Laura Erickson's For the Birds

There’s something uniquely special about individual wild birds that we recognize personally. Sometimes the bonds we forge with these can last a long time.

This week Laura saw a bird that belongs in an entirely different St. Louis County.

Laura is making picture cards to teach her little grandson about birds and other animals.

How early do you have to get up to hear the very beginning of the dawn chorus? Earlier than you might think.

Laura, back from her close encounter with Covid, finishes her sparrow identification series.

The end of April and beginning of May are when sparrows descend upon the Northland in big numbers. Identifying these little brown jobs isn’t as daunting as it might seem.

When Laura photographed a male and female Pileated Woodpecker feeding together in her suet feeder, she realized just how happy she is.

Laura brings us up to date on the conflicting recommendations from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and Cornell Cooperative Extension with regard to bird flu and keeping bird feeders going. She also talks about some birds dying at feeders not from diseases but from the bird feeder itself.

What spring birdsong is Laura happiest to hear?

Laura’s researched as much as she can about this year’s outbreak of a dangerous variant of bird flu. She wrote a lot about it on her blog at blog.lauraerickson.com

Laura asked Scott Weidensaul about the people he features in his new children’s picture book, A Warbler’s Journey, and also more about Yellow Warblers and their treacherous migration.

Laura had a long conversation with Scott Weidensaul earlier this month. Here is Part 1 of their conversation about Scott’s new book, A Warbler’s Journey.

One of Laura’s favorite writers, Scott Weidensaul, has written a children’s picture book that Laura loves.

Laura talks about some more old and more recent children’s picture books about birds—both favorites and some not.

Note: Laura pronounces the name of the main character in The Trumpet of the Swan, Louis, as loo’ iss. E.B. White pronounced it loo’ ey, but he said he named the character for Louis Armstrong. Although many people called Armstrong “Louie,” he was very clear that he wanted people to pronounce his name “Louis.” He even emphasized that whenever he sang “Hello, Dolly!” E.B. White was a wonderful writer whom Laura admires greatly, but on this she’s deferring to Satchmo.

This week I’ll be talking about some old and some new picture books about birds, for small children, starting with some old classics.

My friend Patricia sent me some fun information about the magpies she grew up with in Australia.

Lots of birds are making their presence known now. Except the chickadees heard near the end, all the sounds heard in this program were recorded out Laura’s home office window.

Laura interviews Jim Baker from Baker’s Blue Jay Barn about his newest product, Bluolingo, which translates both of the two different sounds coming from a Blue Jay’s voice box.

One of the smartest birds on the planet is making it very difficult for scientists to research its movements.

This in-between period where winter slowly melts into spring is Laura’s favorite time of year. At least, right now.

Laura just marked her 50th wedding anniversary,. Sticking it out this long involves luck more than anything..

The best thing about preparing for any trip is anticipating all the possibilities.

When they head to Nome, Alaska, this June, Russ and Laura will be taking a grueling hike to see the Bristle-thighed Curlew. How is Laura preparing for that?

In preparing for a trip to Alaska in June, Laura’s been doing some research to make sure she’s mitigating the energy involved in her travel. (The bird song in the background is the Varied Thrush, a song Laura should hear in Alaska.)

Mark Roser created a system called “Interactive Bird Feeding” that Laura wholeheartedly endorses. But as winter comes to an end, she adds one concern that we need to be aware of.

Hand-feeding birds, and just having them close enough to make eye contact, sparks love for them, which comes with responsibility.

Chickadee Day 2022 started out poorly for Laura, but things suddenly improved.

Laura always celebrates March 2, the anniversary of seeing her first chickadee. This year was a little rockier than usual.

All chickadees may be cute, but one in particular reminds Laura of her baby grandson.

Backyard redpolls are wonderful to see this winter in the Northland. Nicole Ottjes sent Laura an amazing video of redpolls crowding into her hand for seeds.

Laura talks about the little birds visiting northland feeders in big numbers this winter.

Studies of northern European birds singing on their sub-Saharan wintering grounds suggest that the reason for singing so far from mate and territory is simple—they’re practicing.

Even on frigid mornings, chickadees and cardinals are singing away right now. They won’t make spring come any faster, but are still warming our hearts.

A beautiful little boardwalk in the Sax-Zim Bog was created as a memorial to Augustus James Feth, with little owl carvings, gifts for anyone who walks the trail to the end, carved by Auggie’s great grandfather.

Even when you don’t see the one bird you set as your goal, a day spent birding is all good.

On Groundhog Day, Laura got a brief but satisfying look at an Eastern Bluebird visiting a Duluth feeder.

Dawn is noticeably earlier each day now, as Laura is noticing while feeder watching in the morning twilight.

Water is the stuff of life, even in winter.

This time Laura looks at the value of feeding mealworms to birds and things to consider in deciding whether to buy live or dried mealworms, or both, as Laura does.

Laura talks about the benefits of feeding birds peanuts and peanut butter, and also important considerations to make this safe for the birds.

Besides bird seed, the thing most people give birds at feeding stations is suet.

All week Laura will be talking about the best choices for what we offer at our bird feeding stations.

Listeners wrote in asking about White-breasted Nuthatches.

The Black-capped Chickadee may be Laura’s favorite bird, but the Boreal Chickadee isn’t too far behind.

Every day, a female Red-bellied Woodpecker is visiting Peabody Street. Seeing one in Duluth used to be a rare event. Laura is just as thrilled now that it’s much more commonplace.

An Ivory Gull turned up in Duluth on January 3. Laura tried, but didn’t succeed, in finding it.

Laura answers questions about Canada Jays (also called Gray Jays) and Pine Grosbeaks, and about how birds get water in winter.

2022 appears to be a good year for seeing Pine Grosbeaks, reminding Laura of why she loves this beautiful bird.

Laura spent the first two days of 2022 looking for birds at home and the bog.