© 2025 University of Missouri - KBIA
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Discover Nature: Thanksgiving In Missouri's Outdoors

A drawing of a blue jay, and broad-shouldered hawk fly over an opossum in a Missouri woodland with fallen leaves on the ground.
areas with a walk in the woods, a fall float trip, or the tastes and smells of a wild harvest on a Thanksgiving dinner table.

This week on Discover Nature, take a moment to admire and appreciate Missouri’s many gifts from nature.

   

Picture the vast geography of our state, as avian migrations pass over our prairies and plains, Ozark forests, big river systems, and marshy lowlands. 

Each ecoregion supporting its own array of animal and plant species that have constituted our state’s natural heritage from long before settlers set foot on Missouri soil. 

From bald eagles to wild turkeys and white-tailed deer – all once nearly eliminated from our state – countless natural communities here, again abound with wildlife. 

As autumn leaves lay a colorful carpet on lawns and woodlands, look closer and observe the tiny wonders of insects and invertebrates, microbes and mushrooms, turning leaf litter into lawn fodder, and fertilizing the forest floor. 

This week, whether walking in the woods, or gathered around a wild harvest at the dinner table, pause, and give thanks for the many ways Missouri’s great outdoors feed us and benefit our lives. 

Find great ways to get outside and discover nature near you with the Missouri Department of Conservation’s (MDC) Discover Nature page, and keep up with daily happenings in the outdoors with MDC’s Natural Events Calendar.  

Discover Nature is sponsored by the Missouri Department of Conservation.

Kyle Felling’s work at KBIA spans more than three decades. In 2025, he became KBIA and KMUC's Station Manager. He began volunteering at the station while he was a Political Science student at the University of Missouri. After being hired as a full-time announcer, he served as the long-time local host of NPR’s All Things Considered on KBIA, and was Music Director for a number of years. Starting in 2010, Kyle became KBIA’s Program Director, overseeing on-air programming and operations while training and supervising the station’s on-air staff. During that period, KBIA regularly ranked among the top stations in the Columbia market, and among the most listened to stations in the country. He was instrumental in the launch of KBIA’s sister station, Classical 90.5 FM in 2015, and helped to build it into a strong community resource for classical music. Kyle has also worked as an instructor in the MU School of Journalism, training the next generation of journalists and strategic communicators. In his spare time, he enjoys playing competitive pinball, reading comic books and Joan Didion, watching the Kansas City Chiefs, and listening to Bruce Springsteen and the legendary E Street Band.