Buzz Blossom & Squeak — Be a Neighborhood Naturalist

The second I start mowing, trimming, or dragging branches around my yard, I get company — robins, sparrows, cardinals, all showing up like they’ve been waiting for me to start. There’s a genuinely fun explanation for why, and it turns out I’ve been running a temporary buffet this whole time without fully realizing it. Disturb the Ground, Feed the Birds. Mowing, raking, and digging expose the hidde...

My friend and I were out at our local federal marsh when we spotted brown-headed cowbirds, a black-billed cuckoo, and a yellow-billed cuckoo — all in the same outing. Three birds with three very different levels of commitment to the same strategy: letting someone else raise your kids. That’s the whole episode right there. The Spectrum of Commitment. Not all brood parasites operate the same way. Th...

That bird that acts like it owns your entire backyard? It probably does — and it has good reasons for the attitude. While camping last month, I watched a string of bird fights break out around my campsite, and it got me wondering: what are they actually fighting about? It turns out bird aggression isn’t random at all. It follows rules, and once you know what to look for, you’ll start seeing the lo...

Nobody loves the possum. That’s kind of the point. The hissing, the drooling, the naked scaly tail, the teeth — all fifty of them — and the dramatic habit of passing out and smelling like death when startled. None of this is doing the possum any favors in the public opinion department. But here’s what most people don’t know: that possumwandering through your backyard at night may be one of the bes...

If the Appalachians are ancient, rounded, and quiet — worn down by hundreds of millions of years — then what are the Rockies? The answer is: still under construction. This episode picks up where the eastern geography series left off, and heads west into some of the most dramatic, geologically active, and ecologically distinct landscapes on the continent. Young Mountains and the Rain Shadow That Ma...

North America doesn't just look remarkable — it is remarkable, and not in a flag-waving way. In this episode of Buzz, Blossom & Squeak, I want to take you on a deep-time journey across the continent and show you how the landscape beneath your feet was shaped by forces that most of us never think about. This is the older history, written in rock, ice, and river — and you can read it in everythi...

Last week on a camping trip, I had three moments that made me laugh out loud — and then sent me down a rabbit hole about one of nature's most entertaining and overlooked stories. A young downy woodpecker was earnestly pecking a metal pole. A juvenile blue jay locked eyes with me and immediately fled in apparent horror. And on a snag in the woods, a baby barred owl stood hollering for its mother li...

In July 2023, a volunteer doing routine piping plover counts at a Wisconsin wildlife area saw a flash of pink out of the corner of his eye. He stopped. He looked again. He started making phone calls. What he was looking at was a roseate spoonbill — a large, flamingo-pink wading bird with a spatula-shaped bill — last confirmed in the state in 1845. Within days, birders were driving from hundreds of...

Why does the sky turn green when a tornado is coming? Why do storm clouds go black? And what does a 19th-century volcanic eruption in Indonesia have to do with one of the most famous paintings in the world? In this episode of Buzz, Blossom & Squeak, we finish our spectrometry series by bringing it closest to home — reading the colors of the sky itself, and learning what they’re telling us. The...

Why is Lake Superior almost black on a stormy day and impossibly blue on a calm one? Why does the Caribbean look turquoise when it's made of the same H2O? And what's happening when glacier ice glows that eerie deep blue inside a crevasse? Water doesn't have a color the way a cardinal has red feathers. What we see when we look at water is physics in action — selective absorption, light scattering,...

We've never touched Mars. We've never scooped up Pluto's frost or sifted through Jupiter's cloud layers. And yet scientists can describe the chemistry of every planet in our solar system with remarkable precision. This episode is about how that's possible — and why the colors you see when you look up at the night sky are some of the most information-rich things in the universe. The Philosopher Who...

What if you could know what something is made of — without ever touching it? That's not science fiction. It's spectrometry, and it's one of the most quietly extraordinary tools in all of science. In this first episode of a short series, we explore how light carries chemical fingerprints, what a high school flame test has in common with detecting helium on the sun, and why my dad's aircraft engine...

Spring doesn't arrive in a single moment — it arrives in layers, and phenology is the science of noticing the order. There's a name for what farmers, hunters, and naturalists have practiced for centuries: tracking when nature shows up. And it turns out you can start doing it right now, with nothing more than a notebook. What Phenology Is Phenology is the study of cyclic and seasonal natural events...

Duck season is here — and ducks are confusing. If you've ever stood at the edge of a pond going completely blank while trying to name what you're looking at, this episode is for you. I'm launching a new series called Birds That Fool You, and we're starting with ducks: how to build a reliable ID strategy and how to sort out the most commonly confused pairs. Color Is a Trap — Shape Is Reliable Most...

You've heard the dawn chorus — but have you heard the dusk chorus? Step outside at sunset and a whole different world comes alive. In this episode, Jill heads out to a Wisconsin oak savanna just before dark and witnesses something spectacular: the American Woodcock sky dance, the haunting winnowing of a Wilson's Snipe, and eight woodcocks performing courtship displays just feet away. Best of all,...

Have you ever woken up at five in the morning, stepped outside into the cold and the dark, and heard a single bird start to sing — and then another, and then another, until the whole world seemed to be answering? That's the dawn chorus. And once you've really heard it, you'll never take a quiet morning for granted again. What Is the Dawn Chorus? The dawn chorus is a surge of bird song that builds...

Spring fever is real — and it turns out every creature in the natural world has it too. In this episode I'm exploring the very first thing each animal does the moment winter releases its grip. From frogsicles thawing in vernal ponds to bumblebee queens hunting for a home underground, nature wastes absolutely no time. Frogsicles and Spring Peepers Wood frogs freeze solid over winter — no heartbeat,...

Step outside with me for a minute. The grass is still brown and undecided. There are patches of snow on the north side of the fence. The ground is soft on top but frozen just a few inches down. Nothing looks alive — but it really, truly is. Somewhere near your foundation, by the mailbox, wherever the snow melted first, something is already blooming. And something with wings is already looking for...

I walk past feathers all the time — on the trail, in my yard, floating across the floor when my bird molts — and I'll be honest, I never gave them a second thought. But when you actually stop and look at what a feather is , you realize you've been walking past one of the most complex, precisely engineered structures in the entire animal kingdom. Today we're getting into all of it, and I promise yo...

Have you ever watched a dog eat something off the ground and thought — I would be in the hospital right now? Or stared at a koala stuffing eucalyptus leaves into its face and wondered how that's even possible? Today I'm digging into one of those questions that just sits with you — why can animals eat things we simply can't? The answer is genuinely fascinating, and once you understand it, you'll se...

How did watching the sky turn into the calendar on the wall and the clock we check every day? This episode explores how ancient sky observations evolved into the structured systems of time we now take for granted. ⏳ Time Before Clocks Long before digital watches and printed planners, humans looked to the sky. The rising and setting of the sun, the phases of the moon, and the shifting constellatio...

Winter isn’t empty—it’s stocked with hidden food. Berries are nature’s survival pantry when everything else disappears. Look closer, and you’ll see winter is very much alive. This episode explores why berries are one of the most overlooked yet essential food sources in nature, especially during winter. While the landscape may look barren, berry-bearing trees and shrubs are quietly sustaining birds...

Every snowfall writes a story across the ground. Each footprint is a clue left behind by a hidden neighbor. All you have to do is slow down and learn how to read it. This episode explores how winter snow turns the outdoors into a living field guide. By paying attention to tracks left behind by animals, it becomes possible to uncover where they traveled, how fast they moved, and what they were tryi...

In this episode, we explore the remarkable diversity of snow and ice, uncovering the hidden science and sensory experiences behind winter weather. From the light crunch of fresh powder underfoot to the glassy threat of black ice, snow isn't just snow—it’s a constantly shifting part of life in the Northwoods. Whether you ski, hike, or just appreciate winter’s beauty, this episode will help you noti...

Why Orion Is the Coolest Constellation in the Sky In this episode, we explore the majestic constellation Orion—why it's a favorite, how it acts as a celestial guide, and what makes it so scientifically and culturally significant. From its seasonal appearances in the northern hemisphere to its use in navigation and its dynamic stellar structures, Orion offers both beauty and depth. This episode is...