Laura Erickson's For the Birds

(Ivory-billed Woodpecker)–That’s the call of the endangered and now possibly extinct Ivory-billed Woodpecker, reminding us that it’s time for another hit song on the radio station playing more of the music of your Blue Jays.

That was the California Ravens in their new performance of that ever popular ballad by George and Sora Gershwin which swept the Gromme Awards this year. And now this news:

Last year ornithologists were stunned to learn that a group of tropical birds has a toxin in their feathers similar to the chemical on the skin of poison dart frogs. Now scientists have discovered that a relative of our familiar robin produces an even stronger toxin, which it actually emits as it breathes. This strange bird, the Thrush Limbough, is capable of spewing out its vitriol over a surprisingly wide area, and although it doesn’t seem to affect the health of humans who come in contact with the poison, frequent contact does seem to cause clinical mean-spiritedness.

Last month’s annual meeting of the Blue Jay Society for the Improvement of Lake Superior Weather was postponed due to snow. The rescheduled meeting set for this week was cancelled due to freezing rain. The Society held a demonstration to protest what they identify as the obscene weather conditions every March and April, picketing at the office of the U.S. Weather Service, but heavy fog made it impossible for anyone to read their signs.

And now this word from our sponsor, Baker’s Blue Jay Barn.

That’s Baker ‘ s Blue Jay Barn, catering to your blue jay needs since I 987.

For the Birds is written by a process of elimination, produced by the seat of our pants, and funded in part by a grant from Spouses of Unemployable Bird Watchers , Incorporated, with special help from the California Ravens and that incomparable bagpipe-playing firefighter, John Keenan.