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Season Watch

Littlefork suddenly teems with stunning tanagers

By Charlie Mitchell,
Heidi Holtan
Published May 29, 2026 at 1:29 PM CDT
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This exceedingly rare male Western and Scarlet Tanager hybrid was a recent visitor in Littlefork.
Contributed
/
A. Meadows via The Timberjay
This exceedingly rare male Western and Scarlet Tanager hybrid was a recent visitor in Littlefork.

Co-hosts Charlie Mitchell and Heidi Holtan gaze at rare tanagers, try to remember frog calls, and learn about turtle nests.

Send us a voice memo through Speak Pipe!

Littlefork had a heaping spoonful of exciting bird sightings this year!

Co-hosts Charlie Mitchell (phenology coordinator, outdoorsy dweeb) and Heidi Holtan (director of content and public affairs, enthusiastic learner) enjoyed the recent sightings of hybrid and rare tanagers.

In addition, Heidi quizzed Charlie on frog calls and we hear from students at Little Falls Middle School and John Latimer.

Attributions

  1. Tanager story available at here at The Timberjay.
  2. Blue Heron call by Michael Hurben, XC854861. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/854861.
  3. John Latimer's and the Little Falls phenology reports originally aired on KAXE.
  4. This episode was produced by Heidi Holtan and Charlie Mitchell.

Love the podcast? Have a bird sighting to share? Let us know! Send us a voice memo through Speak Pipe!

Email us at seasonwatch@kaxe.org.

Tags
Season Watch Season Watch PodcastKAXENorthern MinnesotaPhenologySpring Phenology
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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.<br/><br/><br/>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
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
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