Laura Erickson's For the Birds

Awarded the American Horticultural Society’s 2023 Book Award, this book covers 100 genera of plants that provide food, shelter, nest materials, or other critical things birds need, many feeding our favorite birds indirectly by supporting the insects the birds need. I emphasize the importance of locally native plants and (thanks to Ali Sheehey!) provide a list of native plant societies for each state and province.
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But as Jim “Bones” McCoy might say, “Dammit, Jim, I’m a birder, not a horticulturist!” so this book took well over a year to research and write. I did my level best to make it both as comprehensive as possible for a 256-page book covering the entire continental United States and Canada and as solid an introduction for both beginners in gardening or birding and more experienced gardeners and birders as I possibly could.
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Although I have spent the past 47 years focused monomaniacally on birds, I should mention that I did take college-level and graduate-level courses in botany, horticulture, entomology, aquatic entomology, and forest and wildlife management, so I was not quite as ignorant going into this project as I may sometimes lead people to believe. From the start, I’ve learned to associate birds with particular habitats, and my antennae have always been raised when I discover any special relationship between a bird and a plant. So this book reflects not just a year of focused research but a lifetime of paying attention to the plants birds need.

From the lifelong devotion of American Crows to the dalliances of Eastern Bluebirds, from Bald Eagles’ focus on home improvements to the female Ruby-throated Hummingbird’s Rosie the Riveter’s lifestyle — courtship, mating, and parenting differ dramatically among birds. Come along on a romance-fueled romp through the love lives of 35 species, exploring the diversity of avian approaches to pairing up. Each species spotlight pairs scientific fact with humorous and insightful parallels between human and bird.

The Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the Cornell Lab Publishing Group’s Brian Sockin asked Laura to collaborate on this project, a children’s picture book that personalizes birds based on sound natural history and biology information about each species.

This field guide covers 300 species of Minnesota birds. Jim Williams of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune wrote, “Maybe you don’t need another field guide, but this one is different. It is better.” On March 27, 2021, Laura’s 7-month-old grandson Walter gave it his heartiest recommendation, saying, “gaaaaa, yayaya, gaaaaa.”
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The second printing, with updated nomenclature, was released in late 2021. Of course, now some more names have changed, along with how the species are organized. Bird field guides are perhaps the books most likely to be at least a little obsolete even before they are published.

A simple introduction to hawk identification focused on silhouettes.

This book, rich with photographs edited by Marie Read, provides a wealth of information about nesting birds and how their young grow, learn, and become independent.

This friendly little book provides an invitation to birding, covering 160 exciting, beautiful, and interesting species.

This book, Winner of the 2013 Northeastern Minnesota Book Award, provides natural history and historical information about Duluth’s famous Hawk Ridge and all the hawks and falcons that migrate along the North Shore of Lake Superior.

How a spunky little grub saved the life of a mighty hawk. This “book” is only available right now for Kindle.

This book provides fascinating information about the twelve species of owls that have been recorded in Minnesota. Illustrated by Betsy Bowen.

Written while Laura Erickson was Science Editor at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, this book was put together to answer the questions people ask about birds.

Laura contributed one of the fifty essays in this book, “Introduce Children to Birds,” raising the number of books she’s written by 0.02.

This is my most important book. I put my heart, soul, and 2 1/2 years of research into it. Please consider buying it so publishers can see there is a market for books about bird conservation. I describe the myriad problems facing birds today and practical ways we can help protect them.

All 101 Ways are listed here, and I’ve added a few more that occurred to me since writing the book. Click on any of the boxes to read the entire text with photos, updates, and links. If you know of any important information/links I should add, or notice anything that should be corrected, or any important updates for any, please email me.

This National Outdoor Book Award winner, originally published by Pfeifer-Hamilton in 1997, includes a wealth of tips from Laura Erickson’s experiences as a K-8 science teacher, Brownie and Girl Scout troop leader, and advisor to Cub Scout Webelos and Boy Scouts earning the Bird Study Merit Badge.

This book, based on Laura Erickson’s long-running radio program, includes 365 essays about the birds in our lives, one for each day of the year. Originally published by Pfeifer-Hamilton in 1994, it’s still in print 30 years later from the University of Minnesota Press.

Yes, it’s true: Laura Erickson knows a little about something other than birds! She didn’t so much co-author this book as translate it for junior high school students. Outdated now, but since it’s the first book Laura Erickson wrote, and she managed to work in photos of her children and drawings by her husband, it’s included in this listing.