Woodrat Podcast 16: Alison Kent on sketching, birding, and caring for oiled wildlife

Alison Kent self-portrait
Alison Kent self-portrait (click to see larger)

I called up my long-time blogging friend Alison Kent out in Davis, California yesterday. After some reminiscing about the late, lamented Ecotone Wiki, we got into a conversation about nature blogging, sketching and birdwatching, “green” birding, caring for oiled wildlife and balancing wildlife rehabilitation with conservation needs, Alison’s assessment of preparations for the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and where the blame for the spill lies, among other things.

Links:

Theme music: “Le grand sequoia,” by Innvivo (Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike licence)

Podcast feed | Subscribe in iTunes

10 Replies to “Woodrat Podcast 16: Alison Kent on sketching, birding, and caring for oiled wildlife”

  1. Wow, I just finished listening to this. I learned so much about Alison and her work and background, and about your early connections in the blog world, fascinating. And great to hear Alison’s voice with that touch of a Spanish accent I think. I could say so much more. Thanks, Dave!

  2. Dave! Allison! How great to hear your exchange, and to bring back the ancient history of Ecotone and that great group from way back when. My, how the blogosphere has changed–at least from my perspective.

    I’ve become something of a blogging hermit, I confess, and don’t get out much into the world beyond Floyd County here. Our early interests in discussing “man in nature” and relationship to place has diverged into so many different forms.

    The Nature Blog Network and various “carnivals” (Carnival of the Vanities was, I believe the first, and I was a first-issue contributor) have really carried a lot of special nature-interest into a wider readership than was true in 2003.

    I was pleased that Fragments from Floyd was the featured blog this week at Nature Blog Network.

    http://natureblognetwork.com/blog/featured-blog-fragments-from-floyd/

    Allison, it was early summer that you guys visited Goose Creek and I have pictures of you sitting on the banks of the creek with your sketchbooks.

    Dave, thanks for your podcasts. I sort of got started with mine, but life happened. And it is not over yet!

    1. Great interview at the NBN, Fred! I think you need to write the lyrics to “How Can I Keep from Blogging?” (Thanks to Pete Seeger, I actually know the original hymn.)

      Thanks for mentioning blog carnivals. They have definitely more than filled the vacuum left by the demise of Ecotone Wiki.

      I hope you do find time to get back to your own podcasting soon. I’d love to hear interviews with some of your Floyd County neighbors.

  3. Terrific! It was nice to get some background (as a relative newbie) about so many things. I appreciated Alison’s measured & clear message about responsibility for the spills.

    On a personal note, I’d thought about picking up the bird sketching (trying to follow her example as I have followed poets & writers!) & have not yet. I am re-inspired. Now to go find one of my dusty sketch books. :-)

  4. Thanks everyone, and great you got a chance to hear this Fred. I do follow FFF still and vividly remember our short time at Goose Creek.

    Deb: this is wonderful news. Fear no mistakes, like the great Miles said…

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.