Laura Erickson's For the Birds

LISA JOHNSON: Laura Erickson is back in town. She has migrated back from Ithaca and she’s gonna stick around for a while. Howdy there sunshine.

LAURA: Good morning.

LISA JOHNSON: Nice to have you back.

LAURA: It’s great to be back.

LISA JOHNSON: It’s good to be back?

LAURA: Yes. It’s good to be back. So I went on a Duluth Audubon Society Warbler Walk on Tuesday morning and it was lovely bird watching back in Duluth. Every Tuesday they meet at 6.30 at the Western Waterfront Trail right across from the zoo in the parking lot next door to the Tappa Keg restaurant and on Thursday mornings they meet at Park Point. So it’s really a cool thing to do and it’s free and anybody who wants to go should show up.

LISA JOHNSON: What was your first Northland bird when you got back?

LAURA: Oh the chickadee. Silly girl. It was fun.

LISA JOHNSON: Where is my head?

LAURA: And I made a discovery that Larry Weber hasn’t heard of yet. He thinks chickadees [I meant White-throated Sparrows] are going dee-dee-dee-dee-dee-dee-dee-dee.

LISA JOHNSON: I like the diddlies.

LAURA: Some people say they’re saying oh Sam Peabody Peabody Peabody. If you go across the border they’re singing oh sweet Canada Canada Canada Canada but I discovered that they’re really singing I love chickadees chickadees chickadees chickadees.

LISA JOHNSON: No doubt. But aren’t there chickadees in Ithaca?

LAURA: Yeah but they’re not my chickadees.

LISA JOHNSON: Oh what was the first indigenous to the Northland bird that you saw when you got back?

LAURA: Let me see there was a bald eagle when I was driving into town. I did not see the peregrines downtown yet so I have to stop over. She’s on the nest and he’s occasionally bringing food to her with great noise and vigor.

LISA JOHNSON: So you mentioned a minute or two ago that there are going to be issues with birds and this oil spill.

LAURA: Oh it’s going to be horrible. It’s worst case scenario as far as birds go. When the oil reaches shore I mean all the shore birds right now the wading birds, the roseate spoonbills and the wood storks and all kinds of birds are breeding right now and they need those wetlands not just to keep themselves alive but to get food for their babies.
But even scarier to me as somebody who lives in Minnesota are the songbirds migrating from the tropics, many of which fly over the Gulf of Mexico. They’re going to be breathing horrible fumes which have already people in New Orleans and in Florida are smelling and these birds are breathing all that in while they’re flapping and flying without any chance to take a break. And then if they’re going to actually be burning off some of the oil the flames and the smoke are going to be horrible because migrating birds use the stars to navigate and if they get caught in in smoke then they get disoriented and fly toward light and the light is going to be fire.

LISA JOHNSON: Well I had asked you if you were planning to go down there and do some kind of a bird rescue because I’m sure you know as with the Exxon Valdez there will be some people are I’m sure already mobilizing for some rescue efforts but…

LAURA: Florida Audubon and the US Fish and Wildlife Service already have ways to connect with volunteers. I’m unfortunately

LISA JOHNSON: you’ve already got you’re already booked.

LAURA: Yeah and it’s horrible because I just feel like I have to do something and it’s really scary because there’s no way people are going to be able to assess any songbird deaths if they’re just burning up in them. People won’t be allowed near enough in this burning oil to—you know—obviously to be able to see what’s going on. We might be able to make some guesses based on radar how many birds are in the sky in front of the flames and behind the flames.

The oil reached the coastline last night. They were originally predicting tonight giving another 24 hours but the wind out of the south which is pushing the the oil there is also pushing the migrants leaving from the Yucatan Peninsula and those are our hummingbirds too so this is all pretty scary. But there are quite a few hummingbirds that have already made the crossing before the oil spill.
If you go to hummingbirds.net you can see the progress of hummingbird migration. It’s put together by this guy named Lanny Chambers who’s down in one of the southeastern states and he puts all the dots in by hand when people email him with their first ruby-throated hummingbirds he’s the sweet and extremely knowledgeable man but they’ve already been reported in Wisconsin and Minnesota and so people should be starting to get out their hummingbird feeders.

LISA JOHNSON: now if folks are interested in maybe doing something to help the birds or the wildlife perhaps you can get some links posted on your website that would be great.

LAURA: yeah I have them posted on Facebook now. I’m a little tricky to find on Facebook because I’m not the only Laura Erickson on the planet but if they if they do a search on Facebook on “Laura Erickson and see one who has a picture of a chickadee as her—

LISA JOHNSON: amazing

LAURA: That would be me

LISA JOHNSON: okay so and maybe we can set up a link too we’ll see if we can set up a link and get some information there. Otherwise you said that fish and wildlife is already mobilizing some efforts

LAURA: and Florida Audubon

LISA JOHNSON: Florida Audubon so that would be a good search for people to put in the in the old search engine. It is so good to see you again.

LAURA: It is so good to be here

LISA JOHNSON: I’m glad you’re back. Laura Erickson the host of for the birds back in the northland and we’ll be checking in with Laura on a regular basis of course you can hear for the birds at 7:30 Monday through Friday on Northland Morning and right around 8:30 right here on Coffee Break.