Monthly Archives: May 2021

Episode 41: Postcards from Paraguay

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Hello everyone and welcome to Episode Forty One!  It is the Memorial Day weekend here in the United States, and this weekend also marks the one year anniversary for the So Much Pingle podcast!  And that makes this episode the last of Season One!  Who knows where Season Two will take us?  It’s a mystery to me too.

Patrons!  I want to take the time to thank all of the folks who help to support the show, either through Patreon or other means – I can’t tell you how much I appreciate your generosity.  You really do keep this thing rolling.

I also want to thank all of my guests!  So many folks to thank for agreeing to come on the show and talk with me, it’s been a real pleasure talking with each and every one of you.  And also appreciate all of the folks who have taken the time to give me feedback about the show, and suggestions for topics and future guests.  Very important to me and to the show.

This episode comes to you from Paraguay, more precisely from the airport Holiday Inn in downtown Asunción, at the end of a difficult and challenging herp expedition.  I sat down with Devon, Tim, Jake, Dermot, Matt, and our new friend Jose to break down the experience, and thanks to all of those folks for their participation.  And I want to give a shout-out to Josh, Becca, and Rachel, we missed you!

Thanks for listening everyone!  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, the correct lyrics for La Bamba, tips for herping better, etc.

Cheers!  Mike

 

Episode 40: Carrizo Campfire Tales

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Hello everyone and welcome to Episode Forty!  I hope you all remain safe and healthy here in this fine month of May, the busiest of months for those of us in North America who enjoy getting out and seeing amphibians and reptiles. I just got back from a trip out west where John, Tim and I drove all over Nevada, California, Arizona and Utah, and we saw a bunch of cool herps, including a dozen or so species that were new to me.  As per usual I bring my mobile recording studio along, in the hopes of recording something interesting, and this trip did not disappoint.

But first, PATRONS!  Here’s a shout-out to new supporter Nick Scobel!  Thank you so much, Nick, for supporting the show, and thanks as always to all of the folks who help keep the show going. To others in the listening audience, if you like the show, please consider supporting it via the So Much Pingle Patreon page. You can also support the show via one-time contributions via PayPal or Venmo (please contact me via email to somuchpingle@gmail.com).

For this episode, I was fortunate enough to spend a little time on California’s Carrizo Plain with a group doing research and conservation work with the blunt-nosed leopard lizard (Gambelia sila).  After a long day of lizard looking, and lizard lassoing, and lizard processing, I sat around a campfire on a chilly evening and recorded a conversation with Robert Hansen, Emily Taylor, Katie Rock, and Savanna Weaver (They’re all under the lizard in the photo). Bob of course is of course the long-time editor of Herp Review, and you will remember Emily Taylor from Episode Twelve recorded last summer.  I also spoke with Katie Rock about “Quantifying the Gender Gap in Authorship in Herpetology”, an interesting paper that she and her coauthors published in the March 2021 volume of Herpetologica (and is featured on the cover!).  NOTE:  If you don’t have access to the paper, drop me an email to somuchpingle@gmail.com and I will send it to you.  And last but not least, Savannah Weaver gave us the lowdown on the blunt-nosed leopard lizard and her ongoing research project.

Thanks Bob, Emily, Katie and Savannah!  I had such a great time talking with all of you!  Now of course, after listening to the show you’ll want to follow these folks on Twitter:  Emily (@snakeymama), Katie (@KatietheeRock), and Savannah (@ScienceWithSav).

Thanks for listening everyone!  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, lizard lasso techniques, tips for herping better, etc.

Cheers!  Mike

 

Episode 39: Ecuador Adventures with Ross Maynard

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Hello everyone and welcome to Episode Thirty Nine!  And I hope you all remain safe and healthy as we move towards May, a busy time for herps and herp lovers in many places across the planet.

PATREONERS!  Here’s a shout-out to new supporters Martin Habecker and Daniel Dye!  Thank you so much for supporting the show, and thanks as always to all of the folks who help keep the show going. To others in the listening audience, if you like the show, please consider supporting it via the So Much Pingle Patreon page. You can also support the show via one-time contributions via PayPal or Venmo (please contact me via email to somuchpingle@gmail.com).

In this episode, we talk with Ross Maynard about the Rio Mandiriacu Reserve, up in the mountains of northwestern Ecuador.  Now this conversation with Ross hits a lot of marks for me – new species of amphibians, conservation work, and adventure travel in foreign lands, and I hope you enjoy it as well as I did.  Ross works for the Biodiversity Group and he and other members are actively engaged in preserving critical habitat for many poorly known and endangered species in Ecuador.  See the photo gallery below for more images of the reserve, as well as some of the amphibians mentioned on the show, including Rhaebo ollalai and Nymphargus mandiriacu.

I encourage all of my listeners to help the Rio Mandiriacu Reserve project if possible.  You can learn more about the Biodiversity Group here, and you can make direct donations as well.

There is also The Biodiversity Group conservation swag & art shop on Etsy (all products made by Nathalie Aall to raise funds for TBG research efforts), and you can also check out Nathalie’s personal Etsy store for more cool art.

Another way you can contribute is via Cameras for Conservation (for donations of functional cameras and other field equipment for reserve staff and local community members)

Also, be sure to check out Fundación EcoMinga, the NGO that manages the Río Manduriacu Reserve.  EcoMinga’s pages highlight plants and animals from protected reserves, many of them new species, and you get a good idea of what’s at stake here.  Also see Fundación Condor Andino, the NGO that Sebastian Kohn founded and operates (the original land owner of the Manduriacu Reserve–he is responsible for initiating the research and protection of the reserve).

Thanks for listening everyone!  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, Yaqui origin stories, tips for herping better, etc.

Cheers!  Mike