Critter Chat

Humans have evolved alongside snakes since our earliest existence. From then to Eve’s story and countless myths, snakes have created mystery, fear and folklore within our minds. Now in this modern age equipped with the latest scientific data about rattlesnakes, our awareness is changing towards a more peaceful co-existence. Rattlesnakes bite primarily to capture their main meals, small animals lik...

Why is the Caddisfly a favorite of some nature lovers? Is it their clever engineering of silk? Their essential role as stream garbage cleaners? Maybe it’s the artistic houses they create using stream artifacts, or their role as a favorite fish snack? So many reasons to appreciate this incredible millions-of-years-old native.  Critter Chat hosts Susan Brandt and Marney Blair take a field trip to Li...

With Spring comes wildlife emergencies anew. Unfortunately, it's us humans who are often the cause of these emergencies. In this episode, we are pleased to welcome two guests to Critter Chat to help us think carefully about living around wildlife as they have their offspring.  Wildlife rescue expert Christy Berger of Gold Country Wildlife Rescue tells us about the challenges this critical non-prof...

What is it about Jumping spiders that have people intrigued? Is it their big beguiling eyes that look back at you, or their furry bodies? The entertaining way they stand on garden hoses waving their arms to attract a mate?  If you haven’t experienced any of these qualities of a Jumping spider, then here is one of life’s enchantments that may await you on this wonderful spinning globe.   Jumping sp...

Rocky Raccoon stars in Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy , a scrappy, genius, tinkering with tools to solve problems of the universe. It’s not surprising that our raccoon neighbors inspired this character as these adorably masked nocturnal critters solve the trickiest problems to access food and shelter.  In this episode, Critter Chat talks with cognitive ecologist Dr. Lauren Stanton, UC Berkeley a...

Our guest is acclaimed poet Una Kobrin, author of Words Between Darkness & Light , who will share some of her poems about stags, crickets, cows and hummingbirds to give us a new perspective on sharing the earth with these wonderful beings. 

With the rainy season upon us in the Sierra Nevada foothills, a critter emerges to look for his mate. The Rain Beetle, a species related to the Scarab, a beetle symbolizing restoration, rebirth and good luck in ancient Egyptian culture, makes its first appearance with the early rains. Possessing a chunky body that can tolerate colder weather and “eyelashes” to sense its surroundings, this beetle l...

The sleek and secretive fisher, doesn’t fish or even like to swim. This beautiful mammal is a cousin of the weasel, otter and badger, living in old growth forests, having their kits in cavities of trees under lush forest canopies, moving quickly on forest floors and traveling miles via creek corridors. Though endangered in the Sierra Nevada mountains, experts use hidden cameras and tracking collar...

What’s your first thought when you think of a Turkey Vulture? Without putting any more negative thoughts out there about these important birds, Critter Chat challenges you to get on the Turkey Vulture bandwagon and consider joining the Turkey Vulture fan club. How about embracing the facts that Turkey Vultures clean up animal carcasses while cleansing the environment of disease all while possessin...

Critter Chat hosts Susan Brandt and Marney Blair talk with Christy Berger of Gold Country Wildlife Rescue, an important non-profit organization founded in 1991 and which continues to expand its work to help the wild animals living amongst a growing population of people in Placer and Nevada counties in California  and beyond.  Berger wears many hats at this non-profit as a volunteer, treasurer and...

When the California Dogface butterfly was officially made the California state insect by then governor Ronald Reagan in 1972, the children who pushed to make that happen were delighted. At the time, the Dogface butterfly was a common sight in Southern California. Today, this beautiful butterfly can be hard to find, but thanks to Placer Land Trust, they have been found in Auburn, California.  In th...

How much do we know about the native Foothill Yellow-legged Frog? Living in open, sunny and shady areas of the Sierra Nevada rivers and streams, they are cleverly camouflaged as they sit on river rocks sometimes broadcasting low pitched calls in the air and underwater. On this show podcast listeners will hear from Kevin Wiseman, an expert who has studied this particular frog for over 20 years. As...

Critter Chat hosts Marney Blair and Susan Brandt interview the program director and biologist of Wolf Creek Community Alliance, Kristen Hein Strohm. Listeners will hear about the Wolf Creek watershed and some of the critters that call Wolf Creek their home. With its diverse assemblage of plants and animals, Wolf Creek begins above Grass Valley, California, flows through the city, turns roughly sou...

Image credit: Bobcat © Henry Colletto, courtesy Rachel Roberts, CDFW Bobcats are our native felines living around us in the Sierra Nevada and across the country. They are as beautiful as they are elusive — and considering how much we love our domestic cats — why not get to appreciate our native wildcats? On this show, KVMR and podcast listeners will hear from the experts who have studied and logge...

Celebrate World Aquatic Animal Day  Get to Know Your Local Riffle Sculpins  Raise your hand if you’ve heard of the Riffle Sculpin! This local bottom-dwelling fish is a mystery to many, but these fish can be found all over the rivers and streams of the Sierra. This prehistoric-looking fish fascinates those who study them - why are they important? Get to know this local aquatic animal -  a great way...

Critter Chat - Episode 12 - The Steller’s Jay The Steller’s Jay, the gregarious azure-feathered bird, is the focus on this episode of Critter Chat. Steller’s Jays are hard to miss - their “shek shek shek" call and perky personalities. They are our neighbors in the Sierra Nevada, but how well do we really know them?  Steller’s Jays have long been regarded as a sentinel bird in the world of wildlife...

Critter Chat Celebrates the Year of the Snake with the California Mountain Kingsnake Starting the 2025 season having recently won KVMR’s prestigious Award for Excellence in Public Affairs and Community Service Programming , Critter Chat hosts and producers Marney Blair and Susan Brandt celebrate the Year of the Snake with the king of snakes, the California Mountain Kingsnake. Found in the mountain...

Naturalist, Author, Artist John Muir Laws and Biologist Ramiro Aragon  Describe the Magnificence of The Great Gray Owl Critter Chat hosts and producers Marney Blair and Susan Brandt are delighted to present this ninth episode featuring the Great Gray Owl - the largest owl in California and North America. But did you know a subspecies lives in the Sierra Nevada?  In conjunction with the launch of J...

In Critter Chat episode 8, hosts Marney Blair and Susan Brandt chat with Dr. David Herbst of the Sierra Streams Institute at Little Deer Creek in Pioneer Park in Nevada City as he dredged up an aquatic critter living in the sediment of the stream, a little dragonfly nymph. While we spend many hours of our lives pondering the agile aerial flyer that is the dragonfly, we rarely get to see the early...

In 2023 the California legislature voted to make the Pallid bat (antrozous pallidus), the only flying mammal, a symbol of California. Bat biologist Dr. Dave Johnston has studied the Pallid bat for over 40 years and was the first to make the suggestion that this unusually golden-furred bat be the one to represent the Golden State. Then with the help of ninth grader and bat enthusiast, Naomi d’Aless...

A survivor of six ice ages, the Sierra Nevada Bighorn Sheep, with populations documented living 300,000 years ago, is now on the endangered species list. These majestic animals struggle on in small numbers, braving the highest peaks and harshest winters in the eastern Sierra Nevada mountains. What do we know about these herds of hidden mountaineers? What are the experts saying as to their populati...

Photo: © Annica Kreuter/Project Coyote Join hosts Susan Brandt and Marney Blair as they chat about the incredibly beautiful, adaptable and clever coyotes that live amongst us in rural, suburban and urban areas. But how much do we really know about them?  Guests on the show include: Marc Bekoff , professor emeritus of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and a fo...

Join Marney and Susan as the get to know bumblebees and the Western Bumble Bee. Photo : Western Bumble Bee, Jeremy Gatten, US Fish & Wildlife Thanks to our guests on the show: Helen Loffland, a Meadow Bird Specialist, she received her B.S. in Wildlife Biology from the University of California Davis, and her M.S. in Biology from California State University Sacramento. She has spent the last 20...

The Sierra Newt, a charismatic, long-living amphibian found in the Sierra Nevada forests and streams, is the focus of the experts featured in this show. Learn about these amazing creatures, their movement, their living spaces and behavior.

Known as the "clown of the forest," the Acorn Woodpecker is an essential species in the Oak and Pine forests of  the Sierra Nevada mountains and foothills. In this show we will talk with some experts who teach us some great information about these beautiful birds. Photo: Acorn woodpecker (Melanerpes formicivorus bairdi) holding a nut in its beak on the campus of California State University, Chico....