Wild Origins: Life Stories from Nature

I’ve been intrigued by herding dogs for many years now. While I’ve only seen them in action a few times, it’s always drawn me in. In this episode, I sat down with Terry Parrish to learn more about her work training herding dogs.

Terry has been a Herding Judge of American Kennel Club (AKC) and American Herding Breed Association (AHBA) trials since their inception. She judged the first all-breed herding event in the nation and is a designer of AHBA courses. Terry began herding with the Oliver Livestock Co., a working cattle ranch. Terry began managing her own commercial flock in the 1990s and began teaching herding full-time in 1991. Terry has qualified her own dogs for the National Finals since the beginning of the competition, as have many of her students. Terry has been featured on many southern California TV and radio shows, including Animal Planet, and in numerous newspaper interviews. She trials extensively with her dogs and conducts clinics across the entire United States as well as Australia. The vast accomplishments of Terry’s students testify to her instructing ability and her knowledge of dog training.

For the second episode, I’m so excited to share my conversation with Nikki Wayment, Executive Director of HawkWatch International. We explored everything from the pH of a vulture’s stomach to parenthood to the power of conservation, the impact of the natural world on young people and so much more. We also had a lot of great laughs, which I always appreciate, and simply got to talk about some of my favorite birds.Nikki received a B.S. in Fisheries and Wildlife from Utah State University. Her nonprofit experience comes from her tenure at the Museum of Arts and Sciences in Macon, GA where she served as Curator of Science and Education. She also previously worked as the Education and Outreach Director at HawkWatch International. She is thrilled to be a part of HawkWatch International and the important work that they do.

In her free time, Nikki enjoys hiking, swimming, reading, and spending time with her family.Check out the incredible work that HawkWatch International is doing via their website here or on Instagram (along with some pretty incredible photos).

In the very first episode of Wild Origins: Life Stories from Nature, I had the incredible opportunity to sit down (virtually) with Joshua Lisbon. We covered natural curiosity, what it means to be present during close encounters with mountain lions, rites of passage, and much more.

Joshua is an avid outdoorsman and educator, naturalist and researcher. He believes in the importance of providing direct, authentic connection with the natural world through education, research, conservation, advocacy, and film

🎬 Watch the Emmy-nominated documentary, WILLOW: Diary of a Mountain Lion, featuring Joshua’s work and research on PBS Nature: https://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/about-willow-diary-of-a-mountain-lion/33397/