–Doug Weatherford, who oversees the famous marching ducks at the Peabody Memphis hotel, which this year is celebrating its 150th anniversary. Read our Q&A with the duckmaster here.

The six new pups in Durham. (Photo courtesy of the Museum of Life and Science)

Six red wolf pups were born last week at Durham, North Carolina’s Museum of Life and Science—the third litter the museum has welcomed since 2017. Native to the Southeast, red wolves are critically endangered. The total population stands at fewer than three hundred, and the museum plays a key role in the Red Wolf Species Survival Plan as one of a group of zoos and nature centers around the country working toward saving the species. The pups will be raised alongside their parents in the museum’s multigenerational habitat, where visitors will soon have a chance to spot them once they emerge from their dens. “It is going to be an amazing spring and summer at our wolf habitat,” Sherry Samuels, director of the museum’s Animal Department, told WRAL.com. “Watching these new pups grow up and interact with their older brothers and parents will be a once-in-a-lifetime experience.”

—Ryman Hospitality, the Nashville organization that oversees the Ryman Auditorium and the Grand Ole Opry, is launching its own television channel in 2020. Though details have yet to be revealed, the service will be available both over the air and via on-demand streaming, reports the Tennessean, and is the latest in the company’s efforts to be a “country music discovery point for fans.”

—At Brad’s Bar-B-Que in Oxford, Alabama, three young men were having dinner together when they noticed an elderly woman dining alone. One of the men, Jamario Howard, struck up a conversation, and after learning that she had lost her husband and the following day would have been their sixtieth wedding anniversary, the group promptly invited her to join them. “The point in this is always be kind and be nice to people,” Howard wrote in a Facebook post that has since gone viral. “You never know what they are going through.” AL.com has more on the random act of kindness and a photo of the new friends.

If you’ve ever felt the undeniable urge to take just one more cast (and okay, maybe one more after that), Gather at the River is your kind of book. Out May 7 and edited by authors David Joy and Eric Rickstad, the anthology includes essays from twenty-five writers that all relate to fishing in some form or another, whether it’s casting for brookies on a Blue Ridge Mountain stream or frogging from a bateau in South Louisiana. But just a glance at the contributors, which include such renowned Southern authors as Ron Rash, Jill McCorkle, Natalie Baszile, Silas House, Taylor Brown, and more, will tell you the collection is about a lot more than chasing fish. I told myself I was going to savor it and just read one or two essays a night, but after the first one I had a very familiar feeling: Maybe I’ll just read one more…

The cypress trees dwarf everything in Four Holes Swamp. (Photo by Margaret Houston)

It’s not every day we get to take a work field trip to see thousand-year-old cypress trees. The G&G edit staff spent yesterday morning paddling kayaks through Four Holes Swamp, near Harleyville, South Carolina, as guests of Audubon South Carolina and the state chapter of The Nature Conservancy. Part of the Beidler Forest and less than an hour outside of Charleston, the sanctuary is one of the largest remaining tracts of virgin cypress-tupelo swamp on the planet and provides vital habitat for some 160 bird species, including the bright-yellow Prothonotary Warbler (or “swamp canary”). We saw a female, just off a 5,000-mile migration from South America, nesting in a hollowed-out cypress knee. The Audubon Center at Beidler Forest offers periodic kayak tours when water levels are high enough, but you can also soak up an excellent (and drier) view of the swamp via the center’s 1.75-mile-long boardwalk.

Songwriter Robert Earl Keen is one of the great Texas troubadours, and he’s now bringing his thirty-plus years in music to bear as host of his new Americana Podcast: The 51st State. The podcast just launched this week with its first two episodes, which feature the Magnolia, Texas–spawned duo Jamestown Revival and the Memphis outfit Lucero. The Americana label has always been a bit of a catchall, encompassing elements of bluegrass, roots, folk, country, and more. As Keen told Rolling Stone recently, “A lot of people have seen me over the years and go, ‘I don’t know what you are, but I like it.’” That’s true for a lot of Americana artists, and I’m looking forward to hearing more from Keen and his guests’ takes on the genre.

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We recently asked, “What’s your best advice for surviving Derby day at Churchill Downs?” A few of your responses:

In my experience, pack a poncho. Preferably clear to not interrupt with your “peacocking.” —Larry J.

Start with one mint julep then refill your glass with water and more mint. —Rhonda H.

Eat a big greasy breakfast, dress in your Southern best so you look FINE no matter how you feel, and don’t have more drinks than there are races. —Lee C.

Go to the Oaks on Friday. You’ll experience all the fun without the massive crowds. Watch the Derby at one of the bourbon bars. —Tom W.

Ladies, take an extra pair of shoes to wear at the end of the day for the long trek back to your transportation. —Ginny H.

Go early, stay late, take a drink, take a walk, and remember that the best show in town is not on the track but in the stands for all but two-plus minutes of the day. —Peter S.

Watch the Derby on TV with a dozen mint juleps at your side. —Paul F.

As a native of Louisville, I have a few pieces of advice: Wear shoes that can be stepped on by infielders, bring snacks in clear bags, and find the vendors with the mini champagne bottles with a sipper. On your way out, grab some local BBQ freshly smoked in backyards surrounding the Churchill Downs parking lots. —Maggie K.

Simply put, avoid the infield. Way too many distractions and you may never see a horse. —Steve M.

Want more advice? We talked to several Derby-day experts, including distiller Julian Van Winkle, Louisville chef Edward Lee, and hospitality expert and author Peggy Noe Stevens, for their tips. Read them here.

Beyond the Garden Gate invites visitors to wander the private gardens in Hillsborough, North Carolina’s historic district.  

The Havre de Grace Decoy Museum hosts its 38th annual Decoy and Wildlife Art Festival with more than a hundred artists showing and selling works, alongside retriever demonstrations, carving competitions, and more. 

Celebrate Cinco de Mayo with some of our favorite fiesta-ready recipes: Grilled ribeye tacos, salsa verde, and a fun twist on a classic margarita. 

The annual Doggie Carnival takes to Savannah’s Forsyth Park with a dog derby, professional pet photographers and caricaturists, and carnival games—with all proceeds benefiting the local Humane Society.