Nature Notes
Why do rattlesnakes rattle and hummingbirds hum?
How do flowers market themselves to pollinators?
Why do tarantulas cross the road?
Nature Notes investigates questions like these about the natural world of the Chihuahuan Desert region and the Llano Estacado every week. Through interviews with scientists and field recordings, this Marfa Public Radio original series reveals the secrets of desert life.
Join host Dallas Baxter on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 7:45 am during Morning Edition and 4:45 pm during All Things Considered. New episodes premier on Thursdays and replay on Tuesdays. Episodes are written and produced by Andrew Stuart and edited by Marfa Public Radio and the Sibley Nature Center in Midland, Texas.
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Big Bend residents who've taken visitors to the Rio Grande have heard some version of the wisecrack: “What's so 'grand' about this river?” You explain… -
The Animal Kingdom – that category of living things of which we count ourselves members – is staggeringly diverse, and it's a diversity we've only begun… -
There are few recent archeological finds as awe-inspiring as the “ghost tracks” of White Sands National Park, near Alamogordo, New Mexico. These… -
A rainy summer has brought a special beauty to all of West Texas. But the Salt Lakes at Salt Flat – the playas beneath the Guadalupe Mountains – have been… -
This year's summer rains have transformed our region, to stunning effect. Many ephemeral lakes – including the life-giving playas of the West Texas plains… -
Predators arouse powerful emotions. You may hold it to be self-evident that every creature is endowed with an inalienable right to exist, or understand… -
In its jagged confusion of peaks and ranges, its canyons, hoodoos and badlands, Big Bend National Park is a complex landscape. Unsurprisingly, it’s a… -
If they weren't so shy, they'd certainly be among our region's most famous inhabitants. For charisma, for sheer cuteness, kit foxes have few competitors… -
They can live for 400 years, their spiny, twisting stems stretching 20 feet into the sky. Their red flowers bring luscious color to the desert, in even… -
What archeology tells us about the past is often partial, tentative, generating as many questions as answers. Yet in some cases, archeology can reveal the…
