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Nature's Archive

Nature's Archive

Michael Hawk

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Nature’s Archive, hosted by Michael Hawk, delves into the beauty and complexity of the natural world through interviews with ecologists, naturalists, educators, authors, and researchers. Each episode inspires curiosity and reveals nature’s surprising nuances. Part of Jumpstart Nature, a movement empowering everyone to support the environment, this podcast invites you to connect with nature like never before.

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Top 10 Nature's Archive Episodes

Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best Nature's Archive episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to Nature's Archive for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite Nature's Archive episode by adding your comments to the episode page.

Do you love spiders and insects? Or perhaps you are more apprehensive of them - or even suffer from arachnophobia. In either case, today’s discussion is for you.

Join me for an enlightening journey into the world of insects and arachnids with Kevin Wiener. Kevin is an environmental educator and founder of the thriving 'All Bugs Go To Kevin' community. In this episode, Kevin shares his inspiring path from pest control to becoming a passionate advocate for arthropods. Explore the crucial roles insects play in our ecosystem, debunk common myths about animals like the Brown Recluse spider, and learn about sustainable pest control methods - including what you can do in your own home.

Kevin also discusses his experiences with arthropod pets, the importance of community support in overcoming fears, and the joys of integrating photography into environmental education and personal discovery. Whether you're a seasoned nature enthusiast or just curious, this episode offers fascinating insights and practical tips for fostering a balanced ecosystem in your own backyard. Don't miss this chance to transform fear into fascination and discover the often overlooked beauty of bugs.

You can find Kevin at allbugsgotokevin.com, and of course, if you’re on Facebook, consider joining the All Bugs Go to Kevin group. It’s one of the bright spots of social media.
FULL SHOW NOTES on jumpstartnature.com
LINKS
All Bugs Go To Kevin - website

All Bugs Go To Kevin - Facebook Group

Brown Recluse Spider by Richard Vetter

Travis McEnery’s Brown Recluse Documentary

Spiders of North America by Sarah Rose
Podcasts Mentioned
Kevin Wiener on the Bugs Need Heroes podcast
Jumpstart Nature's Cicada Episode (Kevin is featured)
Sarah Rose on Nature's Archive (spiders!)

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Music: Spellbound by Brian Holtz Music
License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
Artist site: https://brianholtzmusic.com

Discover the Jumpstart Nature Podcast - entertaining and immersive, it's the nature fix we all need.
Check past Nature's Archive episodes for amazing guests like Doug Tallamy, Elaine Ingham, and Rae Wynn-Grant, covering topics from bird migration to fungi to frogs and bats!

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Nature's Archive - #18: Kerry Knudsen - The Magic of Lichen
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04/12/21 • 56 min

You’re gonna be liken this episode. Well, let me rephrase that - you’re going to like this episode about lichen.

What’s a lichen? If you’ve hiked just about anywhere, you’ve probably seen one. They are colorful organisms that grow on rocks, tree branches, and even fence posts. Around where I live, I see lichens growing on people’s roofs, too!
I called them organisms because they are complicated. Sometimes they are characterized as symbiotic relationships between a fungi and an algae. But it’s much more interesting than that.
And there are few people better to help us learn about lichens and how to find them than Kerry Knudsen, a lichenologist at the University of Life Sciences in Prague.
Kerry’s personal story is equally fascinating as lichens themselves. Kerry got started in lichens later in life after a health condition derailed a long career in construction. And he’s gone on to discover over 60 new lichen species that were previously undescribed, founded the lichen collection at the University of California, Riverside, and has 161 peer reviewed publications on ResearchGate and more elsewhere.
So get ready to learn about lichens, how they live, what they do, how they propagate, how wildfire impacts them, and much more.
So, as Allie Ward likes to say in her Entertaining Ologies podcast, despite my preparation and research, I had a lot of freedom to ask a smart person stupid questions, and I thank Kerry for his patience and detail in his answers.

SHOW NOTESLinks
Andre Breton - the founder of Surrealism kept a lichen collection just for the beauty and inspiration
California Lichen Society
Rick Halsey of the California Chaparral Institute. See my past interview with Rick.
Steven Levitt - University of Chicago economist who analyzed the ranching use of the Amazon rainforest. He had a podcast episode with his solution.
Theodore Payne Foundation - Kerry mentioned working here for a period
Univ. of California Riverside Herbarium
Books
A Field Guide to California Lichens - Stephen Sharnoff
Macrolichens of the Pacific Northwest - Bruce McCune
Usnea is a genus with over 600 species, and is difficult to identify in the field

Support Us On Patreon!
Buy our Merch!

Music: Spellbound by Brian Holtz Music
License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
Artist site: https://brianholtzmusic.com

Discover the Jumpstart Nature Podcast - entertaining and immersive, it's the nature fix we all need.
Check past Nature's Archive episodes for amazing guests like Doug Tallamy, Elaine Ingham, and Rae Wynn-Grant, covering topics from bird migration to fungi to frogs and bats!

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Nature's Archive - Alison Pollack - Finding and Photographing Slime Molds
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12/31/24 • 66 min

Slime molds (Myxomycetes) are beautiful, weird, and amazing organisms. Often mistaken for fungi, they are actually single celled, yet they grow and efficiently move in search of food, can start and stop their life cycle based on environmental conditions, and even change colors several times during their brief life cycle. They can be beautifully colored, frequently iridescent, and can be ornately shaped. And better still, they can be found in much of the world - maybe even in your yard.

My guest today, Alison Pollack, is a renowned slime mold photographer and unabashed enthusiast of slime molds and their habitats. If you follow nature photographers on Instagram, perhaps you count yourself as one of her nearly 60,000 followers.

Today, Alison tells us what exactly a slime mold is - and no, it is not a mold or fungi. She tells us about their fascinating lifecycle, where they grow, and how to find them.

Alison then tells us about her astonishing macro photography of slime molds - both in the field and in her home studio. She walks through her process, technique, and equipment she uses to create her acclaimed photos. If you do nothing else, follow her on Instagram @marin_mushrooms, or check the photos below to get a hint of the beauty of the slime molds, and Alison's artistic skill in capturing them.

You can also find Alison on Facebook at AlisonKPollack, and on iNaturalist at alison_pollack.
FULL SHOW NOTES
Links To Topics Discussed

From Macro to Micro: The Art of Fungi Photography with Alison Pollack

Damon Tighe - was on Episode 36 talking Fungi

Nikon Small World Master of Microscopy

Slime Mold Identification and Appreciation - Facebook Group

All the Rain Promises and More by David Arora

Laowa ultra macro lens - there are models for each major camera manufacturer.

Les Myxomycètes

Myxomycetes - A Handbook of Slime Molds by Steven Stephenson

NOVA Slime Mold episode

Olympus Tough TG-6 - this seems to be the most recommended pocket camera by naturalists of many types

Raynox DCR-250

Where the Slime Mould Creeps by Sarah Lloyd

Support Us On Patreon!
Buy our Merch!

Music: Spellbound by Brian Holtz Music
License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
Artist site: https://brianholtzmusic.com

Discover the Jumpstart Nature Podcast - entertaining and immersive, it's the nature fix we all need.
Check past Nature's Archive episodes for amazing guests like Doug Tallamy, Elaine Ingham, and Rae Wynn-Grant, covering topics from bird migration to fungi to frogs and bats!

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Nature's Archive - #17: Alvaro Jaramillo - Birding Your Best Life
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03/23/21 • 52 min

My guest today is Alvaro Jaramillo. Alvaro is a highly regarded ornithologist and birder with a long list of authored books and published papers. Born in Chile, raised in Canada, he’s lived in California for the last several years where he operates “Alvaro’s Adventures”, a birding-centric tour company that specializes in combining birding with local cultures across the globe.
Alvaro has a BS in Zoology and a masters in Evolutionary Biology, and is an affiliated senior biologist with the San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory. Alvaro has a wealth of world-wide birding knowledge, is a contributor to Bird Watcher’s Digest, and actively engages in many birding forums. He even helped to identify a new bird species, Oceanites pincoyae (Pincoya Storm-Petrel), found in Chile.
In today’s episode we discuss how Alvaro developed his interest in birds. From authoring his guide to New World Blackbirds, to a fortuitous encounter in Canada that led him to the world of arranging and guiding tours, it is clear the avian adventures were a calling for Alvaro.
We discuss the origins of Alvaro’s Adventures, and some of his amazing global trips, such as his annual journey to Bhutan. And check out his Birds and Wine trip to Chile and Argentina as another great example.
We also talk about pelagic birding - he leads numerous pelagic trips in Northern California each year. If you are unaware of pelagic voyages, they take you far offshore onto the ocean to look for bird species that are next to impossible to see from land. And if that weren’t fun enough, you’ll often encounter whales, porpoises, sunfish, and many other amazing oceanic creatures.
We discuss the groundbreaking impact his Birds of Chile guide had on accelerating Chile’s birding evolution.
After a couple decades of engaging with the public in these capacities, he also has a lot of insight into helping people interpret, enjoy, and see the value of nature - and he offers a few tips and approaches that we can all use.
And while COVID-19 has been challenging, he has turned it into an opportunity to increase his outreach. In addition to many in-depth online workshops, he’s launching a new subscription based online birding community, called “Birding Your Best Life”. Its primary goal is to help people enjoy birds more, regardless of their circumstances and goals. It will include discussion communities, equipment reviews, video tutorials, and much more. As you’ll hear, he has big plans - you can sign up here to be notified of progress.
Other Links/Mentions
Alvaro's Facebook
Birds of Chile - field guide Alvaro, Peter Burke, David Beadle created that helped accelerate Chilean birding
Birdwatchers Digest - Alvaro has written for this publications for many years
National Audubon Society
New World Blackbirds - Alvaro's distraction from his PhD
Colombian Audubon
Debi Shearwater - Alvaro was a spotter with Debi Shearwater, the well known pelagic leader
Eagle Eye Tours - Canadian tour company Alvaro helped start
Field Guides - the larger tour company Alvaro joined after Eagle Eye Tours

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Dr. Jonny Hanson is an environmental social scientist, conservationist, and former community farmer. He's also the author of Living with Lynx, Sharing Landscapes with Big Cats, Wolves, and Bears.
He spent months traveling Europe and the United States learning about the real-life challenges of reintroducing apex predators to landscapes, and how to make coexistence successful for everyone involved.
Today, we discuss Jonny’s travels, stories, and lessons learned. And of course, we begin with “why reintroduce apex predators in the first place”.
As an environmental social scientist, Jonny spends much of his time learning how to bridge the gaps in how different communities consider living with predators, and by the time we were done, I felt more confident than ever that we can and should allow these magnificent animals back into our landscapes.
This episode is full of amazing insights, and Jonny seems to be a quote machine. There were so many well stated tidbits throughout that I know I’m going to use in the future.

Not only that, but you’ll get to hear how Jonny actually bred mosquitos for money, and how that influenced him. And if you stick around to the end, you’ll also get to hear about his experience with concentrated bobcat urine.
If you can’t tell, this is a nutrient dense episode, but with plenty of fun stories, too.
Be sure to check out Jonny at jonnyhanson.com, and on facebook, instagram, youtube, and tiktok.

FULL SHOW NOTES

Links:

Dr. Hanson's New Book - Living With Lynx

Coexisting with Carnivores - Dr. Hanson's TEDx Talk

Joanna Lambert

Trailer for Dr. Hanson's Snow Leopard documentary

Wildlife Friendly Enterprise Network

Support Us On Patreon!
Buy our Merch!

Music: Spellbound by Brian Holtz Music
License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
Artist site: https://brianholtzmusic.com

Discover the Jumpstart Nature Podcast - entertaining and immersive, it's the nature fix we all need.
Check past Nature's Archive episodes for amazing guests like Doug Tallamy, Elaine Ingham, and Rae Wynn-Grant, covering topics from bird migration to fungi to frogs and bats!

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Warning - listen to this episode at your own risk! If you aren't careful, you may find yourself out a few hundred dollars. Why? Today we're talking field guides - the books and apps that help you identify, find and learn about all kinds of amazing creatures.
Joining me are Allen Fish, of the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy as Director of the Raptor Observatory and as Associate Director of community science, and Cricket Raspet of the California Academy of Sciences.
We discuss what makes a great field guide, share some stories about our first and favorites, and start with a lively discussion of our first field guides, which transitions into all sorts of interesting guides - everything from bumblebees to fungi to plant galls to lichen to desert holes! We also discuss apps and other technology that can assist, or dare I say, replace physical field guides. That's just the start!
We didn't have time to cover everything in our stacks of favorites, so check our blog for more.
Follow Cricket on IG and iNat, and check Allen's organization, Golden Gate Raptor Observatory @goldengateraptors, or ggro.org.
LINKS - See FULL SHOW NOTES for more links
All That the Rain Promises and More: A Hip Pocket Guide to Western Mushrooms
Beached Marine Birds and Mammals of the North American West Coast
Bumblebees of North America
Crossley ID Guides
Field Guide to Desert Holes
Field Guide to Grasshoppers, Katydids, and Crickets of the United States
Field Guide to Manzanitas
Horned Lizards of North America
Laws Field Guide to the Sierra Nevada
National Geographic Field Guide to Birds of North America
Natural History of Vacant Lots
Plant Galls of the Western USA
Plants of the California Desert
Sibley Field Guide to Birds
The Coasts of California
Tracks and Sign of Insects and Other Invertebrates
Podcasts
Adam Kranz Plant Galls
Charley Eiseman Leafminers and more
Michael Kauffmann

Support Us On Patreon!
Buy our Merch!

Music: Spellbound by Brian Holtz Music
License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
Artist site: https://brianholtzmusic.com

Discover the Jumpstart Nature Podcast - entertaining and immersive, it's the nature fix we all need.
Check past Nature's Archive episodes for amazing guests like Doug Tallamy, Elaine Ingham, and Rae Wynn-Grant, covering topics from bird migration to fungi to frogs and bats!

bookmark
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Have you heard about the Anthropocene? Well, we're living in it right now, but that's not necessarily a good thing.
Joining us is paleoethnobotanist, Dr. Anya Gruber, whose expertise uniquely positions her to guide us through the human relationship with the environment. We begin by learning about Dr. Gruber's world, where she skillfully utilizes plant remains to reconstruct the environments of bygone eras and decipher human interactions with nature.
Building on this foundation, our conversation shifts towards the Anthropocene—the epoch that places humanity under scrutiny for its pervasive and often detrimental impact on the Earth. Dr. Gruber helps us understand the concept's essence, its definition, and the methodologies employed to assess its effects.
Within the context of the Anthropocene, we confront the uncomfortable reality of our collective responsibility for the environmental challenges we face. We also explore the nuances of distributional impacts, acknowledging that the burden is not evenly shared across all individuals.
I hope today's episode serves as a good introduction to the Anthropocene, and that by comprehending the profound implications of the Anthropocene, we can ignite a transformative drive towards a more harmonious relationship with our planet.
You can find Dr. Gruber on Instagram @anyagruber, or on her website at anyaegruber.com.
FULL SHOW NOTES
LINKS
People and Organizations
SAPIENS Anthropology Magazine – https://www.sapiens.org/
Atlas Obscura – https://www.atlasobscura.com/

  • Upcoming article about the queer history of the Henry Wadsworth Longfellow house.

Books and Other Things
Note: links to books are affiliate links
Finding Mrs. Jackson Sapiens Podcast Episode
Two of Dr. Gruber’s recent articles

Support Us On Patreon!
Buy our Merch!

Music: Spellbound by Brian Holtz Music
License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
Artist site: https://brianholtzmusic.com

Discover the Jumpstart Nature Podcast - entertaining and immersive, it's the nature fix we all need.
Check past Nature's Archive episodes for amazing guests like Doug Tallamy, Elaine Ingham, and Rae Wynn-Grant, covering topics from bird migration to fungi to frogs and bats!

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Nature's Archive - #49: Jessica Wolff - Coexisting With Urban Wildlife
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06/27/22 • 58 min

As cities grow further into wildlands and natural habitats, and as animals attempt to adapt to these urban environments, it is inevitable that people and wildlife will come into more contact.
My guest today, Jessica Wolff, works to help people and wildlife when these interactions occur. She is an Urban Wildlife Coordinator for the Nevada Department of Wildlife. As an Urban Wildlife Coordinator, Jessica educates the public and fields calls from the public. These calls include questions about unexpected animals in people's yards and houses and reports of sick or injured wildlife in the city. And occasionally Jessica is dispatched to assess, capture, move, or otherwise help animals in distress.
Today we discuss the most common wildlife encounters that Jessica handles, ranging from coyotes, to bats, to raccoons, to fledgling birds. And this allowed us to get into some of the natural history and urban adaptations that these animals have..
Jessica also answers listener questions about bat boxes and fox burrows, and adds some insights into some of my own backyard wildlife.
I know that I'm coming away from this conversation with a better perspective on what it means to offer resources - intentionally or unintentionally - to wild animals.
You can find Jessica at jawolff93 on instagram, and the Nevada Department of Wildlife on Facebook or their website.
FULL SHOW NOTESLinks To Topics Discussed
The Accidental Ecosystem, People and Wildlife in American Cities, Dr. Peter Alagona. See my podcast episode with him, too.
BatCon International Bat House Resources
Bats and Insecticides from BatCon International
How do pesticides affect bats? – A brief review of recent publications, J. M. Oliveira, A. L. F. Destro, M. B. Freitas, L. L. Oliveira - from the Brazilian Journal of Biology
Merlin Tuttle's Bat Conservation
Nevada Department of Wildlife
PBS "Nature" Coywolf Infographic
Smithsonian Magazine article on "Coywolves" - Coyote and Wolf hybrids in Eastern North America

Support Us On Patreon!
Buy our Merch!

Music: Spellbound by Brian Holtz Music
License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
Artist site: https://brianholtzmusic.com

Discover the Jumpstart Nature Podcast - entertaining and immersive, it's the nature fix we all need.
Check past Nature's Archive episodes for amazing guests like Doug Tallamy, Elaine Ingham, and Rae Wynn-Grant, covering topics from bird migration to fungi to frogs and bats!

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Nature's Archive - #41: Michael Kauffmann: Conifers - Extreme Survivors
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03/07/22 • 57 min

You know conifers, right? They are those wonderful trees that include some of the tallest, widest, and oldest living trees on Earth. Think Giant Sequoia, Coast Redwood, and Bristlecone Pines. Conifers are also the oldest lineage of trees on earth. This is just a small taste of what conifers have to offer.
My guest today is Michael Kaufmann, a lifelong educator, ecologist and author, and also the founder of Backcountry Press. He’s also an expert in conifers.

Today we discuss the many things that make conifers such an amazing group of plants. Michael walks us through their evolutionary history, what makes them different from other trees, and gives us a special look at the amazing diversity of conifers in his area - the Klamath region of far northern California. This deep dive reveals many interesting ecological processes that likely can be generalized to other regions and other plants. It's truly fascinating.
Michael also discusses how he turned his love of conifers into two amazing projects. With the creation of his first book, Conifer Country, Michael established Backcountry Press. It has since grown to produce several wonderful natural history books, and he gives us a preview of some new ones due out soon. And the second project is his establishment of the 360 mile Bigfoot Trail. It's a playful name for a truly serious trail if you are in to backpacking or botanizing, and it boasts 32 conifer species.
You can find Michael at MichaelKauffmann.net, on Instagram, or on iNaturalist.
FULL SHOW NOTES
Links To Topics Discussed

Griff Griffith - past podcast guest that introduced Michael and I
The Miracle Mile - the species Michael documented in the famed 1 square mile of the Klamath.
Books Mentioned
California Desert Plants
Conifer Country by Michael Kauffmann
Conifers of California by Ronald Lanner
Conifers of the Pacific Slope, by Michael Kauffmann
The Klamath Knot by David Rains Wallace
The Klamath Mountains: A Natural History Tour
Field Guide to Manzanitas, by Michael Kauffmann, Tom Parker, and Michael Vasey
Northwest Trees by Stephen Arno

Support Us On Patreon!
Buy our Merch!

Music: Spellbound by Brian Holtz Music
License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
Artist site: https://brianholtzmusic.com

Discover the Jumpstart Nature Podcast - entertaining and immersive, it's the nature fix we all need.
Check past Nature's Archive episodes for amazing guests like Doug Tallamy, Elaine Ingham, and Rae Wynn-Grant, covering topics from bird migration to fungi to frogs and bats!

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Nature's Archive - #0: Welcome to Nature's Archive!
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07/07/20 • 1 min

Ever wondered how you can make a difference for nature, with or without a university degree? Or do you just want to learn about and be inspired by amazing plants, animals, people and nature in general?
I'm Michael Hawk, and I used to be a tech engineer and manager. I've always been a curious soul, asking great questions and eager to learn and share.
So, I started Nature's Archive Podcast, a journey deep into the heart of the natural world. Join me for captivating interviews featuring ecologists, renowned authors, passionate amateurs, and seasoned professionals, each sharing their remarkable stories and areas of expertise. Together, we explore the incredible complexity of nature, challenge old beliefs, and uncover unique perspectives.
From bird migration to wildfire ecology, from fungi to oak trees, and from the secret lives of spiders to the power of native plants in your backyard, we cover it all.
Visit podcast.naturesarchive.com to explore our most popular episodes and detailed show notes.
Nature's Archive is part of my lifelong commitment to nature conservation through Jumpstart Nature. I've left the tech world behind to dedicate 100% of my time to this cause.
But I can't do it alone. Join me on this journey to make a real difference for our planet. Subscribe to Nature's Archive Podcast today.

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FAQ

How many episodes does Nature's Archive have?

Nature's Archive currently has 124 episodes available.

What topics does Nature's Archive cover?

The podcast is about Conservation, Ecology, Climate, Environment, Natural Sciences, Nature, Wildlife, Podcasts, Naturalist, Science, Biology and Birding.

What is the most popular episode on Nature's Archive?

The episode title '#18: Kerry Knudsen - The Magic of Lichen' is the most popular.

What is the average episode length on Nature's Archive?

The average episode length on Nature's Archive is 60 minutes.

How often are episodes of Nature's Archive released?

Episodes of Nature's Archive are typically released every 14 days.

When was the first episode of Nature's Archive?

The first episode of Nature's Archive was released on Jul 6, 2020.

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