For the Birds Radio Program
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Flaco the Eagle Owl: To Count or Not to Count?
(March 20, 2023)
Last month, a Eurasian Eagle-Owl escaped from the Central Park Zoo in New York City and, despite many efforts to capture him, seems to be doing fine on his own so far. David McArthur, one of Laura’s podcast listeners in New York, wonders if he can count this bird on his life list?
The Eurasian Eagle-Owl recording used in this program was made in France by Dominique Guillerme, XC780278. Accessible at Xeno-canto.
- Eurasian Tree Sparrow! (March 14, 2023)
This year, some plucky little Eurasian Tree Sparrows, far from their species’ established range, have been wintering in Superior, Wisconsin. Laura and Erik Bruhnke spent Saturday morning looking for them.
- Enhance Your Nest Boxes with Bark! (March 13, 2023)
Just in time for spring, Laura’s friend, wildlife biologist, and all-around good person Jerry Wayne Davis has a great suggestion for improving our nest boxes–add bark to the front to give birds a more secure and comfortable perch.
- Spring Update (March 9, 2023)
It may not look like it yet, but spring has sprung.
- Chickadee Day (March 8, 2023)
Most birders do not keep track of the date on which they saw the first bird on their life list, but that doesn’t matter.
- Together and Apart (Feb. 24, 2023)
Family vacations can be fun for everyone, as long as we remember that every one of us enjoys different things.
- Earning Trust in the Age of Climate Change (Feb. 20, 2023)
Birds and grandchildren learn to trust us to do the right thing.
- Birding Basics: Binoculars (Feb. 16, 2023)
Laura talks about things to consider when buying new binoculars
- Superb Owl Sunday 2023 (Feb. 14, 2023)
Laura went out with her husband Russ Sunday in hopes of seeing an owl on Superb Owl Sunday.
- Birds Specializing on Conifers (Feb. 10, 2023)
Some birds depend on conifers for very specific reasons.
- 100 Plants to Feed the Birds: Conifers (Feb. 8, 2023)
Today Laura talks about the importance of conifers—both trees and shrubs—in backyard habitat, for providing food and shelter both.
- Slow Birding (Feb. 2, 2023)
A birder named Bridget Butler has been teaching wonderful workshops and online classes about “Slow Birding”—connecting with the birds we see rather than rushing and listing. She did not write the new book titled Slow Birding, a new book by Joan E. Strassmann, which would better have been titled Detailed Descriptions of Some Ornithological Research Projects on Some Familiar Birds.
Many of the tagged species are not mentioned in the podcast but are discussed in the blogpost.
- Dawn Comes to Peabody Street (Jan. 31, 2023)
As night transitions into morning, Laura likes watching the birds show up in her yard, one by one.
- What to do BEFORE improving backyard habitat: Windows (Jan. 27, 2023)
Cats and glass windows each kill about a BILLION birds every year in the United States. Before inviting birds to your yard, consider making your windows bird safe.
- What to do BEFORE improving backyard habitat: Cats (Jan. 25, 2023)
As important as quality backyard habitat is, we must first make sure we’re not luring birds to their deaths. Cats and windows each kill about a BILLION birds in the United States every year. Laura talks about outdoor cats today.
- Mourning Doves! (Jan. 24, 2023)
Most Mourning Doves leave northern Minnesota in winter, but listener Kelli Alseth wrote to Laura about one visiting her Proctor feeder this winter. Doves are very vulnerable to cold, but a few stick it out up here. Kelli is doing everything right to ensure that her bird has as good a chance of surviving as possible
- A Million Ways to Bird (Jan. 20, 2023)
After growing irritated with the birdwatchers who smugly criticize the way other birdwatchers watch birds, Laura talks about the many ways people can enjoy birds, hoping every individual can find their own individual path.
- Two More Ways to Eat a Sunflower Seed (Jan. 13, 2023)
Blue Jays and chickadees have two different ways to eat a sunflower seed.
- How to Eat a Sunflower Seed If You're a Dove or a Finch (Jan. 12, 2023)
There are at least four ways that birds eat sunflower seeds. Today Laura explains two of them.
- Stranger in a Strange Land: Adapting to a Novel Environment (Jan. 10, 2023)
Seeing videos of a rescued baby beaver building a dam out of plush toys and Christmas decorations last week reminded Laura of when she was a rehabber, and how wild birds adapted to an unnatural environment.
Virtually all of the transcripts of “For the Birds” programs are available on my blog, usually with photos. I didn’t take a lot of pictures back when I was rehabbing in the 80s and 90s–film and getting it developed were expensive! But for this program I did post photos of my little daughter holding this particular Sora. Listeners may enjoy seeing them.
- First Pileated of 2023 (Jan. 6, 2023)
For the first time ever, Laura didn’t wonder what her first bird of the new year would be–she was thinking about which individual Pileated Woodpecker she’d see first in 2023.
- Eurasian Tree Sparrow! (March 14, 2023)