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★★★★★

4.8

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19 reviews

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Why do rattlesnakes rattle and hummingbirds hum? How do flowers market themselves to pollinators? Why do tarantulas cross the road? Nature Notes investigates questions like these about the natural world of the Chihuahuan Desert region and the Llano Estacado. Through interviews with scientists and field recordings, this Marfa Public Radio original series reveals the secrets of desert life. Join host Dallas Baxter for new episodes on each week on Thursdays. Episodes are written and produced by Andrew Stuart and edited by Marfa Public Radio and the Sibley Nature Center in Midland, Texas.Nature Notes is supported by Shield-Ayres Foundation.

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In Planning a Mars Mission, Scientists Find an Analog in a Desert Cave

2026/04/16

How can we limit our contamination of other planets? And how can we prevent bringing potentially harmful life forms back home? To address those questions, scientists have turned to an unlikely place: Carlsbad Cavern.

Wild Women for Good: April 25th Book Event Celebrates Texas Women in Conservation

2026/04/09

On April 25th, Alpine’s Front Street Books hosts an event to celebrate the publication of “Wild Women for Good,” from Texas A&M University Press.

Seeking Insight into Pinyon-Juniper Woodlands, the Southwest’s Defining Forests

2026/04/02

PJ woodlands are the Southwest’s dominant forest type, covering 100 million acres here. Pinyons typically top out at 20 feet – and alongside diverse junipers, they thrive in dry, rocky places where Ponderosas, firs and aspens can’t make it.

Local Nonprofit Works to Celebrate & Sustain West Texas’s Rich Avian Diversity

2026/03/26

West Texas avians have passionate local advocates. That includes Trans-Pecos Bird Conservation, or TBC. This small but potent cadre of bird experts is cultivating the bonds between our region’s birds and its people.

In West Texas Pictographs, Archeologist Sees Roots of Today’s Kachina Tradition

2026/03/20

Kachina dolls are an iconic Indigenous art form. Their craftsmanship is striking, and non-Native people have long admired and sought to acquire them. But they’re just one element in an encompassing religious outlook.

Ask the Bones: Practicing “Taphonomy” in Big Bend

2026/03/12

Dr. Rachel Laker, of Hanover College in Indiana, specializes in taphonomy, which explores the processes bones undergo between an animal’s death and fossilization. Big Bend National Park is one site of her research.

In the Pecos Canyonlands, Ancients Foragers Created a “Painted Landscape” Charged with Religious Meaning

2026/03/05

Painted on cave walls where the Pecos and Devils rivers join the Rio Grande, the rock art of the Lower Pecos canyonlands casts a powerful spell. Its imagery is intricate, depicting human-like figures with upraised arms, geometric forms and animals like snakes, birds and mountain lions. And its scale is vast. Some panels span a hundred feet or more, and there are hundreds of such sites.

Weather Underground: Studying “Speleometeorology” in Carlsbad Cavern

2026/02/26

Cave scientist Riannon Colton is working to unlock one of the cavern’s mysteries: its “speleometeorology.” Because it turns out that big caves, like big mountains, create their own weather.

In the Pecos Canyonlands, Discovering the Daily Lives of Ancient Mural Makers

2026/02/12

The Lower Pecos Canyonlands – where the Pecos and Devils rivers join the Rio Grande – contain globally significant rock art. But these same shallow caves have preserved much else from prehistory: bits of tools and textiles, plant and animal remains.

Dating La Junta: Filling in the Story of an Indigenous Borderlands Culture

2026/02/05

It features prominently in the earliest European account of the American Southwest, and it’s a fascinating chapter in Texas history. And yet, much about La Junta – the Native American society that flourished at the confluence of the Rio Grande and Rio Conchos, at present-day Presidio-Ojinaga – remains mysterious. Archeologists haven’t given it the same attention as other farming and village societies.

Alongside Landowners, the Devils River Conservancy Fights to Save a Singular Place

2026/01/29

The Devils River is frequently described as the most pristine river in Texas. Flowing where the Chihuahuan Desert blends into the Hill Country and the South Texas shrublands, it’s a luminous ribbon of water in an arid land. It’s also a hunter’s paradise, with a rich ranching heritage, and home to globally significant cave paintings. And it’s an ecological wonder, a last stronghold for aquatic creatures that have vanished elsewhere.

Can We Keep It a Forest? Fire & the Future of the Chisos Mountains

2026/01/22

Wildfires burn landscapes, but they also sear themselves into memory, and many Big Bend National Park enthusiasts remember the South Rim 4 Fire of April 2021. It began near a backcountry campsite, suggesting a possible human cause, and burned across 1,300 acres of the Chisos Mountains. It was the most intense blaze in the storied range in decades.

An Archeologist Uses Pottery Fragments to Illumine Prehistoric Social Relations

2026/01/15

Broken pieces of prehistoric pottery – known to archeologists as “potsherds” – are striking artifacts. As fragments of painted vessels, they vividly evoke Native American life, in both its aesthetic and practical dimensions.

Science, Art & Community Come Together at Alpine’s Wildlife Weekend

2026/01/08

The Trans-Pecos is Texas at its wildest, and, though many of its creatures are secretive, the region stands out for the glorious diversity of its wildlife.

In the Pecos Canyonlands, Pictograph Dating Reveals 4,000 Years of Cultural Continuity

2025/12/17

At the threshold of Far West Texas, the Lower Pecos Canyonlands contain some of North America’s most remarkable rock art. Here, where the Pecos and Devils rivers join the Rio Grande, on cave walls, prehistoric hunter-gatherers painted more than 350 rock-art panels of a distinctive style.

Podcast reviews

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4.8 out of 5

19 reviews

★★★★★

sjworkouts 2025/11/09

Wonderful!

Extremely enjoyable and informative. Interesting topics about West Texas ecology and history. Dallas Baxter is terrific as well. Thanks so much. Lear...

★★★★★

snežinkaaaaaa 2020/07/03

So much to geek out about!!!

As a newbie to West Texas, this podcast is so great! I love the insights into the region’s history and biodiversity from local experts. Plus I learne...

★★★★★

bowtieshark 2018/11/20

like being in West Texas

This is my favorite podcast that I subscribe to. I get so excited when a new one comes out. I can’t get enough, I wish episodes were an hour long! If ...

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