The Old Naturalist

The parade of beautiful orchids continues as Eric tells us all about the Grass Pink orchid this month. This showy orchid is one you'll want to seek out, and the Old Naturalist has a couple of suggestions on where you should begin your search.

Brandon and Eric once again hop in the way back machine and stop off in 1950. The boys comb through the Toledo area bird report and discuss all the things that have changed in the last 70 plus years. Learn about car crushing blackbirds and get a recommendation for your next purchase of Irish whiskey.

In this month's orchid episode, Eric educates Brandon on the very showy large yellow lady's slipper. This one is far more common in our area than the frog orchid, so listen in for some suggestions on where to view this beautiful orchid.

Bonus Episode! Eric and Brandon got together to record a few episodes last week and didn't think they should sit on this one. More bird names, but Eric picked out some real winners for Brandon's quiz. Let's see if you also get stumped by Fly-Up-The-Creek.

Against his better judgement, Brandon switches roles with Eric for May's edition of Three (or Four) for Thursdays. Listen in to see if Brandon survives the grilling from the new Quizmaster.

Remember Car Talk on NPR? Well...this is not that. But it's close! The Old Naturalist ventures into talk radio to answer the public's burning questions about nature in Northwest Ohio.

Since the guy gets mentioned almost every other episode, the boys felt Harold Mayfield deserves his own spotlight. Listen to learn about a marvelously curious guy with an infectious love for nature.

When people think warblers in Northwest Ohio inevitably the month of May pops into their heads. But there are a handful of early birds in this family that generally show up in April. In this week's episode the boys discuss the very interesting but often overlooked Louisiana waterthrush. Thanks to friend Brian Zwiebel for the episode art.

If you're a birder, you most likely have heard the hubbub about the changing of names. For this episode we're not going to focus on whether this is a good or bad thing, because we're kind of indifferent about it. Instead, we've enlisted the help of our friend Greg Links to come up with new names for the birds in question. Listen in to see what might be in your next edition of the Peterson's Field Guide to the Birds. (Thanks to friend Joe Hildreth for the episode art.)

When you have the foremost authority on native orchids of the Oak Openings on staff, it only makes sense to take advantage of that wealth of knowledge. Over the next few months the Old Naturalist is going to educate us on these unique plants, starting with the Frog Orchid. Get out there in those wet woods and see if you can spot this rarity.