The Alligator Farm in St. Augustine, Florida has its very own gator-filled swamp. In spring that swamp is also home to 600 pairs of nesting egrets, herons, wood storks and roseate spoonbills. Writer Mark Seth Lender was struck by the paradox of birds nesting among alligators.

Timber companies in Oregon spray their forests with chemicals to prevent plant growth. The practice was banned decades ago in the state’s national forests. In a project with the Center for Investigative Reporting Living on Earth’s Ingrid Lobet reports on the practice and the residents who are worried that the chemicals are affecting their health.

The haunting sounds of gongs and bells at a Buddhist temple near Hong Kong.

A nation of backyard naturalists observe leaves and flowers arriving early. Host Bruce Gellerman speaks with Jake Weltzin, the executive director of the USA National Phenology Network, about the role of citizen scientists in describing a changing climate.

Fifty years ago, the Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge had the greatest concentration of waterfowl in North America. But in recent years, migration brings fewer and fewer birds. Water destined for the wetlands is diverted for agriculture, leaving birds high and dry, and sometimes dead. Host Bruce Gellerman spoke with American Bird Conservancy’s Steve Holmer and Steve Pedery of Oregon Wild about how water management and competing interests have caused the death of tens of thousands of birds.

The Lemelson-MIT Program recognizes inventors whose designs improve lives. This year’s winner of the Lemelson-MIT Award for Global Innovation, Ashok Gadgil, helped bring light to 100 million people in the developing world, designed fuel efficient cook stoves, and a simple way to purify water. He spoke with host Bruce Gellerman.

Scientists are using Henry David Thoreau’s detailed diaries to analyze the ebb and flow of the natural world. They conclude climate change has significantly altered the budding of wildflowers, and the migration of birds, at Walden Pond and beyond.