If so, how? Can we do both? What lessons are already being demonstrated on the landscape? How do we listen to the needs of the lands we cohabit with these contested species? I guess this is what this weeks show is about, all considered out back of an abandoned garage. Sometimes we can be grateful for the car breaking down. Big thanks though to my brother for the wonderful adventure. To learn more : Wild Urban Plants of the NorthEast by Peter Del Tredici. Cornell University Press, 2020. When Doing Nothing is the Best Invasive Plant Management Tool - youtube video : Dr. Bernd Blossey shares his research on Garlic Mustard