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Season Watch Podcast sponsored by Sugar Lake Lodge
Season Watch

A bashful Blanding's turtle eludes Belwin's careful watch

By Charlie Mitchell,
Heidi Holtan
Published June 18, 2026 at 9:22 PM CDT
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A Blanding's turtle wanders on land near Brainerd in May 2021.
Contributed
/
LeAnn Plinske via iNaturalist
A Blanding's turtle wanders on land near Brainerd in May 2021.

Charlie Mitchell is charmed by Blanding's turtles, delights in dragonflies, and learns about bees and wasps.

Send us a voice memo through SpeakPipe!

A beautiful Blanding's turtle wandered through Belwin recently to lay her eggs!

Charlie Mitchell (phenology coordinator, turtle enthusiast) geeks out about our elusive chelonian chum, discovers the meaning of "beard" when it comes to botany, and learns all about bees and wasps.

We hear from Chelsey Perkins (KAXE news director), Thea Evans (entomologist), Josh Leonard (Belwin buddy), and Zayda (student phenologist).

Attributions

  1. Barred Owl caterwauling recording by Norma Malinowski via iNaturalist.
  2. Josh Leonard and Chelsey Perkins submitted voice memos through SpeakPipe.
  3. Thea Evans' interview and Zayda's phenology report originally aired on KAXE.
  4. The Dead and Declining Trees series is produced by Mark Jacobs.
  5. This episode was produced by Charlie Mitchell.

Love the podcast? Have sightings to share? Let us know! Send us a voice memo through SpeakPipe!

Email us at seasonwatch@kaxe.org.

Tags
Season Watch Season Watch PodcastKAXENorthern MinnesotaPhenologySummer phenologyMark Jacobs
Stay Connected
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
Heidi Holtan has been involved with KAXE since 2002. Now as Director of Content and Public Affairs she manages and is the host of the KAXE Morning Show, including a variety of local content like Phenology, What's for Breakfast, Area Voices, The Sports Page and much more, alongside Morning Edition from NPR. Her latest project is Ham Radio: Cooking with Amy Thielen.
See stories by Heidi Holtan
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