Laura Erickson's For the Birds

If chickens found their way to Hawaii on their own, things would have worked out okay for everyone. Unfortunately, they brought humans along, too.

During spring migration, Ruby-throated Hummingbirds usually arrive a couple of weeks after Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers do, for a very good reason.

Millions of years ago, Hawaii was off to a rocky start.

The rules of counting non-native birds are not always consistent.

The most abundant bird on the planet, feeding billions of humans every day, is the chicken. Laura talks about how they became domesticated and some genetic differences between domestic birds and their wild ancestor, the Red Junglefowl. The recording used in this program is of a wild Red Junglefowl in India, recorded and contributed to Xeno-Canto by Lars Lachmann.

Laura remembers a wonderful eclipse from three decades ago.

Is using energy always the same as squandering it?

Along with Duluth's spring blizzard came redpolls! (In the background throughout, the sound is a recording of the redpolls at Laura's feeder made this past Saturday, March 30.)

New for the traveling birder!

A post-mortem established that Flaco, the famous Eurasian Eagle-Owl whom a vandal released from the Central Park Zoo, was carrying lethal amounts of three anti-coagulants, a pigeon herpesvirus, and even a toxic metabolite of the pesticide DDT. Is anyone actually "free" if they have no alternative but to eat poisoned food?

Laura waxes poetic about a poet.

It's hard watching children, or a Pileated Woodpecker, move on to independence.

The second half of Laura's trip to Hawaii was just as wonderful as the first.

Laura's trip to Hawaii kept getting better.

Laura's trip to Hawaii was wonderful, every single day.

The only constant is change, for better and for worse.

What drew Laura and her husband Russ to Duluth in 1981?

How can it be spring before winter even arrives?

Flaco the Eurasian Eagle-Owl whose enclosure in the Central Park Zoo was vandalized, leading to his escape on February 2, 2023, died Friday.

Laura headed back to Prentice Park in Ashland on Wednesday and this time saw (and got VERY bad photos) of the Fieldfare.

On Tuesday, Laura suddenly noticed a chickadee with a badly overgrown, crossed bill at her feeder.

Last week, an incredibly rare vagrant from Eurasia turned up in Ashland, Wisconsin, sending Laura and Erik Bruhnke on a wild goose chase.

Preparing for a trip can start the fun weeks before I leave. (The accompanying photo is a Nene [Hawaiian Goose] taken by Russ while we were in Hawaii in 2000.)

Laura's annual celebration of Superb Owl Sunday was short on birds but did involve her first sighting of Girl Scout Cookies for 2024.

Laura's was having severe dizzy spells, but they're gone now that a physical therapist showed her "the Epley maneuver." Bird ears have the same structures as ours only with an even more sophisticated design. Do they ever get those dizzy spells?

Mild weather may seem good for birds, but several issues complicate it.

In the 38 years since Laura started producing For the Birds, many bad things have not gotten better.

This spring, both the 17-year "Great Northern Brood" cicadas and the 13-year "Great Southern Brood" will emerge from underground. These innocuous insects cause absolutely no damage, but their noise is astonishingly loud, so many people over-react. The pesticides people used during the "Great Eastern Brood" emergence in 2021 are believed to have killed a lot of birds.

The American Birding Association's Bird of the Year for 2024 is one of the rarest birds not listed as endangered or threatened.

For the first time, the American Birding Association named a warbler its Bird of the Year.

Why have so many Ancient Murrelets, who belong in the northern Pacific Ocean, turned up in the Great Lakes, and even in Tennessee, in late 2023? We may never know. (The accompanying photo is of the Two Harbors bird, taken by Erik Bruhnke on December 9, 2023.)

Laura spent last Wednesday birding in the Sax-Zim Bog with Erik Bruhnke. Highlights were a Great Gray Owl and a snowshoe hare.

Laura's first bird of the year was a Pileated Woodpecker. In addition to enjoying her backyard birds, she's preparing for her trip to Hawaii next month, by studying the birds and getting herself back in shape for the adventure.

Laura cancelled an exciting trip for this coming February, but is doing well enough that she cancelled her cancellation.

Laura's surgery was successful and she's back looking at, and photographing, birds!

Laura went birding in northern Wisconsin Saturday.

When we read books to toddlers, we're not only enlarging their picture of the world--we're enlarging out own.

Reading to babies and toddlers has a great many benefits for us adults as well as the wee ones.

Laura talks about the pros and cons of feeding Florida Scrub-Jays, and why it's best to follow the current anti-feeding guidelines.

Laura has a lot to be thankful for today.

Wild Turkeys are splendid birds, but maybe their introduction into areas where they were not historically found wasn't a good idea.

Field guides and bird song books help children to recognize and name the birds around them, and that's a Good Thing.

Must a book be entirely about birds to qualify? Laura doesn't think so. The books Walter is most enjoying right now are in the "Monkey with a Toolbelt" series, and Laura says they can help us teach the important role that birds play in our daily lives.

Taxonomists have been studying, and revising their names for, scrub jays for a long time.

We have no clue how much birds deal with anxiety and worry, but they sure have the capacity to relieve ours.

The Florida Scrub-Jay has many endearing habits which, tragically, don't seem to resonate with Florida's human population.

Why does Laura have such a *personal* love for Florida Scrub-Jays?

The American Ornithological Society just announced that they are changing the names of American birds named for people.

Is respecting private property too much to ask?

An astonishing 84 percent of Americans older than 65 think they will have to make just minor sacrifices in their lives, or none at all, because of global climate change. Laura is most seriously displeased.