F-I-R-E-I-N-C-A-L-I

Blaze like the fires in California. Blaze like a... fire.. fire.. fire. Just like The Cure is sweeping through my brain right now, so the wildfires swept through California at the end of the summer. In the September 2nd show, we talked all about wildfire and its effects on wildlife. The chaparral ecosystem of California is particularly susceptible to out of control fires because of the hot dry conditions of late summer. So often the media focuses on the property damage caused by these wildfires. What about the turtle that cannot outrun it? Or the bird whose nest goes up in flames? Sometimes even larger animals such as deer cannot out run it, as seen in shocking photos from this video. We learned about other critters affected by fire such as salamanders and shrews from a USGS podcast.

As for the news in nature, we heard about:

• the wolf hunt in Idaho
• male chicks being ground up alive in egg hatcheries
• making music for monkey minds

No sound quiz again :( Darn wireless internet at the station is being finicky!

Music featured included: The Cure (of course), The Decemberists, Voice of the Seven Woods, John Fahey, M. Ward, Starlight Mints, Arcade Fire, Franz Ferdinand, and Billy Bragg and Wilco.