Art on foot

To take a truly informed science-art-nature walk on the Stanford campus, it's nice to have a museum docent, an earth-sciences dean, a curator and a bunch of professors with you.

A second self-guided tour of the university's many plants, animals and outdoor art has been turned into a podcast and is now available at birds.stanford.edu. With earbuds in their ears and walking shoes on their feet, visitors can follow their iPods to salamander tunnels and serpentine soil, the New Guinea Sculpture Garden and the Kennedy Grove, while learning about butterfly conservation, biomimicry and engineering.

They'll hear the voices of biologists Paul Ehrlich and Donald Kennedy (who is also a former Stanford president), earth-sciences dean Pam Matson, artist Darryl Wheye, Cantor Arts Center curator Patience Young and others. The hosts will guide visitors through a walking loop while pointing out spots and features of interest.

I followed the first tour last year and was particularly taken with the falcon and luna-moth sculptures it showed me. I also liked the pretty citrus grove filled with lime, lemon, orange and kumquat trees. A leisurely way to spend an afternoon.

Pictured: A stone sculpture from the New Guinea Sculpture Garden at Stanford University. Photo from the garden's website at stanford.edu/~mjpeters/png/.