Nature Now

Jackie Canterbury talks with Dr. Steve Hampton with the Rainshadow Bird Alliance, formerly Admiralty Audubon, about the oldest citizen science program of its kind, the Audubon Christmas Bird Count or CBC. The CBC began on Christmas Day 1900 as a way to count birds rather than shoot them as people began to become visibly concerned about declining bird populations. This year is the 126th year of the annual bird census. The Port Townsend CBC was recently held on December 20. The data is used to guide conservation efforts for birds, including the greatest challenges of all: habitat loss and climate change. (KPTZ airdate: December 24, 2025)

Learn more:
Rainshadow Bird Alliance
Audubon Christmas Bird Count
Christmas Bird Count Bibliography
Mystery sound recording: J. Canterbury
Music by Rick Bauer

Nature Now is created by a dedicated team of volunteers. If you enjoy this episode and can support the work that goes into making Nature Now, we invite you to go to kptz.org/donate to make a contribution. Thank you for your support!

Jackie Canterbury talks with Paul Koberstein, an award-winning environmental journalist and the co-author of the book "Canopy of Titans: The Life and Times of the Great North American Temperate Rainforest". Paul has explored many environmental issues through his career as a writer. Join us as we talk with Paul about the global importance of our own temperate rainforest ecosystem in the Pacific Northwest with emphasis on its role in storing carbon and the challenges we face. (KPTZ airdate: December 17, 2025)

Learn more:
Canopy of Titans: The Life and Times of the Great North American Temperate Rainforest by Paul Koberstein and Jessica Applegate
Audiobook preview of Canopy of Titans
Greenwashing in the Evergreen State with Journalist Paul Koberstein
Mystery sound recording: Greg Irving, XC1045436, accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/1045436. License CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
Music by Rick Bauer

Nature Now is created by a dedicated team of volunteers. If you enjoy this episode and can support the work that goes into making Nature Now, we invite you to go to kptz.org/donate to make a contribution. Thank you for your support!

Debaran Kelso speaks with wolf biologist Jim Holyan. The adventures and heart-breaks of wolf reintroductions in Idaho are the subject of his recent book "I was a Middle-Aged Wolfman: Chasing Wolves in Idaho's Backcountry". (KPTZ airdate: December 10, 2025)

Learn more:
I was a Middle-Aged Wolfman: Chasing Wolves in Idaho's Backcountry by Jim Holyan
Sound recordings: BBC Nature Sound Effects Library and Maktub_ytv

Nature Now is created by a dedicated team of volunteers. If you enjoy this episode and can support the work that goes into making Nature Now, we invite you to go to kptz.org/donate to make a contribution. Thank you for your support!

The stunning mountains of Western Washington draw many people who dream of reaching their summits. The views from these peaks can be breathtaking, but climbing them comes with significant challenges. Few know this better than Dave Rugh, who has spent decades climbing mountains. Join Jackie Canterbury as she talks with Dave about his experiences climbing in Washington State. (KPTZ airdate: December 3, 2025)

Learn more:
A story of climbing Whitehorse Mountain
A photo of Cadaver Gap in Mount Rainier National Park
A trip report from climbing The Brothers
The Mountaineers Community
American Alpine Institute in Washington
Climbing in the Olympic Wilderness
Music by Rick Bauer

Nature Now is created by a dedicated team of volunteers. If you enjoy this episode and can support the work that goes into making Nature Now, we invite you to go to kptz.org/donate to make a contribution. Thank you for your support!

Nurse logs, a common site in the forests of the Pacific Northwest, blur the distinction between life and death as they support not only the next generation of trees, but also a host of other plant and animal species. Learn more about nurse logs and what the Jefferson Land Trust is doing to give a hand to these incredibly significant ecological systems. Nan Evans talks to Carrie Clendaniel, Preserve Manager for the Land Trust, about nurse logs and facilitating the facilitators. (KPTZ airdate: November 26, 2025)

Learn more:
Nurse Logs: Healers of the Forest
Nurse Logs
Keeping Dead Wood and Creating Wildlife Habitat Piles: Some Guidance for Forest Owners
Listen Up Collaborative
Listen Up Collaborative and Jefferson Land Trust Featured in the New York Times
The Trees are Speaking: Dispatches from the Salmon Forests by Lynda Mapes
Cascadia Revealed: A Guide to the Plants, Animals, and Geology of the Pacific Northwest Mountains by Daniel Mathews
Mystery sound recording: Andrew Spencer, courtesy of Cornell Lab of Ornithology | Macaulay Library
Music by Rick Bauer

Nature Now is created by a dedicated team of volunteers. If you enjoy this episode and can support the work that goes into making Nature Now, we invite you to go to kptz.org/donate to make a contribution. Thank you for your support!

Debaran Kelso takes a deep dive into the world of whale sound with humpback whale expert Dr. Fred Sharpe, whose recent research has focused on aerial whale signals - the "blows", "wheezes", and "thrums" of everyday life. (KPTZ airdate: November 12, 2025)

Learn more:
Happywhale
Mystery sound recording: Fred Sharpe
Music by Rick Bauer

Nature Now is created by a dedicated team of volunteers. If you enjoy this episode and can support the work that goes into making Nature Now, we invite you to go to kptz.org/donate to make a contribution. Thank you for your support!

It's getting cold and rainy outside. We've gotten out our winter clothes and rain boots, checked that our home's furnace is working well, stocked up on comfort foods, and perhaps, planned a winter vacation to a warmer and sunnier place. As the seasons change, some birds migrate to warmer places. But, how do the birds that stay the winter survive? Listen as Nan Evans talks with Christie Lassen of Wild Birds Unlimited in Gardiner, WA, about the behavioral, physical, and physiological strategies used by our regional birds. (KPTZ airdate: November 5, 2025)

Learn more:
Wild Birds Unlimited in Gardiner, WA
How Do Birds Survive the Winter?
What It's Like to Be a Bird by David Allen Sibley
Mystery sound recording: Barry Langdon-Lassagne, ML190078591, courtesy of Cornell Lab of Ornithology | Macaulay Library
Music by Rick Bauer

Nature Now is created by a dedicated team of volunteers. If you enjoy this episode and can support the work that goes into making Nature Now, we invite you to go to kptz.org/donate to make a contribution. Thank you for your support!

What was that "pffit, pffit" sound? That small, triangular fin? A dolphin? But it doesn’t want to play in our boat's bow wake. Ah, it is a Harbor Porpoise, the smallest cetacean found in the Salish Sea. What do we know about them? Not very much it seems. Scientists are just learning more through direct, non-invasive observations of individuals. Join Nan Evans as she talks with Dr. Cindy Elliser of Pacific Mammal Research (PacMam) and explore what they have been recently discovering and just how much more there is to learn about these secretive mammals. (KPTZ airdate: October 15, 2025)

Learn more:
Pacific Mammal Research
Harbor porpoise in the Salish Sea
Mystery sound recording courtesy of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries
Music by Rick Bauer

Nature Now is created by a dedicated team of volunteers. If you enjoy this episode and can support the work that goes into making Nature Now, we invite you to go to kptz.org/donate to make a contribution. Thank you for your support!

Nature Now explores the world of science books for kids! Debaran Kelso speaks with celebrated author Melissa Stewart about her book From Bam! to Burp! A Carbon Atom's Never-Ending Journey Through Space and Time and YOU. (KPTZ airdate: October 1, 2025)

Learn more:
Melissa Stewart
From BAM! to BURP! A Carbon Atom's Never-Ending Journey through Space and Time and YOU

Nature Now is created by a dedicated team of volunteers. If you enjoy this episode and can support the work that goes into making Nature Now, we invite you to go to kptz.org/donate to make a contribution. Thank you for your support!

We are all familiar with bees. Did you know that honey bee colonies are highly organized, complex, with a rigid caste system, and whose individuals depend on their societal organization to survive? Join Jackie Canterbury as she talks with Colleen Ebken, a beekeeper on Marrowstone Island (WA), about her bee colonies and the wonderful world of bees in general (part 1 of a two-part program). (KPTZ airdate: September 24, 2025)

Learn more:
East Jefferson Bee Club
Cornell Cooperative Extension Pollinator Support
Why bees are essential to people and planet
Meet Our Native Bees
Washington Bee Atlas
Washington Native Bee Society
Washington Native Bee Society Journal
Mystery sound recording: Frederick Dunn
Music by Rick Bauer

Nature Now is created by a dedicated team of volunteers. If you enjoy this episode and can support the work that goes into making Nature Now, we invite you to go to kptz.org/donate to make a contribution. Thank you for your support!