Billy and Tony sit down with Rich Conroy of the Militia Hill Hawk Watch and of the Dresher, PA Wild Birds Unlimited to chat about the joys of hawk watching and lots of other birding topics in the conversation. Topics covered include bird feeding, how raptors migrate using updrafts, raptor kettles, the hawk watching spectacle of Veracruz in Mexico, the year Tony was a sandpiper, Kirtland’s snakes and Billy striking out at finding urban Kirtland’s snakes, and how you can be pretty old and still be...
Sep 25, 2024•1 hr 54 min
Billy talked with author Scott Weidensaul about the wonders of bird migration and how urbanite humans can make their city habitats better for avian visitors. Topics include shorebirds, songbirds, raptors, outdoor cats, dogs, urban parks, window collisions, artificial light at night, and why bald eagles aren’t trash birds.
May 02, 2024•35 min
Tony and Billy talk with one of their urban wildlife heroes, Stan Gehrt, who has been studying Chicago’s coyotes for more than 20 years. Dr. Gehrt has just authored a new book Coyotes Among Us: Secrets of the City’s top Predator . We talk coyotes, mange, how to pronounce “coyote,” coyote predation on deer and woodchucks, which is cuter: fawns or coyote pups, coyote monogamy, how foxes and woodchucks will tell you whether there are coyotes around, urban coyote diets, why coyote attacks (rarely) h...
Mar 10, 2024•1 hr 29 min
Tony and Billy talk about one of their favorite critters, the (urban) woodchuck (a.k.a. groundhog, monax, whistle pig, etc.) and its marmot relatives around the globe. Other topics include yellow-bellied and hoary marmots; when iNaturalist makes it look like a critter has an urban distribution, but it’s really just a park next to a city; WTSHTF hobbyists who kill ratsnakes for no good reasons; groundhog day, eating woodchucks, and coyotes and woodchucks.
Feb 11, 2024•1 hr 6 min
Tony and Billy got together ostensibly to talk about urban beavers ( Castor canadensis ), but the conversation wandered far and wide, touching on such subjects as hunting and conservation, rowhouse rednecks, groom cakes, Coleman coolers, the absurdity of private land ownership, and how Tony introduced “your mom” jokes to Brazil.
Aug 15, 2023•1 hr 37 min
The biggest animal in Philadelphia (and other port cities) isn’t a deer or a coyote, it’s a fish. We talk with biologist Shannon White about Atlantic sturgeon and her research into their depressingly reduced populations . We talk about how the caviar boom of the late 1800s devastated sturgeon populations, and about how their slow life history, channelization, boat traffic, anchor dragging, and exotic species (like blue and channel catfish) work against their recovery. We talk about how people mi...
May 28, 2023•1 hr 5 min
In memory of Scott McWilliams , who passed away from brain cancer recently, we are reposting this episode from 2015 . Scott was a great Philadelphian, physician, Billy’s herping buddy and close friend, and an endlessly inquisitive naturalist.
May 28, 2023•54 min
Andrew Budziak traveled from Vancouver to St. John’s and four cities in between to photograph Canadian urban wildlife for his video series Edge of Frame . Billy and Andrew talk about the wildlife he saw and the humans too. You can watch the videos at his site or on Narcity’s YouTube channel .
Apr 08, 2023•43 min
The San Francisco garter snake (Thamnophis sirtalis tetrataenia) is shockingly beautiful and sadly endangered. It’s small range lies within the San Francisco Bay Area (no surprise there), one of the most densely populated regions of the United States. Billy is joined by Dr. Brian Halstead of the US Geological Survey to talk about the snake and the efforts to keep it from going extinct.
Mar 15, 2023•36 min
You might only think of them as paths from here to there, but roads are vast structures whose density largely defines urban areas and determine what can survive in them. Darryl Jones, author of A Clouded Leopard in the Middle of the Road , joins Billy and Tony to talk about the environmental impacts of roads and solutions to them.
Jan 29, 2023•35 min
Seattle naturalist and author David B. Williams talks with Billy about the urban nature world of Seattle, including the geology of building stone, backyard eagles, and mountain beavers. (and if anyone out there wants to do a full episode about … Continue reading →
Dec 19, 2022•33 min
There are too many white-tailed deer for forests in much of eastern North America to regenerate. Should we put them on birth control? Should we let hunters take care of the problem? Is more-intensive culling the solution? Can wolves and … Continue reading →
Sep 29, 2022•54 min
Billy’s book, Exploring Philly Nature: A Guide for All Four Seasons is out! Buy your copy ASAP! (go ahead, this podcast episode will still be here when you’re done). Tony’s got some book ideas too (and a R.A.M.B.O. album due … Continue reading →
Aug 03, 2022•35 min
(English/Español) The City Nature Challenge starts on Friday, April 29, and in this episode Billy talks with Angel Mario Hualpa Erazo of Ecuador’s Green Jewel, based in Loja in southern Ecuador. We get to know Loja, hear about Green Jewel’s … Continue reading →
Apr 28, 2022•54 min
Urbanites are starting to learn to live with predators like coyotes, bobcats, and hawks, but what about their rodent prey, like rats? We talk with political scientist and human/wildlife researcher Christian Hunold about his paper looking at rodenticide bans and … Continue reading →
Mar 15, 2022•37 min
Troy Bynum (@tb_wildlife_photography on Instagram) is Philly naturalist, wildlife photographer, and a new urban hunter. Troy talks with Billy about the experience of hunting for the first time, and they discuss issues of race and hunting.
Jan 24, 2022•20 min
Local wildlife lovers and cat lovers can all feel outgunned and overwhelmed when the national, multi-million-dollar organizations that push TNR come to town. Tulsans for Public Safety shows how one community has organized on a grassroots level to promote sound … Continue reading →
Dec 23, 2021•48 min
Billy and Tony chat about a summer spent doing urban environmental education together.
Dec 11, 2021•43 min
Learn about the neighborhood galagos and the red-banded rubber frogs of urban Zanzibar with Jonathan Richard Walz. Billy and Tony talk with Richard about the urban wildlife of this corner of East Africa as well as the impact of the … Continue reading →
Jul 12, 2021•37 min
Inspired by a conversation with past podcast guest Brad Gates, Billy, who has been vegetarian for over 25 years, is thinking about taking up urban hunting. Tony and Billy talk about the implications, ethical and ecological.
May 26, 2021•41 min
The city can be a tough place for a little bird, unless that city has lots of pine trees and cozy places to build nests. Dark eyed juncos have adapted to Los Angeles, and we’ll hear about it from ornithologist … Continue reading →
May 08, 2021•32 min
Tony and Billy talk with Tony Lee, film producer and author of The Cat that Changed America, the story of Los Angeles’ P22 mountain lion.
Apr 11, 2021•35 min
Tony and Billy talk with Singapore nature guide Ivan Kwan about wild boar, huge water monitor lizards, introduced myna birds, and what it’s like to explore nature in one of the world’s greenest cities, Singapore.
Mar 04, 2021•39 min
Philly naturalist Robin Irizarry and Billy talk with their antipodean urban bioblitz colleague Stephan Fricker about the Great Southern Bioblitz, the fall (or spring if you’re down under) counterpart to the City Nature Challenge.
Feb 17, 2021•39 min
Wherever you live, it’s time to start looking up! Billy brings his lawn chair and watches some West Philly peregrine falcons with local birder Schubert Sweat. He then talks with Peter Green about his Providence Raptors blog and book.
Jan 25, 2021•1 hr 4 min
Billy talks with Colombian biologists Sara Acosta and Rodrigo Mutis about their urban mammal coloring book, Mamíferos de Bogotá y Donde Encontrarlos (Mammals of Bogota and Where to Find Them). The episode kicks off with a summary of the conversation … Continue reading →
Dec 16, 2020•1 hr 3 min
The trash panda of Europe is also an urban critter in North America. Billy talks about fox range expansion in in North America and urban fox evolution in England with Kate Garchinsky, illustrator of the Secret Life of the Red … Continue reading →
Aug 13, 2020•42 min
We take a look at one of our most humble companions in civilization, the house mouse. Michelle Niedermeier of the Penn State Cooperative Extension’s Integrated Pest Management program joins Billy as we talk about research into how mouse genetics can help us … Continue reading →
Jun 14, 2020•36 min
Tony talks with Dr. Joshua Moody of the Partnership for the Delaware Estuary about living shorelines, which work for us (fighting erosion, helping us cope with the effects of Global Warming) while working for nature.
Jun 02, 2020•1 hr 3 min
What happens when a snake isn’t welcome in a back yard? Billy talks with Mike McGraw about a milk snake (Lampropeltis triangulum triangulum) named Lucille and how she ended up in a tank on his desk. This is a co-post … Continue reading →
May 13, 2020•37 min
