a gather of gatherings by Kellie Raines
What do you call a group of hawks? A kettle. Rattlesnakes? A rhumba. Orangutans? A buffoonery.
Welcome to A Gather of Gatherings, a story-rich, curiosity-fueled podcast exploring the wild and whimsical world of collective nouns. Each episode begins with a single phrase—like a murder of crows—and unfolds into something much bigger: interviews with experts and artists, imagined conversations with historical voices and animals, immersive soundscapes, folklore, poetry, and plenty of animal facts along the way.
From language and literature to nature, culture, and the mysteries of meaning, this podcast is your invitation to wander where words take flight.
Hosted by Kellie Raines—a writer, artist, and lover of linguistic oddities—this show celebrates the poetic strangeness of how we gather, name, and know the world and each other.
Step inside Save the Snakes in Rancho Cordova, California, for a rare, unfiltered behind-the-scenes tour at Save the Snakes with host Kellie Raines and venomous snake coordinator and expert Amy Brumbaugh. This Gatherlings bonus episode — your companion to A Rhumba of Rattlesnakes — goes beyond rattlesnakes to explore pythons, kingsnakes, gopher snakes, and the stunning “green unicorn” rhino rat snake at Save the Snakes.
What do you call a group of rattlesnakes? A rhumba.
What do hawks have to do with language, myth, and medieval manuscripts?
Why is it a murder of crows? A dazzle of zebras? A rhumba of rattlesnakes?
