The Monument Plant is monumental in size and reproductive ability. This giant that has graced Colorado mountain slopes this summer creates a huge seed bank when it flowers. The thousands of seeds found on the gorgeous seed head represent a mighty effort at survival for the green gentian know as “ big bang” reproduction or “death by exhaustion”. In this podcast I discuss the natural history and interesting facts about the Green Gentian, formally Frasera speciosa, also called the monument plant or elk weed. This giant grows in mountain meadows and can reach 9 feet tall and live as long as 60 years. At the end of its orgiastic season of flowering, the giant plants die immediately and leave thousands of seeds to carry on their genetic legacy should their “babies” be fortunate enough to survive.

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.

Birds can actually have awareness of behaviors of other birds...Jays that cache a seed and realize that another jay may have seen where the seed was hidden have been shown to come back later and re-cache the seed. Listen to learn about how chickadees carefully "weigh" the sunflower seeds at your feeder...and use a cost benefit analysis scheme. There are evolutionary reasons for this. This episode of Voices of the Valley Floor-a and Fauna explores the fascinating behaviors of our winter songbirds that visit our feeders.

Photo: Black-capped Chickadee

Photo Credit: Randy Stephens

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.

The song of the male Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus) signals the arrival of spring. His familiar conk-er-eee call sweetens any walk along the river trail. This handsome fellow's common name comes from the red epaulettes that males flash on their shoulder often in tandem with the conk-er-ee clarion call. Red-winged blackbirds have been claimed to be one of the North America's most abundant birds. This species' success because can be attributed to their superb adaptations including a sharp Icterid or black bird style bill. These birds are also aggressive defenders of their territories and will bomb joggers and walkers that may threaten their nests. Listeners can learn more about this common member of the black bird family on this edition of Voices of the Valley Floor-a and Fauna.

Photo: Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus) Norwood, CO

Photo Credit: Eric Hynes

Walking along the river trail furry buds on the willows delight us. The fuzzy "catkins" of willow species are affectionately called pussy willows due to the fact that the catkins look like small kittens. Botanically speaking the smaller species of the genus Salix which include aspen, willows and cottonwood are species that display catkins of various sizes and colors. As spring unfolds we see these male part or catkins appear long before the leaves. Catkins are defined as the scaly spike of flowers of one sex only. Voices of the Valley Floor-a and Fauna unfolds the mystery of the catkin and the natural history of willows in this diary entry.

Photo Pussy Willow - Mountain Willow (Salix monticola) along the San Miguel River, San Miguel County. Photo Credit: S. Gaylord 2020.

If our eyes were as big as an owls, they would be the size of grapefruits! 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 (Bubo virginianus) and the diurnal (day time) Northern Pygmy-Owl (Glaucidium californicum). Join Voices of the Valley Floor-a and Fauna and learn all about owls with guest biologist, naturalist and Field Guide expert Eric Hynes. In this show Eric will fondly discuss some of his favorite birds and their super cool adaptations.

Photo: Northern Pygmy-Owl (Glaucidium californicum) Telluride. Photo Credit: Eric Hynes 2018.

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 delayed implantation or embryonic diapause are fascinating physiological mechanisms that allow some mammals to give birth to healthy young at the right time of year thus aiding survival. In this diary entry of Voices of the Valley Floor-a and Fauna, the physiology and theories around these various types of delayed implantation are brought to light.

Photo: Winter white ermine and most likely a Long-tailed Weasel (Mustela frenata), pictured here in Telluride. The tail length to body ratio is difficult to judge with certainty because of the angle of the photo. The length of the tail is a way to discern Long-tailed Weasels (3 to 6 1/2 inch tails) from Short-tailed Weasels (1 1/2 to 3 1/2 inch tails). This ermine has a black-tipped tail as well. The long-tailed weasel delays implantation for months. This radio show discusses different reasons for this strategies.

Photo Credit: Randy Stephens 2017.