Almanack Contributor Ed Kanze

Author, naturalist, photographer, columnist, and Adirondack guide Edward Kanze lives along the Saranac River.

His essay about the passenger pigeon, "In Search Of Something Lost," was named by the John Burroughs Association as the Outstanding Published Natural History Essay of 2004. The Burroughs awards, bestowed annually at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, are America's highest honors in nature-writing. The same essay earned a gold medal in environmental writing by the International Regional Magazine Association. PBS featured Ed and his writing in the 2008 documentary, "The Adirondacks."

Ed can be reached by email at allthingsnaturalwithedkanze@gmail.com. For more information, visit edwardkanze.com.

You can listen and subscribe to the All Things Natural with Ed Kanze podcast by clicking at the Mountain Lake PBS website.


Friday, October 10, 2014

Ed Kanze: Skippers, Butterflies, and Moths

ed-kanze-skipperShould you care about tiny drab butterflies that look like moths? I’m not sure. But plants all over the world seem to care a great deal about them, coaxing skippers of a wide range of shapes and patterns to do the important work of delivering their pollen.

Learn a little about them by listening here to this week’s All Things Natural with Ed Kanze.

The podcast is produced by Mountain Lake PBS’s Josh Clement. Listen to past episodes by visiting Mountain Lake PBS’s Borderless North webpage at mountainlake.org/bn.


Friday, October 3, 2014

Ed Kanze: A Damsel in Distress

ed-kanze-damselfliesBirds do it, bees do it, and so do damselflies, delicate cousins of dragonflies that dart through the air around and above wet places. Olympic gymnasts have nothing on damselflies.

Listen here as I catch a damselfly pair in the act and gaze in astonishment at their contortions in this week’s edition of All Things Natural with Ed Kanze.

The podcast is produced by Mountain Lake PBS’s Josh Clement. Listen to past episodes by visiting Mountain Lake PBS’s Borderless North webpage at mountainlake.org/bn.


Friday, September 26, 2014

Ed Kanze: The Nature of Exercise

brownie-ed-kanzeMy mother always told my sisters and me as she bounced us outside in all kinds of weather that exercise was good for us. She was more right than she knew.

Listen here to my thoughts on the virtues of exercise, and how we humans aren’t the only creatures who require it in this week’s edition of All Things Natural with Ed Kanze.

The podcast is produced by Mountain Lake PBS’s Josh Clement. Listen to past episodes by visiting Mountain Lake PBS’s Borderless North webpage at mountainlake.org/bn.


Friday, September 19, 2014

Ed Kanze: Finding Common Ferns

ed-kanze-new-york-fernI’ve been seeing lots of ferns lately, and maybe you have, too. Most are tricky to identify. Still, there are three big common ones that are easy to know: the bracken, the interrupted, and the cinnamon. Listen here and meet them along the trail in this week’s edition of All Things Natural with Ed Kanze.

The podcast is produced by Mountain Lake PBS’s Josh Clement. Listen to past episodes by visiting Mountain Lake PBS’s Borderless North webpage at mountainlake.org/bn.


Friday, August 1, 2014

Ed Kanze: Who Rules The World?

ed-kanze-archaeaWho’s in charge, my daughter wanted to know? She’d been given a tee-shirt that proclaims “Girls Rule The World.” Now she wanted to know: do they? Listen to my answer in this week’s edition of All Things Natural with Ed Kanze.

The podcast is produced by Mountain Lake PBS’s Josh Clement. Listen to past episodes by visiting Mountain Lake PBS’s Borderless North webpage at mountainlake.org/bn.


Friday, July 25, 2014

Ed Kanze: The Bloodletting

ed_kanze_bloodlettingThe day began with a mosquito attacking me before I got out of bed, and it went downhill from there. Cheer yourself up by listening to my tale of woe about a long day during the Adirondack bug season, when mosquitoes provide the wake-up call, blackflies and deerflies assault you for hours, and no-see-ums gnaw you to sleep in this week’s edition of All Things Natural with Ed Kanze.

The podcast is produced by Mountain Lake PBS’s Josh Clement. Listen to past episodes by visiting Mountain Lake PBS’s Borderless North webpage at mountainlake.org/bn.


Friday, July 18, 2014

Ed Kanze: The Unsung, Well Sung, Pine Warbler

ed_kanze_pine_warblerThe pine warbler is often heard but rarely seen. To identify one of these birds, even at close range, you’ve got to inventory its features, hear it sing if possible, and ponder. Listen here as I welcome one of these feathered flying insect-eaters to our bird feeder in this week’s edition of All Things natural with Ed Kanze.

The podcast is produced by Mountain Lake PBS’s Josh Clement. Listen to past episodes by visiting Mountain Lake PBS’s Borderless North webpage at mountainlake.org/bn.


Friday, July 11, 2014

Ed Kanze: Ticks Looking For Good Hosts

ed_kanze_tickLike it or not, they’re waiting for you. Legs reach out, legs with highly receptive sensory organs on them, and they know you’re coming. Brush past the wrong blade of grass, and you’ve got a hitchhiker, one that could possibly make you sick. What to do? Listen and learn about how ticks play the game of life and how you can beat them in this week’s edition of All Things Natural with Ed Kanze.

The podcast is produced by Mountain Lake PBS’s Josh Clement. Listen to past episodes by visiting Mountain Lake PBS’s Borderless North webpage at mountainlake.org/bn.


Friday, July 4, 2014

Mink, Muskrat, Beaver Or Otter: Who Goes There?

ed_kanze_ottersNow you see it, now you don’t: something brown in or near the water, hopping, swimming, or doing something else that catches your eye. The suspect list includes mink, muskrat, beaver, and otter. Listen here as I discuss what to look for and how to tell the difference in this week’s edition of All Things Natural with Ed Kanze.

The podcast is produced by Mountain Lake PBS’s Josh Clement. Listen to past episodes by visiting Mountain Lake PBS’s Borderless North webpage at mountainlake.org/bn.


Friday, May 16, 2014

Ed Kanze: Birds Come, Birds Go, Birds Come Again

ed_kanze_eastern_phoebeMigratory songbirds rack up enormous numbers of frequent flier miles as they wing north and south and north again, all without tickets or boarding passes. The bobolink, for example, lives a life of perpetual summer, spending part of the year in sunny fields in our neck of the woods and the other part in the faraway reaches of Brazil and beyond.

Listen here as I ponder the whys and wherefores of fair weather birds in this weeks edition of All Things Natural with Ed Kanze. » Continue Reading.


Sunday, May 11, 2014

Ed Kanze: The Secret Life Of Pollen

ed_kanze_pollenSnort it and sneeze, but don’t hate it. Pollen, each grain essentially a plant sperm and some other odds and ends wrapped up in a sturdy waterproof container, makes the world go ’round.

Listen here and join me in contemplating what pollen is, what it does, and why the world would be a barren place without it in this week’s edition of All Things Natural with Ed Kanze. » Continue Reading.


Friday, May 2, 2014

Ed Kanze: Heat, Sweat, And A Well-Cooked Steak

warning-hotIs it possible to survive time spent in a room so hot that it could fry a steak and eggs? Listen to my tale of a famous series of experiments conducted in England in 1775.

Two of the great botanists of the time, Joseph Banks and Daniel Solander, braved the inferno with only minor discomfort and lived to tell the tale. The action heats up in this week’s edition of All Things Natural with Ed Kanze. » Continue Reading.


Friday, April 25, 2014

All Things Natural: Spring’s Titillating Burlesque!

ed_kanze_spring_burlesqueOur 52nd podcast! Off come the snow and ice that clothe the Adirondack Mountains all winter, and out comes the bare, naked landscape. It’s spring’s annual burlesque: an off-again, on-again process that eventually leads toward summer.

Listen here as I take in the show in this week’s edition of All Things Natural! Thanks to all who have supported our little nature podcast over the last year. It’s been a pleasure reading and responding to your comments. Happy Spring!

» Continue Reading.


Friday, April 18, 2014

Ed Kanze: At Dusk A Strange Beast in The Driveway

ed_kanze_porcupineWhile I wish I could boast instant recognition when the animal popped up in front of me, the fact was for a few seconds I was stumped.

The light was poor and it was nearly 5:30 on a dim winter afternoon.  What was this strange beast in the driveway? Find out in this week’s edition of All Things Natural with Ed Kanze. » Continue Reading.


Friday, April 11, 2014

Ed Kanze: Out For A Lark

ed_kanze_horned_larkBefore there was a cigarette and a compact car known as the lark, there was a bird. In fact, there was a group of birds. One of them, the horned lark, is native to our part of the world.

Listen to what larks do and don’t do in this week’s edition of All Things Natural with Ed Kanze. The next time you’re out on a lark, maybe you’ll see one. » Continue Reading.



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