Series: Nature Notes

Produced by Marfa Public Radio

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Image by: Megan Wilde 

Nature Notes explores the natural world of the Chihuahuan Desert.

Why do rattlesnakes rattle and hummingbirds hum? How do flowers market themselves to pollinators? Why do tarantulas cross the road?

Every week, Nature Notes investigates questions like these about the plants and animals of the Chihuahuan Desert region in the southwestern United States.

Now in its fourth year, Nature Notes is a 4½-minute weekly radio program produced by Marfa Public Radio in Marfa, Texas, in conjunction with the Chihuahuan Desert Research Institute in Fort Davis, Texas. This environmental program examines a little-known desert region in the United States and Mexico. But many desert-dwellers featured—such as turkey vultures and prairie dogs—will be familiar to listeners outside this region. Through interviews with scientists and field recordings, Nature Notes reveals the secrets of desert life.


34 Pieces

Order by: Newest First | Oldest First
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Not all owls hunt at night and nest in trees. Burrowing owls greet the sun from abandoned prairie dog dens. What else makes these tiny birds unique?

Bought by KENW


  • Added: Apr 19, 2011
  • Length: 00:04:30
  • Purchases: 1
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Big Bend National Park is home to many rare and endangered species, but the Big Bend gambusia lives particularly close to the edge of extinction. H...

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  • Added: Apr 19, 2011
  • Length: 00:04:30
  • Purchases: 1
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Some birds sing. Others twitter, tweet or trill. But the common nighthawk goes boom in the night. This noise isn’t all that sets nighthawks apart i...

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  • Added: Apr 19, 2011
  • Length: 00:04:30
  • Purchases: 1
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Learning to vocalize is a surprisingly unusual ability in the animal world. How do young songbirds master their musical talents?

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  • Added: Apr 19, 2011
  • Length: 00:04:30
  • Purchases: 1
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The 21 oak species in our region assume many forms and are survivors of the last Ice Age. Who are these tenacious trees? And what animals depend on...

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  • Added: Apr 19, 2011
  • Length: 00:04:30
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: Harvester ants carry food several times their size., Credit: Cathryn Hoyt
You’ve seen their sprawling, barren mounds, like little moonscapes in your field or lawn. But what lies beneath harvester ants’ conspicuous mounds?

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  • Added: Apr 07, 2011
  • Length: 00:04:30
  • Purchases: 1
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These tiny crustaceans come to life for just a short while during our rainy season, but their eggs can wait decades to hatch and ride the wind for ...

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  • Added: Apr 07, 2011
  • Length: 00:00:59
  • Purchases: 1
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Summer storms send many desert frogs and toads into a raucous reproductive frenzy. What role do their choruses play in their hasty courtship?

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  • Added: Apr 07, 2011
  • Length: 00:04:30
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: Cenizo puts on a show during the desert's rainy season., Credit: Cathryn Hoyt
In the Chihuahuan Desert, we spend fall, winter, spring and summer talking about our fifth season—the rainy season. What does its arrival mean for ...

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  • Added: Apr 07, 2011
  • Length: 00:04:30
  • Purchases: 1
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Animals and insects aren’t being altruistic when they pollinate a plant. So how do plants attract and reward them for their services?

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  • Added: Apr 07, 2011
  • Length: 00:04:30
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: Testudinella patina, Credit: T. Schröder, R.L. Wallace, E. Walsh
Every pristine spring, mucky cattle tank, and rain-filled hueco in the Chihuahuan Desert is home to an exceptionally diverse array of microscopic a...

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  • Added: Apr 07, 2011
  • Length: 00:04:30
  • Purchases: 1
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Aldo Leopold's legendary essay collection, A Sand County Almanac, has inspired countless conservationists and earned Aldo Leopold a place alongside...

Bought by WTIP and KENW


  • Added: Apr 07, 2011
  • Length: 00:04:30
  • Purchases: 2
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With its showy red crest and golden bill, the pyrrhuloxia shouldn't be confused with its more flamboyant cardinal relative. What makes this desert ...

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  • Added: Apr 07, 2011
  • Length: 00:04:30
  • Purchases: 1
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They eat roadkill. They urinate on themselves. When frightened, they vomit. The turkey vultures have returned. Why does this harbinger of spring ha...

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  • Added: Mar 22, 2011
  • Length: 00:04:30
  • Purchases: 1
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Trees seem scarce in the Chihuahuan Desert. But soapberry trees manage to thrive throughout our region and can even be used to wash your hands. How...

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  • Added: Mar 22, 2011
  • Length: 00:04:30
  • Purchases: 1
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On Mimms Ranch outside Marfa, the Dixon Water Foundation is using some surprising tools to improve a grassland’s ability to absorb water: cattle an...

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  • Added: Mar 04, 2011
  • Length: 00:04:30
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: Skeletal remains of a Shasta ground sloth., Credit: The Jesse Earl Hyde Collection, Case Western Reserve University
Ground sloths weren’t cute, cuddly tree-dwellers like sloths today. They weighed 500 pounds and stood nine-feet tall. Who were these Ice Age creatu...

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  • Added: Feb 24, 2011
  • Length: 00:04:30
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: A black bear in Big Bend National Park., Credit: Cindy Callahan, courtesy of National Park Service
After an absence of nearly fifty years, black bears have been making a remarkable comeback in Big Bend National Park. Why did they return? And what...

Bought by WTIP and KENW


  • Added: Feb 18, 2011
  • Length: 00:04:30
  • Purchases: 2
Caption: Pronghorn on the Marfa Plateau. , Credit: Mike Sullins/TPWD
Pronghorn have perfect camouflage, unmatched speed, and can spot a predator miles away. But that hasn't protected them from a mysterious population...

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  • Added: Feb 09, 2011
  • Length: 00:04:30
  • Purchases: 1
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As all hay-fever sufferers will tell you, this has been a bad year for pollen. What's all that pollen good for besides making you miserable?

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  • Added: Feb 04, 2011
  • Length: 00:04:30
  • Purchases: 1