The Backyard Naturalists

Welcome to The Backyard Naturalists, the show about anything and everything connected with nature.

Dr. Carrie de Jaco is an associate professor at Pfeiffer University. She did a project with her reconciliation ecology class at Pfeiffer University, putting in pollinator gardens. There's all kinds of types of places that you can incorporate this. The important thing is just getting started.

Any place you can put some flowers for pollinators, you're bound to get some. Pollinators are really good at sniffing out flowers. And it really just seems like if you plant it, they will come.

If you have ideas for topics that you'd like us to pursue, send us a message either on our Facebook page or our website. We would really like to hear from you.

We start this episode by talking about creating wildlife habitats. That initial episode of Creating Wildlife Habitats is still in the top three listened episodes for us. These principles have overlapped with almost every episode we've had. It's a really good guiding network for us to keep in mind.

Connect with the Backyard Naturalists on the Web, Facebook and Instagram.

Please visit and support our presenting sponsor, Backyard Birds at http://www.thebirdfoodstore.com/. A mecca for bird lovers and bird watchers, Backyard Birds is an independent family-owned business located in Matthews, NC (next to Dairy Queen), just southeast of Charlotte.

Thanks for listening to The Backyard Naturalists.  We hope you have a day filled with the wonders of nature. Get outside and take a walk on the wild side! Please don’t forget to leave a 5-star review for The Backyard Naturalists podcast.

Production services for The Backyard Naturalists podcast are provided by Downtown Podcasting. To start a conversation on how you can have a podcast, simply send an email to [email protected].

While recording the Backyard Naturalists podcast, Debbie and Laurie enjoy coffee provided by the Good Cup Coffee Company  in Matthews, North Carolina. Follow Good Cup Coffee on Instagram and look for them at the Matthews Community Farmer’s Market  this Saturday morning. 

Welcome to The Backyard Naturalists, the show about anything and everything connected with nature.

If you have ideas for topics that you'd like us to pursue, send us a message either on our Facebook page or our website. We would really like to hear from you.

We start this episode by talking about creating wildlife habitats. That initial episode of Creating Wildlife Habitats is still in the top three listened episodes for us. These principles have overlapped with almost every episode we've had. It's a really good guiding network for us to keep in mind.

Connect with the Backyard Naturalists on the Web, Facebook and Instagram.

Please visit and support our presenting sponsor, Backyard Birds at http://www.thebirdfoodstore.com/. A mecca for bird lovers and bird watchers, Backyard Birds is an independent family-owned business located in Matthews, NC (next to Dairy Queen), just southeast of Charlotte.

Thanks for listening to The Backyard Naturalists.  We hope you have a day filled with the wonders of nature. Get outside and take a walk on the wild side! Please don’t forget to leave a 5-star review for The Backyard Naturalists podcast.

Production services for The Backyard Naturalists podcast are provided by Downtown Podcasting. To start a conversation on how you can have a podcast, simply send an email to [email protected].

While recording the Backyard Naturalists podcast, Debbie and Laurie enjoy coffee provided by the Good Cup Coffee Company  in Matthews, North Carolina. Follow Good Cup Coffee on Instagram and look for them at the Matthews Community Farmer’s Market  this Saturday morning. 

Welcome to The Backyard Naturalists, the show about anything and everything connected with nature.

The topic today is weird animal nicknames. Some of these go back as far as 1600. Some are funny, some are weird. Some might be obvious, and some definitely aren't.

Connect with the Backyard Naturalists on the Web, Facebook and Instagram.

Please visit and support our presenting sponsor, Backyard Birds at http://www.thebirdfoodstore.com/. A mecca for bird lovers and bird watchers, Backyard Birds is an independent family-owned business located in Matthews, NC (next to Dairy Queen), just southeast of Charlotte.

Thanks for listening to The Backyard Naturalists.  We hope you have a day filled with the wonders of nature. Get outside and take a walk on the wild side! Please don’t forget to leave a 5-star review for The Backyard Naturalists podcast.

Production services for The Backyard Naturalists podcast are provided by Downtown Podcasting. To start a conversation on how you can have a podcast, simply send an email to [email protected].

While recording the Backyard Naturalists podcast, Debbie and Laurie enjoy coffee provided by the Good Cup Coffee Company  in Matthews, North Carolina. Follow Good Cup Coffee on Instagram and look for them at the Matthews Community Farmer’s Market  this Saturday morning. 

The Backyard Naturalist is a podcast about anything and everything related to nature. This week, Debbie and Laurie have a conversation around some of the weird and off the wall myths about birds they’ve heard lately. Some of which include, is the phrase “bird brain” really an insult? How about does touching a baby bird really cause the mother to abandon it and, are birds monogamous?

We’d like to give a shout out to one of our loyal listeners, Craig. He offered the idea for this week’s show and even performed a little of the research. To thank Craig, we’re giving hi a free Squirrel Buster Bird Feeder from Brome. If you have an idea for an upcoming episode, hit us up on our Facebook page or leave a comment at thebackyardnaturalists.com.

During the show, you hear Debbie mention a wonderful read, The Genius of Birds by Jennifer Ackerman.

Connect with the Backyard Naturalists on the Web, Facebook and Instagram.

Please visit and support our presenting sponsor, Backyard Birds at http://www.thebirdfoodstore.com/. A mecca for bird lovers and bird watchers, Backyard Birds is an independent family-owned business located in Matthews, NC (next to Dairy Queen), just southeast of Charlotte.

Thanks for listening to The Backyard Naturalists.  We hope you have a day filled with the wonders of nature. Get outside and take a walk on the wild side! Please don’t forget to leave a 5-star review for The Backyard Naturalists podcast.

Production services for The Backyard Naturalists podcast are provided by Downtown Podcasting. To start a conversation on how you can have a podcast, simply send an email to [email protected].

While recording the Backyard Naturalists podcast, Debbie and Laurie enjoy coffee provided by the Good Cup Coffee Company  in Matthews, North Carolina. Follow Good Cup Coffee on Instagram and look for them at the Matthews Community Farmer’s Market  this Saturday morning. 

The Backyard Naturalist is a podcast about anything and everything related to nature. This week's topic: Building healthier soils builds a healthier you. With us in the studio from Terra Flora Farm and Roastery are Lawton James and Sean Simpson.

From their website, “Sean, Maggie and their friend Lawton are currently cultivating just under an acre on their farm located in Norwood, North Carolina. They are leasing nine acres from a couple who are the current stewards of a portion of land southeast of Charlotte. They believe in the mantra "Know Thy Farmer" and encourage anyone with questions about the farm or their growing practices to find them at the farm or at one of their two current markets: Matthews Community Farmers' Market every Saturday from 8-12, or Uptown Farmers Market every Saturday 8-12:30.”

We should be thinking about where our food comes from. If it's picked green and it trucks 2500 miles and it's irradiated to boot, that just might not be the healthiest solution for us. Let's think about this very mindfully and see what we can do to change that.

Connect with the Backyard Naturalists on the Web, Facebook and Instagram.

Please visit and support our presenting sponsor, Backyard Birds at http://www.thebirdfoodstore.com/. A mecca for bird lovers and bird watchers, Backyard Birds is an independent family-owned business located in Matthews, NC (next to Dairy Queen), just southeast of Charlotte.

Thanks for listening to The Backyard Naturalists.  We hope you have a day filled with the wonders of nature. Get outside and take a walk on the wild side! Please don’t forget to leave a 5-star review for The Backyard Naturalists podcast.

Production services for The Backyard Naturalists podcast are provided by Downtown Podcasting. To start a conversation on how you can have a podcast, simply send an email to [email protected].

While recording the Backyard Naturalists podcast, Debbie and Laurie enjoy coffee provided by the Good Cup Coffee Company  in Matthews, North Carolina. Follow Good Cup Coffee on Instagram and look for them at the Matthews Community Farmer’s Market  this Saturday morning. 

Welcome to The Backyard Naturalists, the show about anything and everything connected with nature.

This week on The Backyard Naturalist, we're talking about Earth Day. The theme for this year's Earth Day is Invest in Our Planet. Instead of the three R's, we might want to look at reduce, refuse, reuse, recycle, and remove.

Connect with the Backyard Naturalists on the Web, Facebook and Instagram.

Please visit and support our presenting sponsor, Backyard Birds at http://www.thebirdfoodstore.com/. A mecca for bird lovers and bird watchers, Backyard Birds is an independent family-owned business located in Matthews, NC (next to Dairy Queen), just southeast of Charlotte.

Thanks for listening to The Backyard Naturalists.  We hope you have a day filled with the wonders of nature. Get outside and take a walk on the wild side! Please don’t forget to leave a 5-star review for The Backyard Naturalists podcast.

Production services for The Backyard Naturalists podcast are provided by Downtown Podcasting. To start a conversation on how you can have a podcast, simply send an email to [email protected].

While recording the Backyard Naturalists podcast, Debbie and Laurie enjoy coffee provided by the Good Cup Coffee Company  in Matthews, North Carolina. Follow Good Cup Coffee on Instagram and look for them at the Matthews Community Farmer’s Market  this Saturday morning. 

Welcome to The Backyard Naturalists, the show about anything and everything connected with nature. We're part of a 50-state listening band in the United States, and it just might be that you could win a present if you live in the continental United States or can pick it up nearby.

This week, Debbie and Laurie share three of their favorite apps for naturalists for bird lovers. The list includes: Audubon, Inaturalist and Merlin are three of our favorite apps. We hope that when you have some free time, you'll download one of these apps and if you find something that you just absolutely are fascinated by, send us a Facebook message and let us know.

Connect with the Backyard Naturalists on the Web, Facebook and Instagram.

Please visit and support our presenting sponsor, Backyard Birds at http://www.thebirdfoodstore.com/. A mecca for bird lovers and bird watchers, Backyard Birds is an independent family-owned business located in Matthews, NC (next to Dairy Queen), just southeast of Charlotte.

Thanks for listening to The Backyard Naturalists.  We hope you have a day filled with the wonders of nature. Get outside and take a walk on the wild side! Please don’t forget to leave a 5-star review for The Backyard Naturalists podcast.

Production services for The Backyard Naturalists podcast are provided by Downtown Podcasting. To start a conversation on how you can have a podcast, simply send an email to [email protected].

While recording the Backyard Naturalists podcast, Debbie and Laurie enjoy coffee provided by the Good Cup Coffee Company  in Matthews, North Carolina. Follow Good Cup Coffee on Instagram and look for them at the Matthews Community Farmer’s Market  this Saturday morning. 

Welcome to The Backyard Naturalists, the show about anything and everything connected with nature.

Birdsong is studied in contrast to other vocalizations that are referred to as calls. The song is the much longer vocalization typically given by the male. Females sing in many species, but not as much as males. It can be very rewarding to determine how complex the vocalizations are.

For about half the species of songbirds in the world they go through a learning process while they're young and in the nest. The learning of the songs is a model for human language learning and there are some really uncanny parallels. Other organisms that also learn their vocalizations include seals and bats and what else?

Birds have a vocal organ called a syrinx rather than a larynx. How does the brain control the muscles in that organ? And the song learners have additional brain regions that deal with learning the song. This discovery has many medical implications.

Connect with the Backyard Naturalists on the Web, Facebook and Instagram.

 Please visit and support our presenting sponsor, Backyard Birds at http://www.thebirdfoodstore.com/. A mecca for bird lovers and bird watchers, Backyard Birds is an independent family-owned business located in Matthews, NC (next to Dairy Queen), just southeast of Charlotte.

Thanks for listening to The Backyard Naturalists.  We hope you have a day filled with the wonders of nature. Get outside and take a walk on the wild side! Please don’t forget to leave a 5-star review for The Backyard Naturalists podcast.

Production services for The Backyard Naturalists podcast are provided by Downtown Podcasting. To start a conversation on how you can have a podcast, simply send an email to [email protected].

While recording the Backyard Naturalists podcast, Debbie and Laurie enjoy coffee provided by the Good Cup Coffee Company in Matthews, North Carolina.  Follow Good Cup Coffee on Instagram and look for them at the Matthews Community Farmer’s Market this Saturday morning. 

Welcome to The Backyard Naturalists, the show about anything and everything connected with nature.

This week, Debbie and Laurie welcome Dr. Tony Lombardino back to the show. Tony has a PhD in Neuroscience and studied how the brains of birds allowed them to sing and produce their songs in adulthood. He researched and studied songbird neurobiology for twelve years and has taught high school and college courses in biology and psychology.

Tony has led bird walks for the Lab of Ornithology at Cornell University and hosts our local bird walks on the second Saturday of the month at Col. Francis Beatty Park in Matthews.

During the conversation Tony explains in simple, yet vivid detail, why birds are brilliantly colored the way they are. He clarifies the determining factor for color from an evolutionary viewpoint, sexual selection, natural selection and provides an answer to the question, do birds perceive their colors as we do.

Please visit and support our presenting sponsor, Backyard Birds at http://www.thebirdfoodstore.com/. A mecca for bird lovers and bird watchers, Backyard Birds is an independent family-owned business located in Matthews, NC (next to Dairy Queen), just southeast of Charlotte.

Thanks for listening to The Backyard Naturalists.  We hope you have a day filled with the wonders of nature. Get outside and take a walk on the wild side! Please don’t forget to leave a 5-star review for The Backyard Naturalists podcast.

Production services for The Backyard Naturalists podcast are provided by Downtown Podcasting. To start a conversation on how you can have a podcast, simply send an email to [email protected].

While recording the Backyard Naturalists podcast, Debbie and Laurie enjoy coffee provided by the Good Cup Coffee Company in Matthews, North Carolina.  Follow Good Cup Coffee on Instagram and look for them at the Matthews Community Farmer’s Market this Saturday morning. 

Welcome to The Backyard Naturalists, the show about anything and everything connected with nature.

During the show this week, Debbie and Laurie talk about and mention a few upcoming native plant sales in the Greater Charlotte Region. Just a sampling of these events include:

·         Lisa Tompkins at Backyard Birds, April 8 from 11:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.

·         UNCC’s Spring Plant Sale, April 6 – 8

·         Wing Haven Gardens Spring Plant Sale, April 12 – 15

·         Carolina Heritage Nursery at Matthews Community Farmers Market, beginning April 15

Connect with the Backyard Naturalists on the Web, Facebook and Instagram.

Please visit and support our presenting sponsor, Backyard Birds at http://www.thebirdfoodstore.com/. A mecca for bird lovers and bird watchers, Backyard Birds is an independent family-owned business located in Matthews, NC (next to Dairy Queen), just southeast of Charlotte.

Thanks for listening to The Backyard Naturalists.  We hope you have a day filled with the wonders of nature. Get outside and take a walk on the wild side! Please don’t forget to leave a 5-star review for The Backyard Naturalists podcast.

Production services for The Backyard Naturalists podcast are provided by Downtown Podcasting. To start a conversation on how you can have a podcast, simply send an email to [email protected].

While recording the Backyard Naturalists podcast, Debbie and Laurie enjoy coffee provided by the Good Cup Coffee Company in Matthews, North Carolina.  Follow Good Cup Coffee on Instagram and look for them at the Matthews Community Farmer’s Market this Saturday morning.