Urban Wildlife Podcast
118 episodes - English - Latest episode: about 2 months ago - ★★★★ - 56 ratingsHomepage Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed
Episodes
Urban Coyotes with Stan Gehrt
March 10, 2024 21:49 - 1 hour - 70.9 MBTony 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 … Continue reading →
It’s Always Groundhog Day
February 11, 2024 19:24 - 1 hour - 60.1 MBTony 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 … Continue reading →
Tony and Billy Catch up and Opine on Beavers, Hunting & Conservation, and Land.
August 15, 2023 01:19 - 1 hour - 77.5 MBTony 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, … Continue reading →
Charismatic Mega Fish Fauna
May 28, 2023 12:43 - 1 hour - 52 MBThe 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 … Continue reading →
Chasing the Urban Exotic Episode Repost (In Memory of Scott McWilliams)
May 28, 2023 12:28 - 54 minutes - 43.4 MBIn 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.
Harbor Seals to Whales, Everything in Between
April 08, 2023 01:28 - 42 minutes - 34.1 MBAndrew 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 … Continue reading →
The Most Beautiful Snake in the Country
March 15, 2023 01:31 - 36 minutes - 29.1 MBThe 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 … Continue reading →
The Tyranny of Roads (and what to do about it)
January 29, 2023 16:31 - 35 minutes - 28.2 MBYou 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 … Continue reading →
Post Office Fossils and Mountain Beavers
December 19, 2022 01:52 - 32 minutes - 26.2 MBSeattle 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 →
What do to about deer?
September 29, 2022 01:15 - 53 minutes - 43.2 MBThere 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 →
Book Talk: Exploring Philly Nature and BEYOND!
August 03, 2022 12:57 - 35 minutes - 28 MBBilly’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 →
City Nature Challenge and Urban Biodiversity in Southern Ecuador
April 28, 2022 14:08 - 53 minutes - 43.2 MB(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 →
Save the Rats
March 15, 2022 14:27 - 37 minutes - 29.8 MBUrbanites 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 →
A New Urban Hunter
January 24, 2022 11:58 - 20 minutes - 16.2 MBTroy 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.
A New Hope: Advocating for Wildlife, Cats, and People in Tulsa
December 23, 2021 15:17 - 47 minutes - 38.3 MBLocal 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 →
Best Summer Ever
December 11, 2021 11:39 - 42 minutes - 34 MBBilly and Tony chat about a summer spent doing urban environmental education together.
Wildlife of Urban Zanzibar
July 12, 2021 11:22 - 36 minutes - 29.4 MBLearn 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 →
Should Billy Take Up Hunting?
May 26, 2021 12:13 - 40 minutes - 32.7 MBInspired 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.
Juncos Take Los Angeles
May 08, 2021 18:10 - 32 minutes - 25.7 MBThe 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 →
The Cat that Changed America
April 11, 2021 19:31 - 35 minutes - 28.3 MBTony and Billy talk with Tony Lee, film producer and author of The Cat that Changed America, the story of Los Angeles’ P22 mountain lion.
Singapore Wildlife
March 04, 2021 22:10 - 39 minutes - 31.6 MBTony 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.
Great Southern Bioblitz!
February 17, 2021 02:40 - 38 minutes - 31 MBPhilly 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.
Urban Falcons
January 25, 2021 19:15 - 1 hour - 51.2 MBWherever 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.
Mammals of Bogota and Where to Find Them
December 16, 2020 12:04 - 1 hour - 50.2 MBBilly 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 →
The Red Fox
August 13, 2020 15:54 - 42 minutes - 34 MBThe 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 →
Mouse History is Human History
June 14, 2020 15:44 - 36 minutes - 29 MBWe 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 →
Bringing Shorelines back to Life
June 02, 2020 02:33 - 1 hour - 50.2 MBTony 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.
Triangulum Translocation: Lucille’s Story (UWP + Herpin’ Ain’t Easy)
May 13, 2020 01:48 - 37 minutes - 29.7 MBWhat 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 →
Dead Porcupines Count! City Nature Challenge 2020
April 21, 2020 10:44 - 25 minutes - 20.8 MBHow do you do an urban international bioblitz during a pandemic? Navin Sasikumar, Robin Irizarry, and Billy talk about the City Nature Challenge 2020 and how we can all take part on our own, together. (here’s that dead porcupine video) … Continue reading →
Spotted Lantern Flies & Japanese Beetles: Invaders FTW!, (For The W.O.N.)
February 27, 2020 02:48 - 1 hour - 58.2 MBSmash invasive spotted lantern flies with Billy and Michelle Niedermeier of Penn State’s Community Integrated Pest Management program. Billy talks about the Japanese beetle invasion a century ago (working off Ken Frank’s paper about the topic), and we (joined by … Continue reading →
Urban Boars (and Hogs Go Wild)
October 19, 2019 10:46 - 29 minutes - 23.9 MBOur domestic pig’s wild Eurasian cousins enjoy urban living all the way from Spain to Japan. Billy and Tony talk about urban boar and the increasingly urban feral hogs on their own continent. They also discuss the research of Barcelona’s … Continue reading →
Science vs. the Cat Hoarders
October 04, 2019 20:23 - 41 minutes - 33.6 MBIs science a match for the pathological passions of the bighearted but monomaniacal people who maintain outdoor cats? We talk with the Urban Wildlands Group‘s Dr. Travis Longcore, whose critique of “trap-neuter-release” (TNR) is still one of the best out … Continue reading →
Moth Night Every Night!
September 05, 2019 11:18 - 49 minutes - 39.7 MBUrban night life isn’t just about bars, clubs, and theater. When night falls, the bugs fly. Tag along with Billy and Ken Frank (author of the Ecology of Center City Philadelphia) as they have a moth night in Billy’s community … Continue reading →
More Squash Bees!
July 26, 2019 01:27 - 24 minutes - 19.8 MBDo you like pumpkin pie? Thank the pollinators who make squash (fruit of members of the genus Cucurbita) possible. But don’t thank a honeybee, look to the squash bee, Peponapis pruinosa, a solitary bee that, centuries ago, followed the original … Continue reading →
Black Beasts of the Urban Wild
July 12, 2019 10:25 - 58 minutes - 33.5 MBWhite whales don’t have to be white. Billy and Tony talk with Brad Gates (hunter and bear wrangler extraordinaire) about the culmination of years-long personal urban wildlife quests: a black rat snake for Billy and a black bear for Tony. … Continue reading →
London Plane Trees: More than Just the Hostas of Street Trees?
June 25, 2019 23:47 - 44 minutes - 36 MBResearch Ecologist Lara Roman and Arborist Jason Lubar try to convince Billy that London Plane Trees aren’t just taking up space better used for more interesting trees in the urban canopy. Recording outside on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, they are … Continue reading →
Cape Town Kicked Our Butts
June 07, 2019 01:37 - 40 minutes - 32.8 MBTony and Billy talk about the City Nature Challenge 2019 and hear from four other participating cities: Kelly O’Donnell from NYC, Peter Kleinhenz (remember him from Right Under Our Noses?) from Tallahassee, and John Starmer from Maui, AND we hear … Continue reading →
Kenya Honeymoon Part 2
April 15, 2019 10:49 - 25 minutes - 20.1 MBTony and Angie covered a lot of topics with their guide Dominic, and we’ve split off some of the non-urban-wildlife topics in this Part 2, namely Dominic’s fascinating life growing up Samburu Maasai plus more about the Maasai’s place in … Continue reading →
Kenya Honeymoon Part 1
April 15, 2019 10:48 - 26 minutes - 21.3 MBTony (and of course Angie) went on safari for their honeymoon. They spent most of their time out in the bush, but that didn’t stop them from observing urban wildlife when they were in cities and talking about marabou storks, … Continue reading →
Is It More Than Just Pigeons?
March 13, 2019 13:53 - 55 minutes - 44.4 MBWhat does the non-human community of a city look like? Is it the same species everywhere (pigeons, dandelions, bridge spiders, yawn) or does the wildlife from the surrounding area show up? We hear from Dr. Misha Leong of the California … Continue reading →
Urban Creeps: BugScope Crossover!
February 11, 2019 11:16 - 48 minutes - 44.6 MBBilly joins entomologist and bug ambassador Isa Betancourt on her BugScope Periscope cast to talk about urban snakes. We focus on urban garter snakes from Philadelphia to Mexico City, but Billy fits in a few Philly milk snakes too. Be sure … Continue reading →
Botanical Time Machine: Mid-Atlantic Megalopolis Digitization Project
January 25, 2019 12:18 - 45 minutes - 36.4 MBTony and Billy are back after a hiatus, talking about Tony’s new house next to a trail head and the urban raptors you happen to see while counter-protesting fascists. Then (at around 27 min) we hear from Dr. Cynthia Skema the … Continue reading →
We’re Gonna Kick Tokyo’s Ass
November 22, 2018 18:57 - 37 minutes - 25.5 MBThe 2019 City Nature Challenge is a competitive urban bioblitz. Tony and Billy talk about the CNC and Philadelphia’s plans after talking about Tony’s new rescued cat (about 15 min). We also go through a grab bag of fun urban … Continue reading →
Wildlife Rescue in the City, Part 2
October 09, 2018 01:05 - 20 minutes - 16.4 MBWhat do we owe the animals that live around us? Do we spend money on animals when there are humans in need? Do we feed animals to animals to save animals? We tackle the tough questions as we wrap up … Continue reading →
Wildlife Rescue in the City, Part 1
October 09, 2018 01:04 - 37 minutes - 30.2 MBWhat do we owe the animals that live around us? Do we spend money on animals when there are humans in need? Do we feed animals to animals to save animals? We tackle the tough questions as we wrap up … Continue reading →
Bat Rescue
September 27, 2018 01:48 - 32 minutes - 26 MBHow can you use up 50,000 meal worms per week? Try rescuing injured and sick bats. In this latest post on our series on wildlife rescue and rehab, Tony talks to Stephanie Stronsick of PA Bat Rescue (along with podcast … Continue reading →
Where to Put Toilet- and Backyard-Snakes (Part 2)
September 06, 2018 02:18 - 30 minutes - 24.7 MBSo you find a snake in your backyard, or your kitchen, or your toilet. Who do you call? And what do THEY do with the snake? In this episode we talk with Yatin Kalki, snake rescuer interested in harnessing snake … Continue reading →
Where to put Toilet- and Backyard-Snakes (Part 1)
September 06, 2018 02:17 - 31 minutes - 24.8 MBSo you find a snake in your backyard, or your kitchen, or your toilet. Who do you call? And what do THEY do with the snake? In this episode we talk with Yatin Kalki, snake rescuer interested in harnessing snake … Continue reading →
Native? Exotic? Do We Care? Squash Bees
August 06, 2018 02:05 - 44 minutes - 30.3 MBEntomologist and urban bee specialist Doug Sponsler joins Billy and Tony early in the morning in a community garden spot in West Philadelphia to observe squash bees and talk about what counts as native. Squash are not strictly native to … Continue reading →
Taking Peregrines to the People
July 27, 2018 11:26 - 29 minutes - 23.3 MBTony and Billy take to the field… the Philadelphia neighborhood of Manayunk to observe the peregrine falcons of St. John the Baptist’s steeple. We talk urban raptors and perform incidental urban wildlife outreach with the neighbors. If you like this … Continue reading →