Voice of the Wild Podcast
If you learn to listen for them...
You will find wildlife everywhere.
Voice of the Wild is a podcast about wildlife and the wild sounds they make. Tune in every Friday to learn a new bird song, frog call, or insect noise. Voice of the Wild is a service of Extension’s Natural Resources, Environment, and Energy program. It is written and narrated by Brodie Dunn.
The dark-eyed owl with a goofy call, a quirky history, and a penchant for bottomland forests.
Try one of our listener's favorite episodes
Frequently Asked Questions
Do you work with teachers?
Yes! We have a special set of shortened episodes (they feature only the call, species name, and family name) that are meant to help students study for quizzes after they’ve listened to the full episodes as part of a teacher's lesson plan. If you’re an Illinois teacher and want access to these, or have any special request that would help you teach your students about wildlife, email Brodie.
On which apps can I find Voice of the Wild?
We’re on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Pocket Casts, Amazon Music, YouTube, Castro, Goodpods, and Castbox. We also have an RSS feed and a regular browser page.
How can I support Voice of the Wild?
Voice of the Wild is a free educational service and the best way to support us is to share it with your friends and family! If you’re feeling particularly generous, subscribe to our newsletter; while we mostly use it to send out episode alerts, we occasionally send out listener surveys that help us refine the show.
Where does Voice of the Wild get its wildlife photography?
We owe many thanks to Dr. Rob Kanter, who granted us permission to use some of his outstanding photography for Voice of the Wild episodes. If Rob doesn’t have a photo that will work with our thumbnail templates we try to find an image on a stock photo site that was taken in Illinois or a nearby state.
How are species chosen for each episode?
We choose focal wildlife based on three factors:
- Can the species be heard in Illinois by an everyday person? All species featured on Voice of the Wild must be “hearable” in Illinois at one time or another during a typical year. We prioritize species that are sufficiently common/vocal that most people could find one calling somewhere in their county if they wanted to hear it in-person.
- Do we have a suitable recording? We have access to a few different sound libraries, but our options are nonetheless incomplete. This sometimes limits which wildlife we can feature.
- Will the species make for an interesting episode? All of Illinois’ wildlife are wonderful, but some species serve the podcast better than others. We prioritize species we think have a story to tell and a good voice to tell it with, or are at least persistent and reclusive enough that the episode might solve some mysteries. For example, some of the insects we’ve covered have had very modest songs (Check out the Greater Anglewing and Dog-Day Cicada) but nonetheless made for popular episodes because they put a name to a long-unknown sound in many people’s lives.
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