Walkin' on the Wild Side

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 unusual little mammals.

Here's some interesting websites about armadillos:

https://theconversation.com/humans-gave-leprosy-to-armadillos-now-they-are-giving-it-back-to-us-99915
https://www.dnr.sc.gov/wildlife/publications/nuisance/armadillos.pdf
https://www.treehugger.com/things-you-didnt-know-about-armadillos-4869732
https://www.eattheweeds.com/armadillo-cuisine-cooking-a-hoover-hog-2/

Interested in having Marvin and Gabrielle speak at your event?  Email us below for more information!

Email us at [email protected]
Follow us on our two webpages to see photos and blogs about our podcasts and nature in general:
Nature Nook Photography
Walkin' on the Wild Side

You can listen directly from our website at: https://walkinonthewildside.buzzsprout.com, or from any of the major podcast platforms, such as Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Audible, Spotify, iHeart Radio, TuneIn, Stitcher, and more!
Subscribe to our podcasts on any of these platforms and leave us a review!
We hope you enjoy listening to our podcast and welcome your emails, comments, and feedback.  Hopefully, we will inspire you to get out there and start "Walkin' on the Wild Side"!

We'd love to hear from you with your questions and comments!

It's time for another episode and we dedicate this podcast to our friend Donna down in the Lowcountry!  She adores vultures, so Gabrielle and I dug deep (ew!) and had a front porch chat about the amazing and incredibly necessary turkey and black vultures.  Cleaning up dead animals, stopping disease in its tracks, and providing comic relief, these birds are social, personable, and intelligent.  Get to know Nature's clean up crew and discover that the seemingly disgusting bird that feeds on dead stuff is actually a pretty cool critter!

Here's some additional websites about the amazing vulture:

Differences between black and turkey vultures
Black Vultures
Turkey Vultures
Vulture Facts
How smart are vultures?

Interested in having Marvin and Gabrielle speak at your event?  Email us below for more information!

Email us at [email protected]
Follow us on our two webpages to see photos and blogs about our podcasts and nature in general:
Nature Nook Photography
Walkin' on the Wild Side

You can listen directly from our website at: https://walkinonthewildside.buzzsprout.com, or from any of the major podcast platforms, such as Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Audible, Spotify, iHeart Radio, TuneIn, Stitcher, and more!
Subscribe to our podcasts on any of these platforms and leave us a review!
We hope you enjoy listening to our podcast and welcome your emails, comments, and feedback.  Hopefully, we will inspire you to get out there and start "Walkin' on the Wild Side"!

We'd love to hear from you with your questions and comments!

A podcast request by Gabrielle!  We were talking about stories behind some plant names and she thought it would be a good podcast, so here we are!  Some plants get their names for obvious reasons, like pink lady slippers or sunflowers, but some have such unique names, it makes you wonder how they got their names.  Join Marvin and Gabrielle on the front porch to play the name game and explore the how's and why's of some interesting southeastern plants and the stories behind their names.

Here's some additional websites about funny plants and their names:

Unusual Plants and Funny Names
31 Funny Plant Names
More Funny Plant Names
The Popping Pods of Jewelweed - Why Do They Explode?
What's in a Name?  The Story Behind Joe-Pye-
Weed

Interested in having Marvin and Gabrielle speak at your event?  Email us below for more information!

Email us at [email protected]
Follow us on our two webpages to see photos and blogs about our podcasts and nature in general:
Nature Nook Photography
Walkin' on the Wild Side

You can listen directly from our website at: https://walkinonthewildside.buzzsprout.com, or from any of the major podcast platforms, such as Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Audible, Spotify, iHeart Radio, TuneIn, Stitcher, and more!
Subscribe to our podcasts on any of these platforms and leave us a review!
We hope you enjoy listening to our podcast and welcome your emails, comments, and feedback.  Hopefully, we will inspire you to get out there and start "Walkin' on the Wild Side"!

We'd love to hear from you with your questions and comments!

Van Halen is the perfect song for jumping spiders, lol!  Join Marvin and Gabrielle on the porch as they talk about the amazing jumping spider, and I'm sure you will be able to tell Marvin is pretty excited!  These little spiders look comical, have cute faces, but in actuality, they are an incredibly complex, amazing, and fascinating.  They have incredible jumping abilities, process complex information with tiny brains, and have vision that rivals cats and elephants!  Join us and learn more about these miniature marvels...

Here's a few websites with more information:
Spider facts
https://www.thoughtco.com/how-do-jumping-spiders-jump-1968546
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/jumping-spider-vision-eyes-color-senses-hearing-mating-courtship
How Jumping Spider Sees Its Prey - NY Times

Interested in having Marvin and Gabrielle speak at your event?  Email us below for more information!

Email us at [email protected]
Follow us on our two webpages to see photos and blogs about our podcasts and nature in general:
Nature Nook Photography
Walkin' on the Wild Side

You can listen directly from our website at: https://walkinonthewildside.buzzsprout.com, or from any of the major podcast platforms, such as Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Audible, Spotify, iHeart Radio, TuneIn, Stitcher, and more!
Subscribe to our podcasts on any of these platforms and leave us a review!
We hope you enjoy listening to our podcast and welcome your emails, comments, and feedback.  Hopefully, we will inspire you to get out there and start "Walkin' on the Wild Side"!

We'd love to hear from you with your questions and comments!

Ahhhh....summer!  Nothing reminds us more of summer than the humming, buzzing, and deafening sound of the cicada.  Join Marvin and Gabrielle on the front porch to chat about one of the most amazing, misunderstood, and magical cicadas.  Learn about the life cycle of the insects, how often they appear, and when the next big emergence may take place!

Here's some more interesting information about cicadas:

Periodical Cicada Info
https://www.livescience.com/57814-cicada-facts.html
Can you eat cicadas?
Info about the next emergence
How cicadas make noise

Interested in having Marvin and Gabrielle speak at your event?  Email us below for more information!

Email us at [email protected]
Follow us on our two webpages to see photos and blogs about our podcasts and nature in general:
Nature Nook Photography
Walkin' on the Wild Side

You can listen directly from our website at: https://walkinonthewildside.buzzsprout.com, or from any of the major podcast platforms, such as Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Audible, Spotify, iHeart Radio, TuneIn, Stitcher, and more!
Subscribe to our podcasts on any of these platforms and leave us a review!
We hope you enjoy listening to our podcast and welcome your emails, comments, and feedback.  Hopefully, we will inspire you to get out there and start "Walkin' on the Wild Side"!

We'd love to hear from you with your questions and comments!

Every year we look forward to a short 2-4 weeks in the late spring to experience the amazing blue ghost fireflies.  This year, not only did I get to take Gabrielle with me, but also our good friends and fellow explorers, Jody Wilbanks and Michelle Owens.  Join Gabrielle, Jody, Michelle, and myself for a late night  in the forests of DuPont State Forest as we delve into the darkness to experience these amazing fairies of the forests and share our thoughts on this magical couple of nights!
Here's more info on the amazing blue ghost fireflies:

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/blue-ghost-fireflies
https://hgic.clemson.edu/blue-ghosts/
The Purkinje Effect/Shift
A couple of firefly tours:
https://www.ashevillehikingtours.com/all-hiking-tours/blue-ghost-firefly-tour/
https://wlos.com/news/local/cradle-of-forestry-celebrates-2023-opening-day-april-8-despite-rain-cold-pisgah-forest-6500-acres-school-education-fun-blue-ridge-mountains

Here's more about the wonderful organization that is Make-A-Wish:
Make-A-Wish: https://wish.org/
The South Carolina Chapter and Trailblaze Challenge:  https://wish.org/sc/trailblaze-challenge

Interested in having Marvin and Gabrielle speak at your event?  Email us below for more information!

Email us at [email protected]
Follow us on our two webpages to see photos and blogs about our podcasts and nature in general:
Nature Nook Photography
Walkin' on the Wild Side

You can listen directly from our website at: https://walkinonthewildside.buzzsprout.com, or from any of the major podcast platforms, such as Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Audible, Spotify, iHeart Radio, TuneIn, Stitcher, and more!
Subscribe to our podcasts on any of these platforms and leave us a review!
We hope you enjoy listening to our podcast and welcome your emails, comments, and feedback.  Hopefully, we will inspire you to get out there and start "Walkin' on the Wild Side"!

We'd love to hear from you with your questions and comments!

I'm pretty sure most lawn people get upset with moles digging in their yards, but moles actually help your lawn by aerating, eating grubs, worms, insects, etc.  It's a common myth that they eat your roots of your garden plants, but that's untrue, and moles are more beneficial than detrimental.  Join Marvin and Gabrielle as they dig a little deeper and chat about the underground world of moles and share fascinating facts about these little fossorial mammals.

https://www.nwf.org/Educational-Resources/Wildlife-Guide/Mammals/Moles
https://www.dnr.sc.gov/swap/supplemental/mammals/molesguild2015.pdf
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/moles-can-smell-in-stereo-19948435/
https://www.interestingfactshub.com/mole-facts/
https://www.ranker.com/list/star-nosed-mole-facts/hugh-landman
How studying moles can help COPD sufferers

Interested in having Marvin and Gabrielle speak at your event?  Email us below for more information!

Email us at [email protected]
Follow us on our two webpages to see photos and blogs about our podcasts and nature in general:
Nature Nook Photography
Walkin' on the Wild Side

You can listen directly from our website at: https://walkinonthewildside.buzzsprout.com, or from any of the major podcast platforms, such as Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Audible, Spotify, iHeart Radio, TuneIn, Stitcher, and more!
Subscribe to our podcasts on any of these platforms and leave us a review!
We hope you enjoy listening to our podcast and welcome your emails, comments, and feedback.  Hopefully, we will inspire you to get out there and start "Walkin' on the Wild Side"!

We'd love to hear from you with your questions and comments!

For this episode, we had an opportunity to visit Seward, Alaska for a few days before a conference and we made the most of it!  We burned up the Seward Highway and beyond as we searched for whales, sea otters, snow-capped mountains, eagles, seals, and were hot on the trail of the elusive Aurora borealis.  Join Gabrielle and Marvin from the front deck of their little cliffside cabin overlooking Seward Harbor and Resurrection Bay as they recap their adventure, complete with howling winds and spittin' snow!

Check out these websites for more information about these adventures:
https://sewardoceanexcursions.com/
https://alaskawildlife.org/
https://www.weather.gov/fsd/aurora
Sea Otters and more-Alaska Sealife Center

To learn more about the indigenous cultures of Alaska here:
https://www.nativefederation.org/alaska-native-peoples/
https://www.alaskanative.net/
https://kikiktagruk.com/shareholders/inupiat-people/

Check out the photos from our trip on Facebook on the following pages:
Gabrielle Bouknight
Marvin Bouknight
Nature Nook Photography
Walkin' on the Wild Side

Interested in having Marvin and Gabrielle speak at your event?  Email us below for more information!

Email us at [email protected]
Follow us on our two webpages to see photos and blogs about our podcasts and nature in general:
Nature Nook Photography
Walkin' on the Wild Side

You can listen directly from our website at: https://walkinonthewildside.buzzsprout.com, or from any of the major podcast platforms, such as Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Audible, Spotify, iHeart Radio, TuneIn, Stitcher, and more!
Subscribe to our podcasts on any of these platforms and leave us a review!
We hope you enjoy listening to our podcast and welcome your emails, comments, and feedback.  Hopefully, we will inspire you to get out there and start "Walkin' on the Wild Side"!

We'd love to hear from you with your questions and comments!

It's raining outside and what a perfect time to chat about salamanders.  Join Marvin and Gabrielle as they chat about the slimy critters called salamander.  These complex little amphibians are very interesting and many just don't realize how common they are are how fascinating these slimy but special salamanders really are!
 Check out these websites for more about salamanders:
https://www.motherearthnews.com/sustainable-living/nature-and-environment/salamander-species-zmaz07fmzpit/
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/the-surprisingly-colorful-salamanders-of-appalachia-813148/
https://www.nwf.org/Educational-Resources/Wildlife-Guide/Amphibians/Hellbender
https://nautil.us/the-salamander-that-has-photosynthesis-happening-inside-it-234843/

Interested in having Marvin and Gabrielle speak at your event?  Email us below for more information!

Email us at [email protected]
Follow us on our two webpages to see photos and blogs about our podcasts and nature in general:
Nature Nook Photography
Walkin' on the Wild Side

You can listen directly from our website at: https://walkinonthewildside.buzzsprout.com, or from any of the major podcast platforms, such as Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Audible, Spotify, iHeart Radio, TuneIn, Stitcher, and more!
Subscribe to our podcasts on any of these platforms and leave us a review!
We hope you enjoy listening to our podcast and welcome your emails, comments, and feedback.  Hopefully, we will inspire you to get out there and start "Walkin' on the Wild Side"!

We'd love to hear from you with your questions and comments!

You may have heard folks talk about how smart crows are, but really...just how smart are they?  Join Marvin and Gabrielle on the porch as they talk about some of the incredible displays of intelligence by crows and other corvids.  They are some of the most studied birds and there are some amazing examples of crow smarts that put them on par with monkeys, apes, and even humans!

Here are some resources to check out about these complex and amazing birds:
Scientific American Article about Crows
Smithsonian Magazine
Are Crows Smarter Than a Third Grader?
Video of Crow Fishing
Video of Crows Using and Making Tools

Interested in having Marvin and Gabrielle speak at your event?  Email us below for more information!

Email us at [email protected]
Follow us on our two webpages to see photos and blogs about our podcasts and nature in general:
Nature Nook Photography
Walkin' on the Wild Side

You can listen directly from our website at: https://walkinonthewildside.buzzsprout.com, or from any of the major podcast platforms, such as Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Audible, Spotify, iHeart Radio, TuneIn, Stitcher, and more!
Subscribe to our podcasts on any of these platforms and leave us a review!
We hope you enjoy listening to our podcast and welcome your emails, comments, and feedback.  Hopefully, we will inspire you to get out there and start "Walkin' on the Wild Side"!

We'd love to hear from you with your questions and comments!