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Outdoors with Coggin Heeringa

Every Wednesday on Classical IPR, Coggin Heeringa takes us into the great outdoors. She is the program director and naturalist at Crossroads at Big Creek Learning Center/Nature Preserve in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin. And she's taught environmental studies at the Interlochen Arts Camp since 1971.

Latest Episodes
  • For aspen trees, the wearing of the green is a survival strategy.The greenish tone of aspen bark, appears around St. Patrick’s day indicates the presence of chlorophyll in the bark, meaning they photosynthesize through their bark instead of leaves.
  • Environmentalist Aldo Leopold painted the natural world with words, changing the course of environmental stewardship forever.
  • A major plot line of the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta "The Pirates of Penzance" is based on the phenomenon of Leap Year, potentially delaying the protagonist's chance to marry his chosen mate. But how do members of the natural world get to select their partners?
  • To resist temptations for "forty days and forty nights" is a long time. The question is, do animals experience temptation?
  • Researchers believe that some large birds stay together until one of the pair dies. And some birds seem to reunite with the same mate each year. Is it undying love? Or just biological duty?
  • In many parts of the world, celebrations such as Carnival and Mardi Gras, celebrate with parades and food before a period of fasting. Similarly in nature, here in the Great Lakes region the fasting time is well underway.
  • How did the phrase “Groundhog Day," which refers to a secular holiday celebrating a rodent, become synonymous with unvarying repetition?
  • We might think of hoar frost as frozen dew. Beautiful, sparkling frozen dew. When he was writing a ballet, Alexander Glazunov was thinking of this very special and somewhat unusual manifestation of winter.
  • Now and then, one or two crows will appear and start circling and cawing raucously. And out of nowhere, other crows will start flying in from all directions — not unlike a flash mob.
  • Winter winds can be harsh, causing trees to sway, stretching the roots and sometimes pulling a tree right out of the ground. But, the trees of the Great Lakes region have adapted to such winds.