Nature Guys

Horsehair worms are easy to find. They are fascinating and harmless. Keep your eyes open when you are near water. Bill found one crawling out of a grasshopper.

Our sources for this episode include:

• Horsehair Worms 
• Iowa State Horsehair Worms 
• Wild Fact #752 – Bad Company – Nematomorpha 
• Zombie Fungus Enslaves Only Its Favorite Ant Brains 

Water Striders are amazing insects that you can find in lakes and streams. Tune in to find out what they eat, how fast they are and much more.

This episode was recorded live at Roads, Rivers and Trails.

Our sources for this episode include:

• Facts About Water Striders 
• This Is Why Water Striders Make Terrible Lifeguards – KQED You Tube video 
• 7 Water Strider Facts – It Walks On Water! 
• Richard Hammond’s Invisible Worlds – Water Strider – You Tube video 

As human beings we have a chance to contribute to organizations that help educate and protect the natural world. Bob and Bill talk about some of their favorite organizations and what they are able to accomplish with a little help from people like you. If you are donating to an organization please consider leaving a comment under this episode.

Organizations that Bob and Bill support:

• Imago
• Cincinnati Nature Center
• The Nature Conservancy
• American Bird Conservancy

The beaver is one of the largest rodents in North America. Tune in to find out how and why beavers actually took up parachuting!

Our sources for this episode include:

• Parachuting beavers featured in Fur For the Future 1950s-era film
• Amazing Facts About the Beaver
• Facts About Beavers
• 11 Fascinating Facts About Beavers

Did you know that we have thousands of species of parasitoid wasps? Tune in to find out why these are called Zombie Wasps.

Our sources for this episode include:

• Butterfly Eggs and Caterpillar Survival | Life In The Undergrowth | BBC
• That little speck there? Thatʼs a parasitoid wasp!
• Ichneumon Wasps: More than 5,000 species in North America
• Intimate relation between blue butterfly, ichneumon wasp and ants

This is Nature Guys 100th episode and to celebrate Bill and Bob did a live show for volunteers of Cincinnati Nature Center the place they met many years ago. This episode is on Canada Geese a bird that Bill had many encounters with at Cincinnati Nature Center. Tune in to find out all about the bird many people love to hate.

Related episode: Don’t Grab a Snapping Turtle by the Tail

Our sources for this episode include:

• Where Did All Those Canada Geese In Town Come From?
• The Canada Goose
• 6 Honking Facts About Canada Geese
• Canada geese will attack. Why are the birds so aggressive?

Bill and Bob gathered nature stories at Imagoʼs Music in the Woods. Tune in to hear inspiring stories of nature connection.

Bill mentions a book that he loves, The Overstory, by Richard Powers.

Related episodes: Sit Spot and Screech Owl 

Step outside on a night in late summer and listen to the sounds of the insects. Bill and Bob have some tips on how to listen to these amazing sounds.

Our sources for this episode include:

• Bill suggests the book The Songs of Insects by Lang Elliott and Wil Hershberger
• The Music of Nature by Lang Elliot
• Understanding Insect Sounds: Nature’s Orchestra Video
• What are you hearing
• The Singing Insects of Summer

Bill finds fall webworms in the middle of summer. These may look nasty in trees but they are native.

Related episode:  Tent Caterpillars Camp Out Together

Our sources for this episode include:

• Answer Man Revisited: Are there more webworms this fall? Sept 2016
• Fall Webworm
• The rise and fall of the fall webworm
• Bagworms or Fall Webworms?

It is hard to stay mad at a chipmunk because they are so darn cute. Tune in to learn all about this adorable creature.

Our sources for this episode include:

• 5 Ways Chipmunks Win at Winter
• 10 things you don’t know about chipmunks
• Chipmunk Facts
• NOT Alvin and the Chipmunks: 10 Facts You May Not Know about the Real Rodents