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May 15, 2026: The Brainerd translator at 89.9 FM is down. Parts have been ordered and we expect it will be a few days before it is fully operational. Thank you for your patience. Listen at kaxe.org!
Season Watch
Available Thursdays.
Hosted by Charlie Mitchell
,
Heidi Holtan
,
John Latimer

"Season Watch" is a KAXE podcast for the curious, filled with the delights of nature in Northern Minnesota. Hosts are Charlie Mitchell, Heidi Holtan, John Latimer and a rotating cast of characters, often featuring voices of young nature observers from around the state. From owl calls to sleeping bears and freezing frogs, we want hear from you! Record a message and send us what you are seeing in nature!

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Latest Episodes
  • A Baltimore oriole pays a visit to the nest in Maplewood on May 12, 2018.
    Oriole nests look like socks, work like hammocks
    Co-hosts Heidi Holtan and Charlie Mitchell are charmed by orioles, impressed by warblers, and flummoxed by black flies.Send us a voice memo through Speak Pipe!
  • KAXE Staff Phenologist John Latimer, right, poses with the late Harry Hutchins, who co-hosted the "KAXE Morning Show" on Tuesday mornings with Latimer. Hutchins was a forestry instructor and died in March 2021.
    Eaglets and archives, oh my!
    This week's Season Watch pod features a full John Latimer report, Little Falls Middle School and, in honor of our 50th year, a look back! Scott Hall talks with the late Harry Hutchins, forest ecology instructor and longtime host of KAXE's "A Talk on the Wild Side."
  • A heron-like bird with hilariously wide-set eyes and an upturned bill stares around its bill down at the camera.
    You bittern watch out!
    Co-hosts Heidi Holtan and Charlie Mitchell wonder at dragonflies, delight in bitterns, and look forward to seeing hummingbirds.Send us a voice memo through Speak Pipe!
  • USGS biologist Paul Cryan releases a bat carrying a miniature radio transmitter. Researchers are increasingly turning to high-tech methods to try to learn more about the mysterious lives of bats.
    Bats' backs bear tiny trackers as researchers study summer movement
    Charlie Mitchell enjoys interviews with Morgan Swingen (1854 Treaty Authority wildlife biologist) and phenology teacher Michelle Martin.Send us a voice memo through Speak Pipe!
  • A menacing-looking hawk with bright yellow feet and red eyes perches on a metal bird feeding pole.
    In praise of BirdCast, a marvel of migration monitoring
    In a special edition of the pod, co-hosts Heidi Holtan, John Latimer, and Pam Perry look forward at a busy spring migration season. Check out Birdcast!Send us a voice memo through Speak Pipe!
  • A tiny frog, held carefully by a person, has inflated its throat sac to call.
    Can you hear the peepers sing?
    Co-hosts Andrew Dziengel and Charlie Mitchell focus on frog and toad calls in this edition of the Season Watch Pod.Send us a voice memo through Speak Pipe!
  • At least seven yellow-and-black striped garter snakes are intertwined together on the corner of a patch of asphalt. Their heads are facing in similar directions.
    Sneaky snakey: How a sleepy serpent warms up for his springtime ball
    Co-hosts Heidi Holtan and Charlie Mitchell wonder at the mating habits of garter snakes, discuss the overwintering habits of butterflies, and look forward to spring's advance.Send us a voice memo through Speak Pipe!
  • Large white chunks of ice, which have been rounded by constantly bumping into each other, float on clear water near a stony lake shore.
    Have you spotted the spring's first butterfly yet?
    Co-hosts Heidi Holtan and Charlie Mitchell enthuse about spring's arrival, enjoy a poem from a listener, and inadvertently create a love letter to KAXE.Send us a voice memo through Speak Pipe!
  • A Black-capped Chickadee drinks sweet sap from an icicle hanging from a maple tree in Finland on March 21, 2024.
    Nice-icles: Maples and boxelders provide a frozen sweet treat
    In this episode, co-hosts Charlie Mitchell and Heather Johnson discuss how ants and plants help each other, the joys of gardening, and nature's popsicles.Send us a voice memo through Speak Pipe!
  • A graphic represents the different hearing types of fall and spring chickadees. The fall chickadee is attuned to fine-scale variations in song, while the spring chickadee is better able to distinguish pitches.
    Why birds' ears change with the seasons
    In this episode, hosts Charlie Mitchell and Chelsey Perkins revisit dinosaur songs and discuss inadvertent scientific discoveries. Send us a voice memo through Speak Pipe! Charlie recommends the book "An Immense World" by Ed Yong.