Our guest is acclaimed poet Una Kobrin, author of Words Between Darkness & Light, who will share some of her poems about stags, crickets, cows and hummingbirds to give us a new perspective on sharing the earth with these wonderful beings.

With the rainy season upon us in the Sierra Nevada foothills, a critter emerges to look for his mate. The Rain Beetle, a species related to the Scarab, a beetle symbolizing restoration, rebirth and good luck in ancient Egyptian culture, makes its first appearance with the early rains. Possessing a chunky body that can tolerate colder weather and “eyelashes” to sense its surroundings, this beetle lives only a few days to make a purposeful flight.

Critter Chat interviews UC Davis PhD student Kaitai Liu as he begins his journey to better understand this charismatic and harmless native critter and the various species of the Rain Beetle, Pleocoma, living in the Sierra Nevada foothills and Pacific states of North America. Inspired by his grandparents to get outside and “off the computer” to look at bugs, he is now following his dream and researching the natural world.

Teachers are encouraged to use Critter Chat in their classrooms. Vocabulary words like “lamellae” and “pheromones” are discussed to better understand the life of a beetle.

Critter Chat tells stories of Sierra Nevada wildlife featuring interviews with experts in the field. Critter Chat is locally produced and hosted by Susan Brandt and Marney Blair with support from KVMR, Rational Animal, Chan Family Optometry and Wild Birds Unlimited.

The sleek and secretive fisher, doesn’t fish or even like to swim. This beautiful mammal is a cousin of the weasel, otter and badger, living in old growth forests, having their kits in cavities of trees under lush forest canopies, moving quickly on forest floors and traveling miles via creek corridors. Though endangered in the Sierra Nevada mountains, experts use hidden cameras and tracking collars to understand their lives in order to help their populations.

In this episode of Critter Chat, hosts Marney Blair and Susan Brandt speak with experts about the fisher, a rare mammal of the Sierras, about their behavior, threats and efforts to save them. Guests on the show are: Andria Townsend, wildlife biologist and carnivore specialist, Yosemite National Park; Professor Emeritus Roger Powell, author of The Fisher, Life history, ecology, and behavior, the definitive book about the fisher; and biologist and Poet Laureate of Sonoma County, Maya Khosla, who will share her observations and references, and read her poetry about a female fisher, who is about the size of a house cat.

Teachers are encouraged to use Critter Chat in their classrooms. Concepts like “misnomer” and “fitness landscape” are discussed as well as an explanation of National Park vs National Forest are included in this episode featuring the fisher.

For show notes and all episodes, see critterchat.org
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Critter Chat tells stories of Sierra Nevada wildlife featuring interviews with experts in the field. Critter Chat is produced in Grass Valley, California and is hosted by Susan Brandt and Marney Blair with support from KVMR, Rational Animal and Wild Birds Unlimited.

Image credit: © Fisher kit, Fresno Chaffee Zoo, courtesy Andria Townsend, Yosemite National Park.