Learn about the a kind of plant life history known as “ big bang” reproduction or “death by exhaustion. The mighty Monument Plant graces our mountainsides this summer in preparation for an orgiastic seeding festival this fall.

It’s a drab little bird — a brown sparrow, not even five inches long, that you wouldn’t give a second glance if it happened to hop across your path. The Florida grasshopper sparrow might be the one of the most endangered species  in the continental United States. Biologists are working hard to save it — and they think they’re making progress. But their efforts raise a persistent question: Why go to the trouble? It’s just a sparrow, after all. Sparrows are everywhere. Don’t we have enough of them as it is? And why should we care if a nondescript little bird — one that most of us will never see — slips out of existence? In this entry of Voices of the Valley Floor-a & Fauna we invite guest ornithologist to discuss the value of species including our threatened Gunnison's prairie dog. 

The art of seed selection, foraging and stashing seeds.

Learn to identify the conifers of our watershed as you take a drive with the author, Soleil Gaylord, and her father, Dr. Kent Gaylord, while motoring "up valley" from Placerville to Telluride town all-the-while scanning the landscape. Once in town, jump on Chair 7 and familiarize yourself with the conifers that grace the ski area.  Listeners will go away from this descriptive broadcast with a greater understanding of Colorado's iconic conifer species, from the Utah Juniper to the Subalpine Fir.  Photo: Valley Floor Blue Spruce (Picea pungens) with the "telltale"  or is it "telltail" drag in the photo is that of a Peromyscus, likely a Deer Mouse (Peromyscus maniculatus). Hopping is their primary mode of locomotion so they generate those nice strings of matching prints with tail drags in between. Photo Credit: S. Gaylord 2021.

Learn more about this member of the black bird family on this edition of Voices of the Valley Floor-a and Fauna.

Voices of the Valley Floor-a and Fauna unfolds the mystery of the catkin and the natural history of willows in this diary entry.

There are 19 species of owls in North America, here in Colorado there 11 species that occur regularly. In Telluride a couple of our regular species are the nocturnal Great Horned Owl and the diurnal (day time) Northern Pygmy Owl. Join Voices of the Valley Floor-a and Fauna and learn all about owls with guest biologist, naturalist and Field Guide expert Eric Hynes.

Spring is underway and mammals are emerging. Juveniles will soon be spotted.  Mammals have several unique strategies that ensure that a fertilized egg becomes a fully realized juvenile. Some of the unique reproductive adaptations like the bear's, martin's and fisher's delayed implantation or embryonic diapause make sure these mammals give birth to healthy young.

Learn about the natural history of the narrow leaf and common cottonwood and how these important trees are an important ecological component of the riparian zones of the west.

The vole is an important component of the Valley Floor providing a "power bar" protein packet of goodness to many species, they also serve to aerate the soil. Stay tuned to Voices of the Valley Floor-a and Fauna when we talk about the survival strategies of these little critters.

In this naturalist notebook we discuss survival strategies of reptiles, amphibians, insects and mammals. Listen to Voices of the Valley Floor-a and Fauna to learn more.

The American dipper is the duck of song birds and a regular and year round resident of the San Miguel River and all fast flowing oxygenated rivers in the west

Birds have fascinating evolutionary strategies to survive the winter.  Surviving the winter is all about energy. Learn about the adaptations that birds use to keep warm on this Voices of the Valley Floor-a and Fauna.

The beaver (Castor canadensis) is a keystone species inhabiting the Valley Floor and the San Miguel River. Four million beavers once lived in this country. These architects of the west are an exceedingly important component in shaping the ecosystem of the entire North America continent.

The aquatic mammals, once common in Colorado, were extirpated by trappers and reintroduced in the 1980s. In 2013, Boulder confirmed the first sighting of a North American river otter in about 100 years. River otters on the Valley Floor are a sign of a healthy ecosystem...learn about their natural history in the Voices of the Valley Floor-a and Fauna

In this diary entry of Voices of the Valley Floor-a and Fauna we discuss the natural history of Ursus americanus from their 8 beat per minute heart rate and ability to break down fat, muscles and organ tissue for water and calories in the winter.

Explore the natural history of our long and short-tailed weasels which are also called stoats or ermine.

Birds, bats, bees, monarch butterflies, beetles, and other small mammals that pollinate plants are responsible for bringing us one out of every three bites of food. Pollinators sustain our ecosystems and produce our natural resources by helping plants reproduce. Learn other intriguing pollinator facts and the increasing threats they face as their populations collapse. How can you improve life for pollinators in your own garden? Learn all this and more on this edition of Voices of the Valley Floora and Fauna! Photo: Rocky Mountain Bee Plant (Cleome serrulata) and Cuckoo Bumblebee (Bombus insularis) R. Gaylord

Great Horned Owls. Survival strategies and intrigues.

Packrats provide botanist, biologists and naturalists with vast data sets of what life was like hundreds of years ago. Rodents have fascinating boom and bust cycles.This show examines these facts.