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Nature's little gifts: The joys (or horrors) in a naturalist's freezer

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A Great Horned Owl pellet contains bones and fur from a small mammal. Photographed in California on March 4, 2023.
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A Great Horned Owl pellet contains bones and fur from a small mammal. Photographed in California on March 4, 2023.

In this episode, co-hosts Heidi Holtan and Charlie Mitchell discuss the digestive habits of Northern Shrikes, naturalists' dodgy freezer contents, and the Northern Lights. We listen to recordings from Little Falls Middle School, John Latimer, Charlie's mom (Barb), and Clinton Dexter-Neinhaus.

What would you do if you saw a bird puke up a pellet? If you'd jump out of your car, dig it out of the snow, and save it in your freezer, you've got friends in Charlie Mitchell, Clinton Dexter-Neinhaus (naturalist at the Sax-Zim Bog) and John Latimer.

In this episode, co-hosts Heidi Holtan and Charlie Mitchell discuss the digestive habits of Northern Shrikes and revisit the Northern Lights.

We listen to recordings from Little Falls Middle School, John Latimer, Charlie's mom (Barbara), and Clinton Dexter-Neinhaus.

Attributions

Love the podcast? Think Charlie should tell us what's in their freezer? Let us know! Email us at seasonwatch@kaxe.org.

You can also send us a voice memo through Speak Pipe!

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For more than two decades, Heidi Holtan has helped shape the sound of KAXE. Since joining the station in 2002 as a volunteer music programmer, she has worn many hats including the weekly book program, Realgoodwords, hosting the Morning Show, creation and host of the weekly call-in program Between You and Me, serving as Outreach Producer. Program Director, News Director and currently Director of Content and Public Affairs.
Charlie Mitchell (she/they) joined KAXE in February of 2022. Charlie creates the Season Watch Newsletter, produces the Phenology Talkbacks show, coordinates the Phenology in the Classroom program, and writes nature-related stories for KAXE's website. Essentailly, Charlie is John Latimer's faithful sidekick and makes sure all of KAXE's nature/phenology programs find a second life online and in podcast form.


With a background in ecology and evolutionary biology, Charlie enjoys learning a little bit about everything, whether it's plants, mushrooms, or the star-nosed mole. (Fun fact: Moles store fat in their tails, so they don't outgrow their tunnels every time conditions are good.)
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