Laura Erickson's For the Birds

This is the original airing of Christmas with Jim Baker; Deb Shubat and Laura sang “Have Yourself Some Merry Little Blue Jays.”

Some listeners found last week’s program about hunting unfair. 3:23

This is a year when many Northland feeders abound with finches. Who are these winter birds and why are they here? 4:00 (The transcript seems to match everything for this placeholder)

Some birds, like people, snuggle for warmth. 3:27 (Not exactly certain of the date)

Laura wrote both sides of this hunter vs. anti-hunter debate. She actually is neutral on the subject, in general.

Why do waxwings have those red tips?

Laura got a lifer at Cape May!

Are birds really yawning, or is it simply a kind of jaw-stretch?

This program is about the cute little sandpipers that run along the ocean’s edge. 3:51 (Date confirmed)

Bunter, my birding companion for 14 years, died last week. 4:02 (Date confirmed)

Laura talks about a spectacular bird that embodies the spirit of the north woods.

Why is Laura called the Dr. Ruth of Ornithology?

If restaurants believed in truth-in-advertising, they’d change the menu from birds’ nest soup to bird spit soup. (3:25) May have rerun the program from 7-11-97.

What’s a rare flycatcher doing in Duluth? (3:46)

Do birds smell, or just stink? (3:35) this may be a repeat

Pileated Woodpeckers are even cooler than they look.

How do you say “Pileated”? (Date verified)

This program tells something to crow about. (3:53) this one may be a repeat?

Laura received a hilarious letter from a listener about wild laughter. (date verified)

(Reworked with minor changes from about 11-6-96.)

Why do birds mimic other animals? (3:25) (this may or may not have been a repeat)

This is about cemeteries and the birds who are found in them. (4:05) Date verified.

Alexander Skutch’s book, The Life of Hummingbirds is filled with fascinating information about hummers, including some charming stories.

Even a place rich in human associations can tell us something about birds. (4:24) (Date verified)

Laura talks about a Sora she rehabbed in 1993, and which character in Little Women it would represent.

Laura talks about a bird whose plumage and call are both the epitome of softness.

Do birds have a soul? (3:55) Date confirmed

This is about a trip Laura made last week to the Atlantic Ocean. (4:04) Date confirmed.

This program is about the Indigo Bunting that helped Laura find her way home. 4:08

Laura spent an evening watching nighthawks flying in and out of an oversized flag on a beautiful evening.

There are more birds alive right now than at any other time of year even though they’re inconspicuous.

Eastern Kingbirds may be diminutive and attractive songbirds, but they’re the tyrant dinosaurs of the bird world. 3:19

Rescuing a baby Pine Siskin was a lot of trouble, giving an enormous reward. 4:10 (Rerecorded from May 8, 1996)

From tiny Downy Woodpeckers to the enormous Pileated Woodpecker, people notice the axmen of the bird world. 3:28

Birds may not be known by their spitting, but they do have salivary glands. 3:20 (I’m assuming this was recast from Feb 24, 1995)

Chimney Swifts feed exclusively on airborne invertebrates. How can they eat so many spiders? And can American swift nests be used for birds’ nest soup?

Laura watched a pair of Parulas build a nest while she was up on Burntside Lake this year. (Not certain of year or date)

Today’s program is about the woodpecker who hops on lawns. 4:10

Cedar Waxwings are one of the Northland’s most conspicuous summer birds. 3:53

Laura’s annual ritual of counting breeding birds. (4:03) Date verified.

Baby birds have a low graduation rate—a single failed test is usually fatal.

Laura and Russ went to Florida in late May, and saw some interesting birds.

Many big moths that birds depend on are declining for all kinds of reasons, so Laura was thrilled to find three Luna Moths on Burntside Lake near the Boundary Waters.

When a little owl from the Great Plains turned up in Duluth, plenty of birders were around to enjoy it. 4:25 date confirmed.

How did Laura learn bird sounds? Sometimes she tracked birds down in nature, and sometimes she listened to recordings.

Today’s program is about lifers I’ve added while zipping along freeways and highways. 3:16 Date confirmed

Today’s topic is egrets and herons—birds we can easily see and identify even at highway speed. 4:15

Barred Owls have bizarre calls and curious nesting habits.

Birds adapted to city life are more interesting and varied than most people realize.

This is a banner year for baby crows. How do they negotiate the challenges of life in the north land?

This has lots of information about eagles. 4:06

This program is about night birds and their sounds. (3:37) Date verified.

Getting birds to sing to us, drawing birds closer, even getting pooped on by a bird—people rejoice in the connections we make with nature.

This is the week to set out hummingbird and oriole feeders. (3:55) Date confirmed.

The American Bird Conservancy recently released a new field guide. 3:50

Today’s program is about the human and avian need to collect things. (4:22) Date confirmed.

Setting out nest materials for birds is a way we can warm birds and ourselves both. 4:07

This program is about the bird that produces one of the loveliest spring songs. 3:42

Don’t put rat poison in your bird seed to get rid of chipmunks!! 3:11

To study territoriality, even a laundromat is a learning experience. (4:28) Date confirmed.

This one is about signs of spring and why it’s important to keep spring feeders filled. 3:07

Yep–this one is about eagle droppings and the impact one had on my car. (3:22) Date verified.

Early spring is a time of contradictions. (3:53) Date confirmed; revised from 4/14/89

Aspens are popping out, feeding the first spring birds. 4:05 (recast from 5-12-89

Where the heck IS spring Not quite in Duluth yet. 3:02

April is the month to see some of the loveliest mating rituals of the bird world. (3:34) Date confirmed.

A 25th wedding anniversary inspired this program about the mating habits of birds. (3:30) Date confirmed.

The Cyrano de Bergerac of the North Woods is courting once again. 3:26

Today’s program is about the tiny standoffish prude of the Northwoods. 3:21

Laura Erickson marks Robert Frost’s birthday with a few of his bird poems. (4:24) Date verified.

Laura gives tips for enjoying night birds under a comet-lit sky.

Signs of spring are beginning to appear. (3:36) Date verified.

Today I talk about a great information brochure about cats. (3:51) Date confirmed.

This program is about a rare visitor to the Northland. 3:24

This one’s the funkiest bird on the planet. I had to use a recording of its close relative, the White-faced Ibis. 3:48

Here I talk about a really neat prairie bird. I had no recording of a Mountain Plover so I used a Snowy Plover call.

This program is about the boat ride that takes people to see Whooping Cranes. Even non-birders would enjoy this trip. (4:03) Date confirmed

Buying baby ducks for Easter is almost always a very bad thing. (Date is certain)

On Valentine’s Day, owls are thinking about romance. (3:48)

Laura and her family just saw the re-released original Star Wars. (3:36) Date verified.

Laura is headed to Texas on a birding trip. (4:16) Date confirmed.

An overzealous US Fish and Wildlife Service agent killed a hummingbird rather than allowing it to remain in a warm place for the winter.

Organic coffee grown in the shade of a diverse forest is much better for birds than coffee grown in the sun. 4:34

Laura finds herself rehabbing a Red Crossbill, which is making her feel richer than Donald Trump.

A commercial promising a copy of the World Book Encyclopedia on a CD-Rom for every IBM computer sold has ruffled a lot of feathers. It shows a little girl picking up an injured Great Horned Owl and finding out what to do with her World Book CD-Rom. 4:02

Great Gray Owls may be bigger, but they weigh far less than Great Horned and Snowy Owls. They eat mice, and very little else. And this year they’re surprisingly easy to see. 3:58

Many Boreal Owls are turning up dead this year, and no one knows why. Laura recounts a story about a Boreal Owl in a life-or-death struggle with a flying squirrel.

Laura gives some concrete strategies for discouraging House Sparrows from using nest boxes. (3:42)

The Artful Dodgers of the bird world are here to stay. (4:40)

Predatory shrikes lead dangerous lives, but people aren’t very sympathetic.

Laura’s freezer is filling up with owls succumbing to the harsh winter. They’ll be necropsied and then salvaged for education; they’re already educating Laura about their hard lives. (3:54)

The Brown Creeper’s mantra: Speak softly and stick to a big stick. (4:22)

In the 1700s, a minister named John Bachman birdnapped five baby Pileated Woodpeckers. Laura hopes he was kinder to his parishioners. (4:22)