Laura Erickson's For the Birds

Birding seems fairly tame, but poses hazards to our safety, health, and even sense of dignity.

More about bird tongues, including a rather shocking story about Laura and a Pileated Woodpecker.

Laura talks about bird tongues, particularly how the long tongue of woodpeckers and hummingbirds can stick out so far beyond the beak.

December 10 is Emily Dickinson’s birthday, and in her honor, Laura muses about the bird perched in Dickinson’s soul.

Laura and Russ took a day trip to Vancouver Island, seeing a wealth of birds from the ferry and on the island.

In 1987, Laura discovered how Duluth’s local newspaper distorted the news by proving false information fed to them by a powerful corporation with regard to construction of a cell phone tower. This seems to be happening today with regard to the Minnesota Vikings Stadium story, too.

On a day when many Americans crowd into stores, Laura Erickson thinks about how the best things in life are free.

Three Common Eiders and a Golden-crowned Sparrow turned up in Duluth this month. One eider still remains, along with the sparrow. Laura Erickson finally managed to see them.

Laura’s starting to lose her high frequency hearing, and needs hearing aids if she’s going to be able to hear many birds.

When Laura was in Vancouver, she visited her favorite musician/ composer in the known universe, Michael Conway Baker

Laura went birding in Vancouver this month. Here’s how she made her plans.

Laura talks about birds that have led relatively long lives.

In anticipation of her birthday, Laura talks about the only wild bird known to be even older than she is.

Laura talks about recent news stories about mockingbirds singing in New Orleans and how Hermit Thrush songs include some note patterns found in human music.

How do we integrate a scientific approach to problems with what our hearts are saying? It can be tricky to integrate both Spock and McCoy, especially when some people are presenting information as “science” that isn’t. What’s a Kirk to do?

Considering elements of the original Star Trek may make us better bird conservationists.

How and why would Belted Kingfishers ever reenact the iconic “group hug” from the final episode of The Mary Tyler Moore Show.

Nestling Belted Kingfishers have a wonderful trait–they move together within their tunnel nest as if in a group hug.

Laura goes into depth talking about the Belted Kingfisher.

Migration has quieted down over Peabody Street, but Laura’s having plenty of fun with the birds that remain.

When Laura’s daughter Katie found a baby squirrel in Brooklyn, she, her partner Michael, and a surprising third person helped get the squirrel the help she needed.

Laura’s first book opened up a beautiful world.

Laura puts some facts and figures about bird mortality and the Vikings in perspective

Driving at the slowest speed that is save, courteous, and convenient helps birds in unexpected ways.

It can be hard to remember that a horde of birds is made up of unique individuals, but one little warbler made it easier.

A huge number of birds are passing through Duluth right now. Why are they so exceptionally abundant this year?

A listener wrote to Laura Erickson about 20 or so dead birds she’d found littering the ground beneath the windows at the Duluth International Airport on September 21. Laura has suggestions about how we can start documenting this and other collision kills in Duluth.

Some of the trees in Laura’s backyard are getting pretty old. But so is she.

These are the remarks Laura made on September 27 at the protest against the 200,000 square feet of bird-killing glass on the proposed Vikings Stadium.

What’s a tiny quail doing in Duluth, hundreds of miles north of her natural range?

What should we do when a songbird is stunned at our window?

Hordes of waxwings, robins, and Swainson’s Thrushes are pigging out on mountain ash berries in Laura Erickson’s Duluth neighborhood right now.

Laura spent a few hours at Hawk Ridge, having a jolly time with more than just raptors.

Laura Erickson reviews a 2013 book that she considers a game changer in the world of bird identification and field guides, The Warbler Guide. Today she considers how the book deals with warbler vocalizations.

Laura Erickson reviews a 2013 book that she considers a game changer in the world of bird identification and field guides, The Warbler Guide. In this episode she covers how the book deals with warbler plumage.

Laura describes her first experiences with identifying warblers.

When a cold front hits in early September, should people bring in their feeders? Laura says no.

The National Audubon Society released a report today about how birds will far in coming decades, assuming projected changes due to global warming. How will Common Loons, Baltimore Orioles, and Northern Hawk Owls fare?

Is it true that hummingbirds do not have natural predators? Laura says “no way!”

Mark Twain’s autobiography includes a few non-indexed accounts of his interactions with birds. Laura reads excerpts about him hunting Passenger Pigeons and Wild Turkeys during his childhood.

When Laura was up at Hawk Ridge, she watched a couple of Merlins take on an owl decoy. What was that all about?

On September 2, Laura spent a couple of hours at Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory in Duluth. It was time well spent!

When Laura can’t get out birding, she waits for the birds to come to her.

Laura Erickson remembers a father, a grandfather, and a vanished bird.

Minnesota taxpayers will be providing a half billion dollars to build a new stadium designed with 200,000 square feet of glass–a design that promises to kill thousands of birds every year.

Laura recounts the history of endangered species protection in the United States, and how protections were increased from the time of the Lacey Act in 1900 and the Endangered Species Act in 1973, but how these protections have been reduced since then.

Laura was a speaker at the Henderson Hummingbird Hurrah this year, and learned interesting things about hummingbirds.

Laura remembers her father-in-law, Ellwood Erickson, on what would have been his 98th birthday.

The moment Laura started bird watching, she started absorbing more and more information about nature.

Throughout Laura’s childhood until she became a birder, she was singularly ignorant about nature.

Nestling baby birds need a lot of care beyond food. (Again, this is why baby birds should be taken to a wildlife rehabber.)

The diet for any baby bird should be close to what their natural parents feed them, and how often and how much to feed them. Rehabbers must know how to identify each bird, and what each species needs.

Laura talks about her very first experiences trying to keep baby birds alive, and how much she didn’t know.

It occurred to Laura Erickson that hawks have never been useful during wartime, except as mascots, while doves have served bravely and with distinction.

Laura almost missed seeing a Pacific Golden-Plover on her Big Year. Who helped her see the species? A cow.

Laura got to test an innovative pair of binoculars in Europe, and fell in love with them.

When Laura worked for an optics company, she learned to appreciate some of the best qualities of high end binoculars even as she learned that as useful as binoculars are, the bottom line is that they’re commodities.

Laura’s second pair of binoculars were 8x25 pocket binoculars.

Laura talks about the very first binoculars she ever had: a pair of Bushnell 7x50 Instafocuses.

Laura reviews several birding apps for smart phones.

The chickadee with the oversized, deformed bill that has been visiting Laura’s feeder this winter seems to be doing well.

Laura’s friend, the loon-expert Sandy Gillum, had an interesting experience with a Baltimore Oriole on St. George Island off Florida.

Laura used to get a lot of letters from soldiers serving in Iraq wondering about the strange birds they were seeing. One of the ones that caught a great many eyes was the Hoopoe.

Laura was invited to spend a week in Europe, and saw plenty of birds.

Mad Men is a program that has absolutely nothing to do with birds–the only episode where birds even feature has Betty Draper shooting her neighbor’s pigeons. But this week’s program inspired Laura.

Hunting has a rich history of conservation, but not all hunters live up to the name “conservationist.”

Laura led a Road Scholar field trip to a wonderful bog near Eagle River, Wisconsin, and they all got splendid looks at a Spruce Grouse.

May 16 was Endangered Species Day, so Laura talks about the history of the Endangered Species Act.

This cold spring has been hard on small songbirds, and has drawn some unusual birds to feeders.

Scale insects are proliferating on some of Laura’s houseplants, and washing them off is making her think about how easily we humans kill.

Laura spent time in the Wichita Mountains to see one of her favorite birds and to leave some of her dog Photon’s ashes where they shared some lovely experiences.

When Laura spent several hours in an observation blind to photograph Lesser Prairie-Chickens, the experience was better than she’d hoped.

The Lesser Prairie-Chicken Festival in Oklahoma gave Laura some close encounters she’ll never forget

Laura talks about an upcoming event in northern Wisconsin. (Time sensitive)

Black-capped Chickadees with deformed bills have been appearing in high numbers in Alaska since 1999. One appeared in Maple Grove, MN, this winter, and now Laura Erickson has one visiting her yard.

Laura remembers all her birding adventures with her little dog Photon, who died earlier this month.

Saul Goodbird, legal eagle, brings us the true story of Walter Shrike and his wife, Skylark.

Laura reviews the new edition of the popular “Sibley Guide to Birds,” but cautions people that the best way to learn birds is to commit to one field guide and use it.

Oil companies are playing Calvinball with people, changing the rules of how we tally bird deaths at oil spills.

Laura thoroughly enjoyed this coming-of-age movie

One of Laura’s friends came upon one of the coolest things she’d ever seen and got a photo of it.

More and more photographers and some birders lure owls in for a better view by tossing out mice on the snow. How ethical is this?

More and more photographers and some birders lure owls in for a better view by tossing out mice on the snow. How ethical is this?

We’ve learned a lot of valuable things from banding owls that help owl populations, and sometime the banding helps individual owls, too.

When Laura took a train from the Twin Cities to Chicago, she found some fine birds.

The winter of 2013-14 is the coldest in 30 years. How is it affecting birds?

Laura’s new Senior Pass, allowing her free entry into national parks and wildlife refuges, comes at a steep price: It makes her feel old. But don’t you dare call her a crone, as she explains.

Making eye contact with a wounded Mallard as she died was all it took for my Uncle Dick to stop hunting for good.

Now that Laura’s big year is over, she’s disappointed about how few birds are in her own backyard.

Laura talks about an important book about the Passenger Pigeon, published this year in honor of the centennial of its extinction.

This year marks the 100-year anniversary of the extinction of a bird that had once been the most abundant land bird in the world. Laura talks about how she learned the sad story as a small child.

For one brief and shining moment, Laura was #1 on the American Birding Association’s “Listing Central” website for a Lower-48 Big Year for 2013. But it didn’t last.

Laura sums up her birding year.