What I do all day

Perhaps not surprisingly, the most prolific mammals that share their territory with Kathy and her husband are the desert cottontails. Besides providing constant entertainment with their antics, these small bunnies are a source of food for a host of predators, many arriving from the air. 

In April of this year, Kathy was scheduled to hang an exhibit of her insect images at the Park County Library in Cody, Wyoming,  accompanied by a one hour presentation discussing the importance of bugs in the environment. Due to restrictions of the pandemic, the exhibit was postponed until the month of November and the lecture had to be cancelled completely. In this episode Kathy offers a much condensed version of her talk, suggesting why insects are disappearing, why we should care and what we can do about it. 

If there was a soundtrack for Kathy Lichtendahl's property in Wyoming's high desert, the background music would be provided by coveys of chukars. First introduced to the United States from the Middle East in the late 1800's as game birds, a number of the colorful partridges have survived and even thrived in wild colonies throughout the western states and British Colombia. 

The day Kathy Lichtendahl and her husband first set eyes on the property that was to become their home for the next three decades, they were told by the realtor that no rattlesnakes could be found in the area. Since then they have encountered hundreds of the venomous reptiles and have come to respect the beauty and uniqueness of an animal misunderstood and feared by many. 

If not for the Clark's Nutcracker, chances are that white bark pine trees would be in more danger of disappearing than they already are. These birds are sometimes called the Johnny Appleseed of pine cones thanks to their habit of burying nuts from a variety of species of pine trees that grow at elevations from 3,000' - 11,000' in the western mountains. Luckily for all of us, the nutcrackers don't reclaim all the seeds they bury, allowing some to sprout into new trees that will provide cones to future generations of birds and mammals. 

Water is a critical component of the western plains and one that has been tightly managed since the area was first settled by immigrants hoping to farm or ranch the land. In this episode, Kathy talks about the role a long-standing irrigation ditch plays in providing critical moisture to wildflowers along its banks and to the small creatures that hunt within the golden blooms. 

In this episode, Kathy introduces us to the rock wrens that spend the summer months raising their young on her property. 

In this inaugural episode, Kathy Lichtendahl provides the background for future podcasts. She explains the concept for the series and tells the story of how she and her husband came to be living in a remote part of Wyoming, sharing their daily lives with all manner of creatures in the natural world.