Laura Erickson's For the Birds

Laura hopes the coming year will bring people together.

Reworked from programs in the 80s about how much food birds can pack away.

This is the time of year when birds have the most feathers.

Christmas celebrations often have a lot of birdy elements.

A hunter is getting off with only minor penalties for shooting two Whooping Cranes in Florida. He claims he mistook them for ducks. Laura thinks he should lose his right to hunt and to own a gun.

Laura’s friend Mark Alt shares an amusing story about some backyard visitors—or were they?

Many times hunters have sent Laura stories about their encounters with birds while sitting up in their deer stands. Pete Petrovek wrote to Laura about what it feels like for a hunter.

How will Laura be strategizing the Christmas Bird Count this year?

Laura was disconcerted to read that White-tailed Deer feed on grassland nestlings and eggs. It was as disillusioning as the past election.

Laura has four cardinals in her backyard, making her remember her own childhood, her grandpa, and also Lauren Bacall.

Laura is attached to one particular little squirrel.

Real Blue Jays can learn to hunt virtual predators with a computer game. Date not certain but DECEMBER 2000 is)

Minimize the use of lawn pesticides, don’t cut down trees in breeding season, and keep cats indoors.

Two simple practices in planning our meals can have major benefits for the birds.

Every way we produce energy harms birds, and driving a bit slower both uses less energy and saves birds from collisions.

Laura suggests that if you’re getting a cell phone for Christmas, look into how the different companies construct towers for their antennas. And send a note to your company requesting that they use bird-friendly construction. www.towerkill.com has a wealth of information about the issue.

Acknowledging how much birds mean to us is a good reason to provide gifts for them. Laura will talk about ways we can help birds this week. Today she talks about gifts that cost money, from bird feeding to memberships in conservation organizations.

Listen to chickadee calls as Laura explains what they mean.

If everything seems fresh and new to a chickadee, that’s because everything is.

Who loves a chickadee, and why? Several KUMD listeners explain.

One of our most conspicuous feeder birds is named for the Swedish word for a chirper.

Laura thinks that since loons aren’t here in November anyway, we might as well call the turkey our emergency auxiliary state bird, at least at Thanksgiving.

Ever wonder what those turkey gizzards are all about, or why turkey have wish bones? (recast from 11-22-95)

Laura’s grateful for many things this year.

Laura reads two of Emily Dickinson’s poems about Bobolinks.

Laura has yearned to go to Costa Rica for decades, and is headed there on 01-01-01. She’s been studying up for months, and now knows the difference between a jungle, a rainforest, and a cloud forest.

What was a Bald Eagle doing at Ordean Junior High School?

Some Snowy Owls that find their way down here can be starving.

Laura is headed to Costa Rica in January. How is she studying up?

Laura just got a new pair of binoculars—10x42 Leicas.

Jim Baker has a cure for those Florida ballot-counting blues.

After the 2000 election, while the nation was wondering what was happening, the California Ravens came up with this musical number.

Laura talks with the commander of the last Pigeon Company of the Army Signal Corps.

Laura celebrates the birth of Jared Kirtland, born in 1793, for whom Kirtland’s Warbler is named.

As Laura approaches her 49th birthday, she yearns to travel.

Jim Baker can now decode what Blue Jays are saying! And hear the California Ravens with “Bohemian Rhapsojay.”

A listener called Laura about a bird-brained scheme to train crows to repeat the name of a mayoral candidate over and over.

Laura got an email from a Florida man with a Blue Jay problem.

In honor of All Souls Day and Dia del Muerte, Laura reads John Oberholtzer’s “Cemetery. “

How have woodpeckers inspired football helmets?

The earliest record of a Boreal Owl in Wisconsin was a bird in need of help.

Purple Finches are popular, interesting, and useful, but they’re not purple unless you have a classical education.

My neighbors Bob and Mary (called Mar Mar by us since my kids were little) have a special Blue Jay who peeks into their window to get their attention when it wants peanuts.

Hundreds of Saw-whet Owls are banded at Hawk Ridge every fall.

Caring for a bird injured by a cat almost always ends with heartbreak.

Birds don’t migrate because they don’t have enough food: they migrate when food is most abundant. They can lose significant proportion of their body weight in mere hours.

Few birds sing in October, but a few have been brightening Laura’s days, as well as non-singing Golden-crowned Kinglets and Brown Creepers.

(Month is correct) Laura waxes euphoric about her favorite bird, with help from Aldo Leopold.

Birds are coming and going, and it’s lovely to keep track as we store up memories to sustain us over the long winter ahead. (redone from earlier date)

Different kinds of birders, like different kinds of birds, enjoy migration in different ways.

It’s easy to understand the complex mating system of White-throated Sparrows if you remember the book or movie, Gone with the Wind.

This fall, Laura is facing her son going off to college: something hummingbird mothers think is no big deal.

Laura just got a passport that will allow her to explore the entire world, or at least go to Costa Rica.

Laura reads a lovely poem by John Oberholtzer.

Laura saw a thrilling encounter between a hummingbird and a kestrel and wondered what makes a tiny hummingbird take on a much larger predator? (Definitely from fall 2000)

Hummingbirds are heading out, wings beating 70 times every second, its heart beating 650 times every minute.

Date not certain but def. AUGUST 2000.

Migration used to mystify people, and mysteries still abound.

Why are House Finches suddenly looking sick? (Out-of-date website and other information)

Is death sadder or more final for humans than it is for birds? Life is too short to wonder.

Today Laura talks about efforts to increase Whooping Crane numbers by introducing groups in new areas.

Laura’s been thinking about how lovely it would be to spend a year in Costa Rica, and another year here and there in South America.

What birds are moving about this time of the season? Listen to the sounds of waxwings and Merlins as well as learning about what they’re up to.

Laura’s encounter with a cardinal conjured some lovely memories. She also talks about how gratifying it is to whistle in a bird on your own.

The Wall Street Journal is reverting to the tactics of the 1960s trying to promote widespread use of DDT once again.

Late summer is the time to watch for quiet little waxwings.

Laura talks about life with a Cockatiel named Farley.

Laura’s getting a major education from her education screech-owl.

Many birds eat fish, and sometimes fish return the favor. (3:12)

If warblers need mature stands, why are they so often found on edges? (Maybe originally from 2002) (4:54)

Why is a robin hitting my windows over and over?

Laura gives a different spin on an unpopular brood parasite.

Laura loves, and yet feels queasy about, visiting the Field Museum of Natural History

Summer birds are quiet but worth watching, and Ogden Nash is always worth listening to.

“Precocial” chicks—those of ducks, geese, and shorebirds—need entirely different care from baby songbirds because they’re imprinted on their parents.

Laura has some tips for if you find a baby songbird that absolutely needs help.

Laura has some tips to help baby birds in general, and to help individual baby birds in trouble.

This is a good time to slow down and look up to see the birds all around us. (Originally recorded for 1987-04-17)

Do birds yawn, or when they open their beaks, is it merely a “jaw stretch”?

When King Lear says, “Die for adultery? No! The wren goes to’t,” he was talking about the bird we know as the Winter Wren.Laura’s friend Wim Vader recounts a legend about them in Norway.

Laura talks about two birds that live by the exact opposite of the rule, “Children should be seen but not heard.”

Walking on a bird’s territory can seem very rude to the bird.

How do birds survive dangerous thunderstorms?

It turns out Laura can’t really figure out which warbler is her favorite.

This active little warbler is nicknamed “candelita” in Cuba.

This zippy little warbler, the tiniest in North America, makes an intricate nest in “old man’s beard.”

This colorful warbler has a tricky song but is easy to identify if you see it.

Laura took care of a Chestnut-sided Warbler for a few days; he was a confiding little guy.

What are some of the most lovely songs of the north woods?

When is a black bird not a blackbird?

Is feeding birds in summer a good thing? Only if it’s as good for the birds as it is for us.

Some bird issues were dealt with well in the movie Sleepy Hollow, if you don’t mind a head chopping here and there.

Spring migration is intense but fleeting.

As birds dwindle, is it a good thing that we adjust so well?

A spunky little bird with a loud song is victimized by cowbirds more than most birds. (4:33)

May is when it’s time to set out oriole feeders.

A warbler that never ever nests in Nashville is one of our north country treasures.

Laura talks about a very welcome third-of-an-ounce warbler.

The first warbler Laura ever saw is one of the easier warblers to notice because of its distinctive behaviors. (4:14)

Maintaining hummingbird feeders is important for them and for us.

The “Bird of Fire” is easy to find if you’re in the right place at the right time.

Laura talks about our tiniest woodpecker.

When a Ruby-crowned Kinglet alighted on Laura’s finger, the thrill reminded her of a Robert Frost poem.

One hardy sparrow seems to sing most persistently the worse the weather is.

Laura’s Ford Aspire hit the 100,000 mile mark!

Swans live up to their “family values” reputation.

Laura came home from Ohio with a screech owl!

(Estimated date, reworked from 4-8-99) Laura reworked her program from 1999.

On March 24 and 25, a Smew turned up off Wisconsin Point, but disappeared by the time most people arrived.

Laura celebrates Robert Frost’s birthday. (Recast from March 25, 1996–I’m not certain the date for this is correct.)

I know I made one for March 2000, but not sure when. (5:05)

Laura reads from John Kieran’s words about his “spark bird,” a White-breasted Nuthatch.

Laura talks about one of her favorite signs of spring.

One of the most spectacularly bizarre birds in the world must be Hawaii’s Iiwi, which seems to come straight from an avian circus.

An hour after Laura landed from her longest flight, she took the shortest flight she’d ever taken, from Honolulu to Maui, and the plane was low enough that she could see whales!

Laura took a long airplane trip over the Pacific Ocean, speculating about how the time we spend on a journey enhances our idea of the distances we’ve traveled.

I’m virtually certain this is the date for this re-recording of an earlier one (date unknown).

Laura talks about a real hero, Sam Robbins, author of Wisconsin Birdlife, who died on February 19, 2000.

Leap Year Day is an appropriate time to consider how birds don’t need a watch or calendar.

Time to get serious about bird feeding. (Recast from 1996-02-28)

Laura never had a solid sense of geography until she became a birder. Now she’s fascinated with Hawaiian history.

Laura wrote to Governor Ventura about the problems birds are facing due to jet skis.

What birds is Laura hoping to see in Hawaii?

Laura is learning a lot about Hawaii’s geography and geology in anticipation of her trip.

Chasing down rare birds is a form of gambling.

Laura is going on a family vacation to Hawaii, and all she can think about are birds.

For the first time ever, a Cape May Warbler turned up on Duluth’s Christmas Bird Count, and stuck around until January.

Laura discusses some of the more global issues involved with cats.

Laura explains why cats should be kept indoors.

Lead poisoning is a continuing problem for California Condors, Common Loons, and Bald Eagles. We need to stop adding new lead to the environment.

Should Minnesota and Wisconsin start allowing dove hunting?

Laura is thoroughly enjoying Scott Weidensaul’s Living on the Wind: Across the Hemisphere with Migratory Birds.

Laura and her friend Holly had a wonderful treat January 7: a Black-backed Woodpecker.

Bald Eagle Watch Month is the right time to look for eagles. Ben Franklin would have preferred that this be turkey month.

What are swallows doing in the dead of winter?

Laura reviews Roger Tory Peterson and James Fisher’s splendid memoir of birding in the 50s.

Laura spent her family’s entire discretionary income for 1999 on a set of The Birds of North America.

How did cardinals make their way this far north?

A Tufted Duck turned up in the Twin Cities on January 1.

What do we need to start a new birding year? Laura has tips. (Not entirely sure of date, but this or the previous week have to be right.)

Laura wanted a chickadee to be the first bird she saw in the new millennium. How did she ensure that she’d succeed?