123 - How Wildfire Smoke Affects Birds, Insects, and Water

Buzz Blossom & Squeak — Be a Neighborhood Naturalist · Jul 23, 2026 · 12m

This week’s episode started with something small and annoying: my air purifier kept kicking on every time I walked across my living room. Turns out my floor wasn’t dirty — it was covered in wildfire smoke particles from Canadian and Boundary Waters fires, and every footstep was stirring them back into the air. That one observation turned into a much bigger question I couldn’t shake all week: where does all this smoke actually go, and what happens to everything living outside that doesn’t have an air purifier of its own?

What Wildfire Smoke Actually Is

These particles are smaller than 2.5…