Billy talked with author Scott Weidensaul about the wonders of bird migration and how urbanite humans can make their city habitats better for avian visitors. Topics include shorebirds, songbirds, raptors, outdoor cats, dogs, urban parks, window collisions, artificial light at night, and why bald eagles aren’t trash birds.

Tony and Billy talk with one of their urban wildlife heroes, Stan Gehrt, who has been studying Chicago’s coyotes for more than 20 years. Dr. Gehrt has just authored a new book Coyotes Among Us: Secrets of the City’s top Predator. We talk coyotes, mange, how to pronounce “coyote,” coyote predation on deer and woodchucks, which is cuter: fawns or coyote pups, coyote monogamy, how foxes and woodchucks will tell you whether there are coyotes around, urban coyote diets, why coyote attacks (rarely) happen, why coyotes can’t keep away from airports and why they should, why Philadelphia doesn’t have coyotes like Chicago does, the coywolf silliness, and much more.

Tony and Billy talk about one of their favorite critters, the (urban) woodchuck (a.k.a. groundhog, monax, whistle pig, etc.) and its marmot relatives around the globe. Other topics include yellow-bellied and hoary marmots; when iNaturalist makes it look like a critter has an urban distribution, but it’s really just a park next to a city; WTSHTF hobbyists who kill ratsnakes for no good reasons; groundhog day, eating woodchucks, and coyotes and woodchucks.

Tony and Billy got together ostensibly to talk about urban beavers (Castor canadensis), but the conversation wandered far and wide, touching on such subjects as hunting and conservation, rowhouse rednecks, groom cakes, Coleman coolers, the absurdity of private land ownership, and how Tony introduced “your mom” jokes to Brazil.

The biggest animal in Philadelphia (and other port cities) isn’t a deer or a coyote, it’s a fish. We talk with biologist Shannon White about Atlantic sturgeon and her research into their depressingly reduced populations. We talk about how the caviar boom of the late 1800s devastated sturgeon populations, and about how their slow life history, channelization, boat traffic, anchor dragging, and exotic species (like blue and channel catfish) work against their recovery. We talk about how people might accidentally or intentionally introduce captive stock of sturgeon into the wild and why that is a terrible idea. Tony blames America’s dysfunctional health insurance system on shad (and how they fed George Washington’s troops at Valley Forge). We also talk about snorkeling in rivers (are smallmouth bass really cuddly?), how fish ladders work, and Billy’s dreams of spear fishing flathead catfish to examine their stomach contents, even though they are too toxic to eat.

In memory of Scott McWilliams, who passed away from brain cancer recently, we are reposting this episode from 2015. Scott was a great Philadelphian, physician, Billy’s herping buddy and close friend, and an endlessly inquisitive naturalist.

Andrew Budziak traveled from Vancouver to St. John’s and four cities in between to photograph Canadian urban wildlife for his video series Edge of Frame. Billy and Andrew talk about the wildlife he saw and the humans too.

You can watch the videos at his site or on Narcity’s YouTube channel.

The San Francisco garter snake (Thamnophis sirtalis tetrataenia) is shockingly beautiful and sadly endangered. It’s small range lies within the San Francisco Bay Area (no surprise there), one of the most densely populated regions of the United States.

Billy is joined by Dr. Brian Halstead of the US Geological Survey to talk about the snake and the efforts to keep it from going extinct.

You might only think of them as paths from here to there, but roads are vast structures whose density largely defines urban areas and determine what can survive in them. Darryl Jones, author of A Clouded Leopard in the Middle of the Road, joins Billy and Tony to talk about the environmental impacts of roads and solutions to them.

Seattle naturalist and author David B. Williams talks with Billy about the urban nature world of Seattle, including the geology of building stone, backyard eagles, and mountain beavers.

(and if anyone out there wants to do a full episode about urban mountain beavers, consider yourself invited)