Wild With Nature
Episodes
Attacked by pygmy nuthatches - unusual behavior in the ponderosas
12 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
It's common to see mixed-species flocks in the fall and winter in the ponderosa pine forest. Nuthatches, chickadees and woodpeckers travel together, h...
Atacado por bajopalos enanos: una sorpresa en los pinos
11 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Una interacción sorprendente dentro de una bandada mixta de aves—un grupo de bajopalos enanos atacando a un carpintero albinegro mayor—resalta la...
Kochia: what this despised weed does for fall sparrows
07 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Kochia (Kochia scoparia): it's a horrible weed for North American farmers. But for fall sparrows, it's a source of food and cover. This is a the story...
Lake Helena and its amazing ducks
27 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
"Helena is very ducky," says Mark Mariano. The Butte-based ecologist has been watching fall duck migration on Lake Helena for two years now. In early ...
El Lago Helena y sus patos increíbles
27 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Los humedales son increíbles. Y los del Lago Helena, en el Estado de Montana, EE.UU., no son ninguna excepción. Desde las grullas grises, los gansos...
Stories to watch for - Helena's fall and winter birds
19 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Fall can be a bittersweet season, with so many goodbyes as the summer birds leave Montana. But the frigid months ahead are far from sterile. From Octo...
Nature Park - a special place for birds
14 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Nature Park is one of Helena, Montana's "birding hotspots." Through the seasons, birders have found an incredible 147 species of birds in this small u...
To glimpse an ancient murrelet
08 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
On September 22, a low-pressure system that had been hovering over the Pacific Ocean off of the California coast swept inland. Days after the storm pa...
Amazed by insects: a day at the Rock Creek Confluence
30 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Giant water bugs, striped meadowhawks, lyre-tipped spreadwings, green carabid beetles, mud-dauber wasps, velvet ants, assassin bugs... even the names ...
Montana's mini wildlife in the Carroll College native plant garden
24 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
It's a small, ten-year-old native plant garden on the campus of Carroll College in Helena, Montana - and it's full of Montana wildlife. Nothing as obv...
A flood of migration and a harassed peregrine falcon
16 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
It's the sort of fall day when Spokane Bay (near Helena, Montana) is covered with migrating birds and anything seems possible. A great blue heron is w...
Spokane Bay - mats of algae and hints of migration
09 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
This week's story from Spokane Bay is about bird migration and algae. The birds: yellow-rumped warblers in the willows, pelicans and mallards on the b...
A silver shimmer on the water - the Gyrinus whirligig beetles
09 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
They ripple over the water in a shimmery silver school... BEETLES! They're whirligig beetles in the genus Gyrinus, and hundreds upon hundreds of them ...
Uncommonly noisy hoppers - the Great Basin crackler (Circotettix undulatus)
04 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The Great Basin crackler isn’t just any grasshopper: the males have an incredibly loud, aerial snapping song. Why do they make this noise - and how?...
Getting to know western aster (Symphyotrichum ascendens)
04 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
It’s a patch of pale purple among late summer’s dry crested wheatgrass. How can we recognize this native aster - and what pollinators does it supp...
Changes in the air - confronting burnout, starting a podcast
03 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
This episode is about the writing process: why I write, how I hope this writing will serve you, and what to do when that isn't working. In late August...
Five late-summer wildflowers and the complex world of their bees
03 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Kate Wilburn's urban Missoula, Montana yard is an oasis of native plants and fruit trees in the middle of the city. Is this yard providing habitat for...
Sevenmile Creek - restoring a stream and tracking its birds
03 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
This episode is an in-depth look at a stream restoration project and the birds that this habitat supports in early August. From eastern kingbirds and ...
Fly killer, bee lover - the secret life of Mentzelia decapetala
03 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Mentzelia decapetala, ten-petal blazingstar, is a mysterious plant. Covered in barbed hairs, it impales small, soft-bodied insects, holding them until...
Bumblebees of Helena - getting to know our fuzzy neighbors
03 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
This episode is a mid-summer dive into Helena, Montana's bumblebees and the flowers that they favor. During this day of bumblebee observation, we caug...
Creatures in the milkweed - searching for Montana's monarchs
02 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In western Montana, monarch butterflies seem rare. But where there are patches of showy milkweed (Asclepias speciosa), it's still possible to get up-c...
Full of life - a morning in the sagebrush
02 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In July 2022, I spent a morning immersed in the life of a big sagebrush shrubland (Artemisia tridentata) near Silver City, Montana. This episode featu...
Migration and change in late August at western Montana's Spokane Bay
02 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
At Spokane Bay, near Helena, Montana, fall songbird migration is beginning. Yellow-rumped warblers and Wilson's warblers are passing through, stocking...
Building trust with prairie dogs
31 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In July, I spent a morning getting to know a prairie dog town in the Helena Valley. This episode is an exploration of prairie dogs - along with the an...
Into the night on furry wings
29 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
This is the story of a male Polyphemus moth (Antheraea polyphemus). I found him in October, hanging from a goldenrod stem near a stream. Over the wint...
Volando por la noche en alas vellosas
29 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Encontré el capullo de la polilla de seda por primera vez en octubre, colgando de un tallo cerca de un arroyo pequeño. Lo observé a través del inv...
How to attract more bees - plant milkvetch
28 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Two-groove milkvetch (Astragalus bisulcatus) is an enigma: a beautiful native plant, it's also a toxic selenium-accumulator. For Pollinator Week 2022,...
This horrible weed feeds pollinators
28 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Leafy spurge (Euphorbia esula): it's a much-hated, non-native plant, listed as a noxious weed by the State of Montana. But surprisingly, it's also a h...
Back to Devil's Elbow: Life on the Margins
25 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Nesting Brewer’s sparrows are rare in the Helena Valley of west-central Montana. But five years ago, I found four of them singing from a small patch...
Life at Plant Speed - a Close Look at One Hilltop
25 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The only way to understand a grassland is to get up close and personal with it. In June 2022, I did exactly that. Marisa Diaz-Waian invited me to take...
Lunch on the Fly - A Bird's-eye View of Chokecherries
23 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Many of our insect-eating birds love to forage in chokecherries. But what are they catching? In June of 2022, I took a close look and tried to find ou...