Critter Chat

When the California Dogface butterfly was officially made the California state insect by then governor Ronald Reagan in 1972, the children who pushed to make that happen were delighted. At the time, the Dogface butterfly was a common sight in Southern California. Today, this beautiful butterfly can be hard to find, but thanks to Placer Land Trust, they have been found in Auburn, California. 

In this episode of Critter Chat hosts and producers Susan Brandt and Marney Blair take a tour with Christy Claes of Placer Land Trust (PLT) to see these stunning beauties and l...

How much do we know about the native Foothill Yellow-legged Frog? Living in open, sunny and shady areas of the Sierra Nevada rivers and streams, they are cleverly camouflaged as they sit on river rocks sometimes broadcasting low pitched calls in the air and underwater.

On this show podcast listeners will hear from Kevin Wiseman, an expert who has studied this particular frog for over 20 years. As a biologist and scientific illustrator with the Department of Herpetology at the California Academy of Sciences, Kevin leads the popular workshop Reptiles and Amphibians of the Sierra...

Critter Chat hosts Marney Blair and Susan Brandt interview the program director and biologist of Wolf Creek Community Alliance, Kristen Hein Strohm. Listeners will hear about the Wolf Creek watershed and some of the critters that call Wolf Creek their home.

With its diverse assemblage of plants and animals, Wolf Creek begins above Grass Valley, California, flows through the city, turns roughly south, and eventually joins the Bear River at Nevada County’s southern border. The Nisenan have several names for each part of the creek for which they’ve enjoyed for thousands of year...

Image credit: Bobcat © Henry Colletto, courtesy Rachel Roberts, CDFW

Bobcats are our native felines living around us in the Sierra Nevada and across the country. They are as beautiful as they are elusive — and considering how much we love our domestic cats — why not get to appreciate our native wildcats?

On this show, KVMR and podcast listeners will hear from the experts who have studied and logged more sightings of bobcats than most:

Rachel Roberts, senior environmental scientist and bobcat specialist with the California Department of Fish and W...

Celebrate World Aquatic Animal Day 

Get to Know Your Local Riffle Sculpins 

Next Episode of Critter Chat

Nevada City, April 2, 2025 — Raise your hand if you’ve heard of the Riffle Sculpin! This local bottom-dwelling fish is a mystery to many, but these fish can be found all over the rivers and streams of the Sierra. This prehistoric-looking fish fascinates those who study them - why are they important? Get to know this local aquatic animal - with the broadcast/podcast of Critter Chat on April 2 - a great way to celebr...

Critter Chat - Episode 12 - The Steller’s Jay

The Steller’s Jay, the gregarious azure-feathered bird, is the focus on this episode of Critter Chat. Steller’s Jays are hard to miss - their “shek shek shek" call and perky personalities. They are our neighbors in the Sierra Nevada, but how well do we really know them? 

Steller’s Jays have long been regarded as a sentinel bird in the world of wildlife and native American culture. They “read the environment” like we might “read a room” and alert the wider wor...

Critter Chat Celebrates the Year of the Snake with the California Mountain Kingsnake

Starting the 2025 season having recently won KVMR’s prestigious Award for Excellence in Public Affairs and Community Service Programming, Critter Chat hosts and producers Marney Blair and Susan Brandt celebrate the Year of the Snake with the king of snakes, the California Mountain Kingsnake. Found in the mountains of the Sierra Nevada, these snakes are as beautiful as they are important to the ecology of a thriving wildlife environment. 

Guests on the show include:

...

Naturalist, Author, Artist John Muir Laws and Biologist Ramiro Aragon 
Describe the Magnificence of The Great Gray Owl

Critter Chat hosts and producers Marney Blair and Susan Brandt are delighted to present this ninth episode featuring the Great Gray Owl - the largest owl in California and North America. But did you know a subspecies lives in the Sierra Nevada? 

In conjunction with the launch of John Muir Laws' new book, the second edition of Laws Guide to Sierra Birds featuring his painting of the Great Gray Owl on...

In Critter Chat episode 8, hosts Marney Blair and Susan Brandt chat with Dr. David Herbst of the Sierra Streams Institute at Little Deer Creek in Pioneer Park in Nevada City as he dredged up an aquatic critter living in the sediment of the stream, a little dragonfly nymph. While we spend many hours of our lives pondering the agile aerial flyer that is the dragonfly, we rarely get to see the early stages of the dragonfly nymph which spends years developing underwater, molting 5-10 times, and eventually emerging to become the enchanting creature we see in the air. Dr...

In 2023 the California legislature voted to make the Pallid bat (antrozous pallidus), the only flying mammal, a symbol of California. Bat biologist Dr. Dave Johnston has studied the Pallid bat for over 40 years and was the first to make the suggestion that this unusually golden-furred bat be the one to represent the Golden State. Then with the help of ninth grader and bat enthusiast, Naomi d’Alessio and wildlife advocates, they made a convincing argument noting the Pallid bats critical, beneficial role in California agriculture helping farmers manage insects without pesticides. In Modoc County alone, bats saved farmers $50 million by...

A survivor of six ice ages, the Sierra Nevada Bighorn Sheep, with populations documented living 300,000 years ago, is now on the endangered species list. These majestic animals struggle on in small numbers, braving the highest peaks and harshest winters in the eastern Sierra Nevada mountains. What do we know about these herds of hidden mountaineers? What are the experts saying as to their populations and health?  
Photo: Steve Yeager

Photo: © Annica Kreuter/Project Coyote

Join hosts Susan Brandt and Marney Blair as they chat about the incredibly beautiful, adaptable and clever coyotes that live amongst us in rural, suburban and urban areas. But how much do we really know about them? 

Guests on the show include:

Marc Bekoff, professor emeritus of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and a former Guggenheim fellow. He has published more than a thousand scientific and popular essays and thirty books, including many books he co-authored with on...

Join Marney and Susan as the get to know bumblebees and the Western Bumble Bee.

Photo: Western Bumble Bee, Jeremy Gatten, US Fish & Wildlife

Thanks to our guests on the show:

Helen Loffland, a Meadow Bird Specialist, she received her B.S. in Wildlife Biology from the University of California Davis, and her M.S. in Biology from California State University Sacramento. She has spent the last 20 years studying Willow Flycatchers and other meadow birds, raptors, carnivores, insects, plants, and fish, primarily in the Sierra Nevada.

Kristen Hein Strohm, programs director...

The Sierra Newt, a charismatic, long-living amphibian found in the Sierra Nevada forests and streams, is the focus of the experts featured in this show. Learn about these amazing creatures, their movement, their living spaces and behavior.

Known as the "clown of the forest," the Acorn Woodpecker is an essential species in the Oak and Pine forests of  the Sierra Nevada mountains and foothills. In this show we will talk with some experts who teach us some great information about these beautiful birds.

Photo: Acorn woodpecker (Melanerpes formicivorus bairdi) holding a nut in its beak on the campus of California State University, Chico.  © Frank Schulenburg

Thanks to our guests on the show:

Nancy Barbachano, a 25 year veteran of bird rehabilitation,  Nancy has rehabilitated hundreds of birds as well as teaching and...