In Part One of their conversation, Romey and Jennifer trace her own path into the natural world and the experiences that eventually shaped a career centered on helping children and families get outdoors. From her early work as a park ranger to her leadership in the children-and-nature movement, Jennifer has repeatedly returned to a simple idea: meaningful connections with nature often begin when someone makes it easier to take that first step.

Birding became one of those pathways. Romey and Jennifer talk about birds as an accessible gateway to curiosity, discovery, community, and a deeper relationship with the places around us—a passion that would eventually lead Jennifer to author two books about birding in Texas.

Along the way, two longtime friends talk conservation, careers, family, friendship, and the experiences that turn an interest in nature into something that can shape a life.

This is Part One of Romey's conversation with birder, conservationist, author, and friend Jennifer Bristol.

Chapters:

• 01:29 - Origins: Jennifer Bristol’s Path to Birding and Conservation
• 12:05 - Growing Up Near Glacier: A Childhood Lesson on Access to Nature
• 24:16 - Investing in Texas-Based Research on Children and Nature
• 31:08 - Discovering Birding
• 41:31 - Competitive Birding: The Big Week
• 45:00 - More Than a Contest: Fundraising and Conservation Impact
• 52:42 - Part Two: Becoming a Writer

About Modern Texas Naturalist

Modern Texas Naturalist is a podcast about curiosity, the natural world, and the people whose lives have been shaped by exploring, understanding, and caring for it.

Hosted by wildlife biologist and conservationist Romey Swanson.

Edited by Dell Little.

New conversations every other Wednesday.

In Part Two, we follow where that life took him and what he learned along the way.

Sitting beside the fire at Randy’s Cottonwood Farm in Gonzales County, our conversation moves through his early professional career, work on a South Texas ranch, and eventual return to Texas State University as a teacher and researcher.

But this part of our conversation increasingly becomes about something larger than a career.

Randy and I talk about the importance of getting students out of classrooms and into the field, learning directly from landowners and the people who work the land, and remaining curious enough to question what we think we already know. We talk about relationships and professional networks, the limits of applying scientific findings too broadly, and why knowing a place requires spending time in it.

We also explore something that has become increasingly important to both of us: the value of simply being outside. Nature contact. Observation. Getting up early. Keeping notes. Writing things down. Developing the habits that allow a naturalist to keep learning over a lifetime. Randy discusses early mornings, journaling, and longhand notes as part of those practices.

And then, almost impossibly, the wild world offers its own contribution.

If you heard me tease the coyotes at the beginning of Part One, this is the episode where they finally show up. Right in the middle of a conversation beside the fire, a nearby group begins calling into the evening.

We stopped talking. And listened.

It's difficult to imagine a more appropriate interruption to the first conversation on Modern Texas Naturalist.

Pull your chair back up to the fire. Here's Part Two of my conversation with my friend and mentor, Dr. Randy Simpson.

In this conversation

00:55 — Early career, opportunity, and life on a South Texas ranch

09:17 — Returning to Texas State and stepping into the classroom

20:15 — Finding a path through wildlife biology

25:12 — Nature contact, curiosity, and why being outside matters

29:07 — The coyotes have something to say

34:23 — Learning beyond the classroom

38:43 — Early mornings, observation, field notes, and writing things down

About Modern Texas Naturalist

Modern Texas Naturalist is a podcast about curiosity, the natural world, and the people whose lives have been shaped by exploring, understanding, and caring for it.

Hosted by wildlife biologist and conservationist Romey Swanson.

Edited by Dell Little.

New conversations every other Wednesday.

Dr. Randy Simpson was my graduate advisor at Texas State University, but over the years he became much more than that: a mentor, a friend, and one of the first people who showed me what a life built around curiosity about the natural world could look like.

For this first conversation, Randy and I sat beside a mesquite-and-oak fire at his Cottonwood Farm in Gonzales County, Texas, poured some coffee, and started at the beginning.

In Part One, we trace Randy’s path from a childhood spent outdoors to a career studying and teaching wildlife biology. We wander through early encounters with Texas wildlife, his graduate research on animal behavior, and his work studying nutria and their effects on wetland ecosystems.

Along the way, our conversation turns toward some bigger questions: What happens when the wildlife we remember from childhood begins disappearing? How do shifting baselines change what we think of as “normal”? And, when it comes to conservation, how much easier is it to protect an intact landscape than to try to put one back together after it has been lost?

We also talk about books (because a conversation with Randy was never going to get very far without talking about books) and some of the writers and naturalists who helped shape the way he sees the world.

Mostly, though, this is a conversation between two naturalists who have known each other a long time, sitting beside a fire and following their curiosity wherever it leads.

And we're only getting started.

Part Two continues the conversation, with more stories, more coffee, and, eventually, a perfectly timed chorus of coyotes from somewhere beyond the firelight.

In this conversation

02:09 — Pulling up a chair at Cottonwood Farm

03:36 — Randy’s childhood outdoors and the making of a naturalist

13:07 — Nutria, the fur trade, and an introduced species

18:00 — Studying nutria and thinking about wildlife management

22:45 — Horned lizards, childhood wildlife, and what has changed

30:14 — Preservation, restoration, and protecting intact landscapes

39:39 — Books, natural history, and the writers who shaped Randy

46:35 — Looking ahead to Part Two

About Modern Texas Naturalist

Modern Texas Naturalist is a podcast about curiosity, the natural world, and the people whose lives have been shaped by exploring, understanding, and caring for it.

Hosted by wildlife biologist and conservationist Romey Swanson.

Edited by Dell Little.

New conversations every other Wednesday.

Join wildlife biologist, conservationist, and lifelong naturalist Romey Swanson for conversations with people whose lives have been shaped by exploring, understanding, and caring for the natural world.

Scientists. Writers. Educators. Landowners. Artists. Conservationists. And wonderfully curious people who simply can't stop asking questions about the wild world around them.

These are conversations about nature, discovery, field experiences, conservation, books, ideas, unexpected encounters - and the people and places that leave their mark on us.

Our first conversation arrives September 30 with Dr. Randy Simpson, Romey's graduate advisor, longtime mentor, friend, and one of the people who helped shape the naturalist he would become.

Follow Modern Texas Naturalist now so you'll be there when our first conversation drops.

New conversations every other Wednesday.

Modern Texas Naturalist