This Wild Webcast featured MDC Urban Wildlife Biologist Erin Shank who shared her expertise on the basics of planning, designing, and creating backyard wildlife habitat. Shank offered her expert insights on attracting native birds, bees, butterflies, and other pollinators to help the garden grow. She also talked about the importance of native plants and insects and planting the right plants in the right places from large swaths to container plants.
May 23, 2024
MDC Urban Wildlife Biologist Erin Shank shares her expertise and excitement on the happening or pending mass emergences of periodical cicadas.
Periodical cicadas are different from the familiar annual cicadas, which emerge from the ground every year and make their droning noise during the heat of late summer.
MDC Turkey Biologist Nick Oakley and MDC Turkey Habitat Initiative Coordinator Meagan Duffee-Yates shares information on recent changes to turkey hunting regulations for the spring season and proposed regulation changes for the fall seasons. Oakley and Duffee-Yates also talks turkey production and harvest trends, MDC’s annual brood survey and research findings, habitat loss, and impacts of weather and predators on turkey numbers.
MDC Naturalist Sarah Easton shares fun facts about Missouri wildlife using the MDC book, Strange but True. Adapted from the pages of MDC’s award-winning children’s magazine Xplor, Strange but True is a 136-page, full-color book that offers more than 350 fun facts about Missouri wildlife at its strangest.
July 6, 2023
MDC Turkey Biologist Nick Oakley and MDC Turkey Habitat Initiative Coordinator Meagan Duffee-Yates share information on the wild turkey population in Missouri including harvest trends, production trends, MDC’s annual brood survey, and research findings.
December 14, 2022
Did you know that some Missouri frogs freeze nearly solid in winter and their hearts stop beating. Then they revive! Some owls start nesting in January and their eggs can survive temperatures of 10 degrees or below freezing! Ground squirrels sleep the winter away from October to April – without waking up! MDC invites everyone to learn more about these and other strange-but-true facts about native animals and plants by joining its online Wild Webcast on Winter Wildlife Survival.
May 11, 2022
MDC’s new Black Bear Biologist Nate Bowersock and former MDC Black Bear Biologist and current Terrestrial Section Chief Laura Conlee share their expertise on the estimated 800 black bears in Missouri. As spring gets underway, these magnificent mammals leave their winter dens in search of food. The Wild Webcast will help folks understand that Missouri is bear country and also feature tips on how to “Be Bear Aware.” As Missouri offers its second bear-hunting season in the state this fall, Bowersock and Conlee also provide information on applying for bear hunting permits during May and provide tips for fall hunting.
June 29, 2021
Reina Tyl discusses “Wild Turkeys in Missouri: Population Trends and MDC Management.”
October 20, 2020
Learn about aquatic vampires, zombie insects, barfing birds, bizarre bats, spooky spiders, weird worms, and other creepy critters found in Missouri during MDC’s “Halloween Special” Wild Webcast on Creepy Critters.
July 1, 2020
MDC Urban Wildlife Biologist Erin Shank explains the basics of creating backyard wildlife habitat; the importance of native plants and insects for pollination, wildlife food, and other benefits: planning and designing native plantings; attracting birds; supporting pollinators such as butterflies and bees; and more.
MDC Cervid Biologist Aaron Hildreth and Wildlife Programs Supervisor Lauren Hildreth share how you can see free-ranging wild elk in Missouri and Missouri’s first upcoming elk-season, possibly starting as soon as 2020.
MDC Resource Scientist and Eagle Expert Janet Haslerig and MDC Eagle Days Veteran Dan Zarlenga talk about bald eagles in Missouri and the perennially popular MDC Eagle Days events around the state.
MDC Feral Hog Elimination Team Leader Mark McLain and MDC Feral Hog Task Force Coordinator Alan Leary talk about what MDC and partners are doing to combat feral hogs in Missouri along with background on what they are and why they are such a destructive problem for landowners, MDC, and others.
MDC fisheries staff talk about Discover Nature Fishing classes, rod-and-reel loaner program, MO Fishing app, state record fish, volunteer opportunities through Stream Teams, and more.
This webcast features the history of Missouri's black bears, Missouri black bear population, importance of being bear aware, and the Black Bear Research Project.
Learn more about feral hogs in Missouri on this webcast.
March 22, 2023
MDC Invasive Species Ecologist Angela Sokolowski shares her expertise during the webcast in what individuals, communities, and organizations can do to identify invasive species, control their spread, and even eliminate them is some situations.
August 22, 2022
Snake Researcher Benjamin Jellen, PhD, reveals the secret life of one of Missouri’s most commonly encountered yet misunderstood venomous snakes -- the copperhead. Copperheads conjure up curiosity, mystery, and even fear. They are one of Missouri’s most intriguing and often least understood venomous snakes. How far do these snakes move? Where do they go? What type of habitat do they prefer? How cold do they get over the winter? What do baby copperheads do? What is the greatest danger a copperhead faces in the wild? Learn all these answers and more in this wild webcast.
April 27, 2022
MDC’s Urban Wildlife Biologist Erin Shank shares her expertise on planting the right native trees and plants in the right places. She also offers her insights on attracting native birds, bees, butterflies and other pollinators to help your garden grow.
October 27, 2021
This special Halloween Wild Webcast on Creepy Critters features MDC Urban Wildlife Biologist Erin Shank from the Powder Valley Nature Center in Kirkwood. She shares her insights and expertise on some of the creepy critters that call Missouri home, such as lampreys, spider wasps, robber flies, horsehair worms, bats, vultures, tarantulas, butcher birds, and others.
April 21, 2021
Learn about varieties of wild edible mushrooms in Missouri, where to find them, and how to prepare them. Also get important information on poisonous Missouri mushrooms.
July 14, 2020
The Missouri Department of Conservation recently completed a multiyear assessment of blue catfish and flathead catfish in Mark Twain Lake. MDC fisheries biologists will share and discuss assessment results and potential options for new catfish harvest regulations at Mark Twain. Fisheries biologists will also be taking questions during the webcast.
MDC Turkey Biologist Reina Tyl presents and discusses information on wild turkey biology and ecology, the history of wild turkeys in Missouri, the state’s wild turkey population status, and the MDC Wild Turkey Management Plan revision process.
Watch our Wild Webcast on Weird Wildlife to learn about animal oddities in Missouri from MDC experts.
MDC State Ornithologist Sarah Kendrick, Community Conservationist for the City of Columbia Danielle Fox, and MDC Habitat Management Coordinator Nate Muenks talk about attracting birds and other wildlife to backyards large and small through bird feeding, native plantings for wildlife food and shelter, and other habitat help.
MDC experts talk about what invasive species are, what MDC staff is doing to help control invasive species, and what you can do to help prevent invasive species from spreading.
MDC experts talk about birds in Missouri and share information on the new Great Missouri Birding Trail to find the best places around the state to watch birds.
Learn about the deadly deer disease CWD, including what MDC is doing to help limit its spread in Missouri and how hunters and landowners can help protect our white-tailed deer.
Learn more on this webcast about butterflies, bees, and other pollinators, what threatens them, and how you can help.
