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Season Watch Podcast sponsored by Sugar Lake Lodge
Season Watch

An owl in the hand is worth ten in the traffic

By Heidi Holtan,
Charlie Mitchell
Published November 27, 2025 at 11:14 AM CST
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An overheated Barred Owl stands panting on hot asphalt on Aug. 2, 2023 near Scandia.
KAXE/KBXE
/
Charlie Mitchell
An overheated Barred Owl stands panting on hot asphalt on Aug. 2, 2023 near Scandia.

In this episode, co-hosts Heidi Holtan and Charlie Mitchell discuss woodpecker grunts, gifts for nature nerds, and first aid for injured owls.

Have you heard a woodpecker grunt, or an owl pant?

In this episode, co-hosts Heidi Holtan (Director of Public Affairs, voracious book-reader) and Charlie Mitchell (Phenology Coordinator, inadvertent owl kidnapper) discuss new snow, woodpecker's grunting habits, and first aid for injured owls.

We listen to reports from Heidi Holtan, John Latimer, Aurora Waasakone Community of Learners, Sugar Lake Lodge, Cohasset Elementary, and Prairie Creek Community School.

Attributions

  • Find the North Woods Naturalist series Stan Tekiela's field guides here.
  • The snowy morning recording was provided by Heidi Holtan.
  • Our student reports this week were from Aurora Waasakone Community of Learners, Sugar Lake Lodge, and Cohasset Elementary.
  • The poem "For John" was written by students at Prairie Creek Community School.
  • John Latimer's phenology report and the student talkbacks originally aired on KAXE/KBXE.

Love the podcast? Had any exciting encounters with injured critters? Let us know! Email us at seasonwatch@kaxe.org.

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

Tags
Season Watch KAXENorthern MinnesotaPhenologyFall phenologyOwls
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Heidi Holtan
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.
See stories by Heidi Holtan
Charlie Mitchell
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.)
See stories by Charlie Mitchell
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