Walkin' on the Wild Side

It's that time of year and Christmas is just around the corner!  One of the symbols of Christmas is mistletoe and it is actually a fascinating plant and it's pretty interesting how it became a symbol of Christmas.  Join Marvin and Gabrielle as they usher in the holidays and spread Christmas cheer with some interesting facts about this amazing little plant.  Here's some websites for...

It's time for another episode of Walkin' on the Wild Side!  This time, Gabrielle and I are talking about the successful reintroduction of Elk in the Southeast.  Hunted into extinction in the 1700's and 1800's, this second largest member of the deer family has been reintroduced to North Carolina in the 2000's, but not without headaches and issues.  Join us as we chat about...

Our final two days in Iceland are packed adventures and experiences as we go from Selfloss to Keflavik.  We went through a National Park, experienced a few more waterfalls, geysers, and interesting history.  We also baked bread in volcanic soil, took in a few more spas, and got up close and personal at the historic fissure and lava eruption on the Reykjanes Peninsula.  What a great trip and once i...

Welcome back to Walkin' on the Wild Side!  We continue our adventure on the Ring Road in Iceland, from the northern area of Husavik to the southeastern town of Hofn.  We go from snowy fields to glaciers, icebergs, and volcanic beaches.  Join us to learn more about this beautiful country that truly is the land of ice and fire!  From hot geothermal fields, volcanic lava fields, and lava caves,...

We took a vacation and are back to share our adventures with you.  Gabrielle and I travelled to Iceland, the land of Fire and Ice!  Join us along our trip as we travel the Ring Road and experience the vast, rugged, and beautiful land with mountains, waterfalls, geysers, glaciers, and more.  Part one takes to the western coast all the way up to the northern-most part of Iceland.  This section was f...

It's time for a little different episode of Walkin' on the Wild Side!  Join Marvin and Gabrielle for a foraging adventure to harvest, cook, and have Gabrielle try stinging nettle, a choice wild edible.  This nutritious wild plant needs to be harvested with care and positive identification, but once you do, you'll have a tasty green for the table!  We talk about harvesting this plant...

We're back for another episode of Walkin' on the Wild Side!  It's the time of year that we are starting to get hints of Fall and many animal behaviors are starting to change with the seasons.  Birds are migrating, squirrels are getting busy, but I always thing of the industrious beaver this time of year!  The careful observer who has beavers in the area will notice more activity fro...

Hi and welcome back to Walkin' on the Wild Side!  This episode, we're going to the coast (figuratively) and talking about one of the rarest marine mammals, the northern right whale.  Taken to the brink of extinction by the whaling industry, this slow moving, surface dwelling whale faces an uncertain future as population numbers compromised during whaling continue to decline due to modern...

It's time for another episode of Walkin' on the Wild Side!  We have had a lot of rain lately and while sitting on the back porch during a heavy thunderstorm, Gabrielle and I thought back to 2021 for our episode on box turtles.  With all the rain we've been having, box turtles are once again on the move, and that means they are crossing roads and in danger of getting hit.  To remind...

It's time for another episode of Walkin' on the Wild Side and this time, we're talking about a really cool snake that deserves an Oscar for it's unique defensive abilities.  We're talking about the hognose snake!  Join Marvin and Gabrielle on the back porch on a hot and humid evening chatting about this amazing little snake that has very specialized feeding habits, but it&...

It's time for another episode of Walkin' on the Wild Side!  Join Gabrielle and Marvin on the back porch as we talk about that master of mimicry, the northern mockingbird.  Join us and learn more about this "prolific polyglot" and hopefully develop a little appreciation and fondness for this tenacious, territorial, bold, and vociferous bird of backyards, neighborhoods, parks, an...

It's time for another episode of Walkin' on the Wild Side and this episode literally fell from the sky for Gabrielle and I!  We are fortunate to have a family of Red-shouldered hawks living in our woods and they put on a show recently, literally waking Gabrielle up with their loud shrieking.  So we figured, why not dedicate an episode to these awesome birds?  Join us out on the back porc...

Hey everyone, it's time for another episode of Walkin' on the Wild Side!  This time, tragedy at with our screech owl family prompted us an opportunity to talk about the sometimes seemingly "cruel" side of Mother Nature.  Join Marvin and Gabrielle on the back porch to talk about the often misidentified, misunderstood, and sometimes just plain despised eastern rat snakes.  They h...

Hey Everyone!  I  know we've done a podcast on cicadas earlier, but I couldn't help myself, I had to focus on the magical periodic cicadas.  I'm flying solo for this episode, so join me on the back porch "studio" for a "magical" episode.  The 13 year cicadas are emerging and making a lot of noise, so tune in and learn about these amazing arthropods and what is th...

Hey everyone!  Join us for a podcast on location during an "impromptu" trip to San Antonio!  Join Marvin and Gabrielle as they chat about the beautiful city of San Antonio, Texas.    Over a weekend, we found ourselves right smack in the middle of the largest festival of the year and during our time, make some startling discoveries, catch a few breaks, and experience some amazing food, cu...

Gabrielle is back in the podcast chair and this time, we're talking about my favorite owl, the Eastern Screech Owl ( Megascops asio ) .   These little owls may be small, but they are fierce and formidable predators that keep our rodent and insect population in check!  Join us on our back porch "podcast studio" and learn more about our travels this spring, interesting facts and new i...

Well, with Gabrielle traveling, I had to do this podcast on my own, but I'm not flying solo, I have a special guest!  Join Dr. Steve Fields and I on location from the Museum of York County for a fabulous exhibit and discussion about the Pleistocene Epoch in the Carolinas.  It's hard to believe that there were mammoths, terror birds, cheetahs, giant porcupine, ground sloths and more, but...

We're back!  After a little "hiatus" due to technical issues (love today's technology), we're kicking off 2024 with a new podcast on the fantastic frozen frog.  Wood frogs are small little frogs with some incredible adaptations to allow them a competitive advantage, such as explosive breeding, early mating periods, and the amazing ability to be frozen solid.  Yep, that&apo...

It's time for another episode, this time from our new podcast studio, aka, our new back porch!  After traipsing for truffles, we go back to all things nature and explore the incredible acrobatic and speed demons, the falcons.  Join Marvin and Gabrielle to learn more about these incredibly specialized birds of prey, falconry, and the bioinspirations and biomimicry that lead to jumps in technol...

Join Marvin and Gabrielle for a Walk on the Wild Side in the hills of Tuscany!  For this episode, the Bouknights took to the hills to indulge in the tradition of truffle hunting.  We joined an amazing organization to learn about truffles, and how they are traditionally harvested using good ol' fashioned hard work.  Traipsing through the hillside with a trusty and well trained 4-legged compani...

We recently visited Italy for the incredible Slow Food Cheese 2023 festival in Bra, Italy, spending time in the Piemonte region of Italy, located in the northwest of Italy.  Join us on this departure from our nature-based podcasts and experience Part 2 of our visit to Italy that found us traveling by train to the Ligurian Sea and the 5 villages of Cinque Terre!  Once there, they took to the hills...

It's time for another episode of Walkin' on the Wild Side and this episode is a 3-parter that we wanted to share with you!  Gabrielle and I travelled to Italy for the Interational Cheese Festival in Bra, and then to Cinque Terre, Florence, and the Tuscan Countryside.  For our first episode, we take you into the heart of the largest artisan cheese festival in the world, focusing on the ar...

With the days getting shorter, and temperatures giving us hints of cooler weather, Fall is right around the corner!  Most are looking forward to the Fall colors but forget about the maturing fruits that provide food for animals preparing for migration, hibernation, etc.  Have you ever stopped to wonder why fruits like persimmon, apples, acorns, and more drop in the fall?  What's the correlati...

When Gabrielle and I moved to Chester, SC, we thought the days of seeing the majestic swallowtailed kite soaring in the sky were over, but lo and behold, we have seen them here regularly!  Join us on the porch as we talk about the amazingly acrobatic, striking, and spectacular swallowtailed kite.  Learn about their habits, what they eat, and just the overall mastery of flight these strikingly blac...

It may sound like a horror movie, but it's true...THEY'RE COMING!  That's right, armadillos are moving north and west and even places like the Appalachian mountains are starting to see these little tanks.  Join Marvin and Gabrielle as they talk about the little armored armadillo, its behaviors and share some little known facts and stories about these curious, interesting, and unusua...