Monthly Archives: February 2021

Episode 34: Orianne, Indigos and Buzztails with Dr. Chris Jenkins

Episode Post, , , ,

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:22:25 — 75.5MB) | Embed

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Email | RSS | More

Hello everyone and welcome to Episode Thirty Four!  Here’s a shout-out to all of the people in Texas, I hope today finds you recovering from the terrible weather last week.  Much warmth and good wishes to everyone.

PATREONERS!  Here’s a shout-out to new Patreon contributors to the show since the last episode:  Bill Peterman, Cynthia Samake, and Paul-Erik Bakland!. Thank you Bill and Cynthia and Paul-Erik!   And thanks so much to all of my Patreoners for supporting the show! I really appreciate it. To others in the listening audience, if you like the show, please consider supporting it via the So Much Pingle Patreon page. And thanks in advance!

Our guest this week is Dr. Chris Jenkins, CEO of the Orianne Society.  In addition to operating Orianne, Chris also hosts the Snake Talk podcast, which is great and I’ve enjoyed listening to about half of the episodes so far, and I also made an appearance on the show with Don Becker to talk about the HerpMapper Project.  Of course I wanted to talk with Chris about Orianne, and about Snake Talk, but we also talked about rattlesnakes!  I’m always down to chat about crotes, and it was good to hear Chris’s perspective on observing and enjoying our buzzy buddies in the wild, and not surprisingly, we share some of the same sentiments about enjoying rattlesnakes in a hands-off manner.

I had a great talk with Dr. Jenkins and I hope you all take the time to visit the Orianne Society’s landing page and see what the organization is all about.  And if you haven’t already done so, check out Snake Talk!  You can reach it via the Orianne page, or search for it on your favorite podcast platform. Thanks for coming on the show, Chris!

And as always, please keep the comments and suggestions coming, and please take time to rate the show on your podcast platform! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, herp confessions, places you’ve never herped but really want to, tips for herping better, etc.

Cheers!  Mike

 

 

Episode 33: Obsessed with Amphibians: Jodi Rowley

Episode Post, , ,

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:12:26 — 66.3MB) | Embed

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Email | RSS | More

Hello everyone and welcome to Episode Thirty Three!  The polar vortex continues here in east-central Illinois, the mercury is pooled at the bottom of the thermometer, so put on a sweatshirt, make yourself a cuppa, and pull up a piping hot episode about frogs!  Our guest this week is Jodi Rowley, a conservation biologist with the Australian Museum in Sydney.  Jodi has been involved with frog field research in Australia, Cambodia, Vietnam, and other places, and she is also involved with a very cool community science project called FrogID.

On her Facebook page, Jodi describes herself as “a conservation biologist obsessed with amphibians”, which is something a lot of us can identify with.  I’ve enjoyed her enthusiasm and passion for frogs on social media and I was not surprised to have those signals come in loud and clear during our conversation.  Along with her field research, we discussed the Australian FrogID project, which has been tremendously successful in getting ordinary folks involved with recording calling amphibians, and these days, species conservation absolutely requires the attention and involvement of everyone.

Thanks for coming on the show, Jodi!  I had a great time talking about frogs (I guess that’s no surprise to anyone).  And folks, you can follow the FrogID project on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram as well.

PARC:  As I mentioned in the show, here are some links for Partners in Amphibian and Reptile Conservation:  the main PARC page, and a ‘find PARC‘ page with a map that identifies which PARC chapters cover which regions.  Check it out!

PATREONERS!  Thank you so much to all of my Patreoners for supporting the show! I really appreciate it. To others in the listening audience, if you like the show, please consider supporting it via the So Much Pingle Patreon page. And thanks in advance!

And as always, please keep the comments and suggestions coming, and please take time to rate the show on your podcast platform! The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, herp confessions, frog calls you can learn from home, tips for herping better, etc.

Cheers!  Mike

 

 

 

 

Episode 32: H-Snakes and Horny Toads with Dusty Rhoads

Episode Post, , , ,

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:28:53 — 81.4MB) | Embed

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Email | RSS | More

Hello everyone, and welcome to Episode Thirty Two!  Holy cow it’s cold here (thank you polar vortex!) and I’m just gonna stay inside today.  I’ve got my coffee, I’m thinking of warm places and I’m whispering encouraging words to the furnace, so it’s all good.

Before we get into this week’s episode, I hope you enjoyed Episode 31, the Jargon Episode, and if you liked the panel discussion format, I would love to hear from you about it.  If you have suggestions for another discussion-type show, send them to me and thanks!

PATREONERS!  Here’s a shout-out to new Patreon contributors to the show since the last episode:  David Burkart, and Adam Cooner!. Thank you Dave and  Adam, and thanks so much to all of my Patreoners for supporting the show! I really appreciate it. To others in the listening audience, if you like the show, please consider supporting it via the So Much Pingle Patreon page. And thanks in advance!

Our guest this week is Dusty Rhoads, a Texan living in Texas, who recently completed his Master’s degree at TCU.  This episode focuses on two of Dusty’s ongoing interests – the Trans-Pecos Ratsnake (Bogertophis subocularis), and the Texas Horned Lizard (Phrynosoma cornutum).  So many people (including me) were introduced to the “H-Snake” by reading “The Search for Subocularis“, a chapter in the late Carl Kauffeld’s book Snakes: The Keeper and the Kept.  Our guest Dusty literally wrote the book on Subocs (see photo) and has a book on Texas Horned Lizards coming soon.  I enjoyed our talk and learned quite a bit more about these iconic reptiles, and by the way, Dusty still has copies of his book available (send a note to ‘subocs@gmail.com’).

Thanks for coming on the show, Dusty!  And folks, if you haven’t done so yet, please take the time to rate this podcast on whatever platform you use – that goes a long way to support the show and spread the good word.

And as always, please keep the comments and suggestions coming!  The show email is somuchpingle@gmail.com, and there’s also a So Much Pingle group on Facebook, for discussion, comments, feedback, suggestions, herp confessions, tips for herping better, etc.

Cheers!  Mike