Shows
Laura Erickson's For the BirdsMy Top Bird Guides: Leon MooreLaura's Guyana trip this year was led by one of the best bird guides Laura has ever spent time with. What makes a good bird guide truly great?
Laura will be doing a live Zoom presentation about her Guyana trip for subscribers (free or paid) of her Substack blog next Tuesday night (October 21 at 7 pm CDT). The program will be recorded and made available on her website.
2025-10-1407 minLaura Erickson's For the BirdsSunbathing, Blue Jay StyleOne of Laura's readers got photos of a Blue Jay sunbathing, or "sunning," last week, reminding Laura of when she first learned about this interesting behavior. His photos, along with information about a similar behavior called "anting," are on Laura's blog entry.
2025-07-2206 minLaura Erickson's For the BirdsDog fur controversy?One of Laura's readers was distressed by the last episode of "For the Birds." Laura stands by every word. We can protect our pets from diseases and also protect our backyard birds with one simple, straightforward rule: If your pets get flea and tick protection, don’t set out their fur for nesting birds.
2025-06-2406 minLaura Erickson's For the BirdsCuban WoodpeckersOf the seven species of woodpeckers on Cuba's official checklist, one is almost definitely extinct and one has appeared in the country only as an extremely rare vagrant. Laura saw all five of the others on her February visit to Cuba.
2025-03-2805 minLaura Erickson's For the BirdsThe Tiniest Bird in the UniverseSeeing Bee Hummingbirds in Cuba last month filled Laura with joy.
2025-03-2504 minLaura Erickson's For the BirdsWhat to do if you find a dead bird in your yardDuring this bird flu outbreak experts are cautioning people to leave bird carcasses where they are, even though functionally illiterate eagles, dogs, and other creatures have been infected by these carcasses. Laura made a decision about how she will handle this situation if a carcass turns up in her yard.
2025-03-2103 minLaura Erickson's For the BirdsThe Most Adorable Bird in the UniverseLaura is bewitched by Cuban Todies.
2025-03-1406 minLaura Erickson's For the BirdsA Personal Ray of HopeLaura's hearing loss has grown worse since the pandemic, but suddenly things are looking up!!
2025-03-1006 minLaura Erickson's For the BirdsMy 2025 Chickadee PilgrimageThe morning after she got home from Cuba, Laura and her husband set out for East Lansing, Michigan, so she could see a chickadee in the same area where she saw her first exactly 50 years ago. The blogpost corresponding to this segment is much longer, with lots of photos.
2025-03-0606 min2025-02-2807 minLaura Erickson's For the BirdsSuperb Owl Sunday 2025Laura and Russ had a "Three Owl Morning" on Superb Owl Sunday.
2025-02-1205 minLaura Erickson's For the BirdsThe Best Pine Siskin EVER!Laura tells the true story of a baby Pine Siskin.
2025-02-1008 minLaura Erickson's For the BirdsPine Siskins!Laura's feeders are buzzing with the "Miss Congenialities" of the finch family.
2025-02-0704 minLaura Erickson's For the BirdsThe Completely Made-Up Story of Frederick the Nighthawk and Sneakers the Blue JayFor a while in the 90s, Laura had two licensed education birds, a nighthawk and a Blue Jay, both lovable but entirely different. They inspired this story, written in 2020.
2025-01-2905 minLaura Erickson's For the BirdsStaying Healthy While Birding in Other CountriesLaura's stayed healthy while birding in Central and South America, Europe, and Africa thanks to the World Health Organization, the Centers for Disease Control, and the National Institutes of Health.
2025-01-2704 minLaura Erickson's For the BirdsBB UpdateBB the banded Pileated Woodpecker still visits Laura's yard now and then.
2025-01-2105 minLaura Erickson's For the BirdsYear of the Chickadee, Part 3Laura has lots of plans to celebrate her "Year of the Chickadee."
2025-01-0804 minLaura Erickson's For the BirdsYear of the Chickadee, Part 2It took Laura 67 days from receiving her first pair of binoculars to her going out to find her first bird. How did she spend that time?
2025-01-0707 minLaura Erickson's For the BirdsYear of the Chickadee, Part 1Fifty years ago, Laura was abysmally ignorant about birds. And then--a miracle!
2025-01-0605 minLaura Erickson's For the BirdsLearning Empathy from the BestMore evidence that Laura's fifth grade teacher was the very best. (The transcript for this program is the first half of the linked blogpost.)
2024-12-1905 minLaura Erickson's For the BirdsExit, pursued by a Cooper's HawkThe banded Pileated Woodpecker who has been visiting Laura's yard for the past four years disappeared after a Cooper's Hawk was hunting in the vicinity. Laura expected the worst. But spoiler alert: he turned up again on Friday the thirteenth. While he was here, Laura recorded a video of him, which is the drumming sound at the beginning and ending of this program.
2024-12-1704 minLaura Erickson's For the BirdsNo Way to Stop ItLaura remembers her fifth grade teacher, who taught her, via Rodgers and Hammerstein's original stage musical *The Sound of Music*, that real heroes stand up against cruel regimes even when there is no way to stop it.
2024-12-0405 minLaura Erickson's For the BirdsThanksgiving 2024Laura remembers three Thanksgivings of the past, and how a Pileated Woodpecker keeps those memories alive.
2024-11-2904 minLaura Erickson's For the BirdsIn Retrospect: The BP oil spill. Part 5--Staying alive to fight another dayAt the time of the BP oil spill, Laura thought some important organizations were complying with BP more than they should have. Now, as she explains, she realizes that most of them weren't cowardly.
2024-11-2505 minLaura Erickson's For the BirdsIn retrospect: The BP Oil Spill, Part 3Laura visited one of the four rehab centers allowed to treat birds oiled in the Deepwater Horizon spill.
2024-11-1806 minLaura Erickson's For the BirdsIn retrospect: The BP Oil Spill, Part 2Laura talks about the extremely low-tech and ineffective way BP tried to protect beaches and islands after the spill, and the even worse way they approached cleanup. There are many photos and a video on the accompanying blog post at (https://lauraerickson.substack.com/p/getting-away-with-murder-part-2)
2024-11-1206 minLaura Erickson's For the BirdsLook to the ChickadeesAs Laura faces her 73rd birthday in what feels like a hopeless time, she looks to chickadees. (This program was reworked from the "For the Birds" program from October 12, 2010.)
2024-11-1105 minLaura Erickson's For the BirdsIn retrospect: The BP Oil Spill, Part 1The BP oil spill was when Laura learned just how much power a corporation has over individuals; well-meaning and well-respected organizations and institutions; and our government.
2024-11-0505 minLaura Erickson's For the BirdsGoing to a Scientific Meeting in 2024Laura recently returned from the American Ornithological Society's annual meeting. Some things have changed, and some remain the same.
2024-10-1805 minLaura Erickson's For the BirdsGoing to Scientific Meetings in Past DecadesLaura's has attended a few professional ornithological meetings through the years.
2024-10-1705 minLaura Erickson's For the BirdsOops! Correcting the recordWhen Laura makes a mistake, she appreciates people who let her know about it, but notes that there are good ways and bad ways of doing so.
2024-09-2405 minLaura Erickson's For the BirdsStokes Guide to Finches: Hawaiian HoneycreepersLaura talked to Lillian Stokes and Matt Young about their decision to include the finches of Hawaii (called the Hawaiian Honeycreepers) in their new book.
2024-09-2004 minLaura Erickson's For the BirdsStokes Guide to Finches: Evening GrosbeaksMatt Young is doing important work with his Finch Research Network to help one of Laura's favorite birds of all, the Evening Grosbeak. He and Lillian Stokes talked about this splendid bird and their new book.
2024-09-1905 minLaura Erickson's For the BirdsStokes Guide to Finches: GoldfinchesWhen Laura talked with Lillian Stokes and Matt Young about their new book, *The Stokes Guide to Finches,* they talked about one of our most widespread, common finches, the American Goldfinch.
2024-09-1804 minLaura Erickson's For the BirdsFor the Finches: How Lillian Stokes and Matt Young connected thanks to Red CrossbillsLaura spent time talking with Lillian Stokes and Matt Young about their new book, *The Stokes Guide to Finches*. Today they explain how they met and decided to produce this book.
2024-09-1705 minLaura Erickson's For the BirdsBook Review: The Stokes Guide to FinchesOn September 17, Little Brown will be releasing a great new book, *The Stokes Guide to Finches.* Laura explains why she likes it.
2024-09-1606 minLaura Erickson's For the BirdsBirdbaths!On Labor Day, Laura had a most unexpected visitor at her birdbath.
2024-09-0405 minLaura Erickson's For the BirdsJoan Brigham at 100!Laura and Russ drove to Michigan this weekend to celebrate the 100th birthday of one of the most important people in Laura's birding life.
2024-08-2007 minLaura Erickson's For the BirdsBirds Off a FeatherLaura gets a big kick out of her backyard birds who molt in August. Before they can again be as beautiful as possible, they must go through an Ugly Duckling stage. Fortunately, they don't have access to mirrors.
2024-08-0805 minLaura Erickson's For the BirdsThe bear necessities and other close encounters of the mammalian kindTwo mammals made a visit to Laura's yard on Sunday night.
2024-08-0604 minLaura Erickson's For the BirdsIn the Catbird's Seat: A momentary diversion from more important mattersLaura has fallen in love with one particular catbird in her yard. Naturally, she's worried about it.
2024-07-3005 minLaura Erickson's For the BirdsCrafting Invincible Environmental Protections, Part 3: A New HopeThree months after the first Earth Day, Richard Nixon proposed charging the new Environmental Protection Agency with setting goals and standards regarding pesticides, clean air, and clean water, and it was soon given regulatory authority. Laura was as relieved and joyful as Princess Leia at the end of the first Star Wars movie.
2024-07-2905 minLaura Erickson's For the BirdsWhen a Stranger Knocks (A momentary diversion from more important matters)Laura takes a momentary break from an important environmental issue to reminisce about a tragicomedy in the 1990s.
2024-07-2205 minLaura Erickson's For the BirdsFlashcardsBack in 1977, Laura made flashcards from the illustrations in her original Golden Guide. She still has them.
2024-07-0405 minLaura Erickson's For the BirdsLooking for Wood ThrushesLast Tuesday, Laura and her friend Bernie found a Wood Thrush at one of Laura's favorite birding spots in Duluth. She hopes it attracts, or already has, a mate. (The blogpost for the program is much longer and more fleshed out, with lots of photos.)
2024-06-1104 minLaura Erickson's For the BirdsCrested Caracara in WisconsinOn Saturday, Laura went to Ashland County, Wisconsin, to look at a very lost tropical falcon, a Crested Caracara.
2024-06-0405 minLaura Erickson's For the BirdsScarlet Tanagers!An unprecedented number of Scarlet Tanagers turned up on Peabody Street this year, and Laura was thrilled.
2024-05-3004 minLaura Erickson's For the BirdsKatie's Boo JaysLaura recalls the birds who inspired her baby daughter's second word.
2024-05-2405 minLaura Erickson's For the BirdsJelly ReduxLaura sparked unprecedented anger in a listener last week because of a program and blogpost from 2007. (All my blogpost/transcripts have photos, and some are longer than the program itself, but this program's linked transcript/blogpost has a *lot* more information than I could include in the program, along with pertinent photos and a video.)
2024-05-2107 minLaura Erickson's For the BirdsReview: Kenn Kaufman's new book, The Birds that Audubon Missed. Part 2*The Birds That Audubon Missed* by Kenn Kaufman is a clear-eyed and surprisingly exciting portrait of a time and place that have long ago disappeared, and an important and timely book as well. Laura can’t recommend it highly enough.
2024-05-1705 minLaura Erickson's For the BirdsKenn Kaufman's new book: The Birds That Audubon Missed, Part 1Kenn Kaufman has written an important new book. Laura begins her review by talking about her own personal feelings about Audubon and his work before Kaufman's rich and enlightening book gave her a broader, more truthful picture of a deeply flawed yet important human being and his contemporaries.
2024-05-1605 minLaura Erickson's For the BirdsLincoln's SparrowLaura's been in love with a pretty little sparrow since she first saw it in 1977.
2024-05-1406 minLaura Erickson's For the BirdsMy favorite spring arrivalsWith birds, as with her children, Laura has trouble picking a favorite.
2024-05-0705 minLaura Erickson's For the BirdsMay Day!Not much is happening in Laura's yard yet, but things will be popping within the coming week or two. (Lang Elliott recorded the Carolina Wren's rolling trill. Laura recorded the wren's song.)
2024-05-0204 minLaura Erickson's For the BirdsChickens, Part I: DomesticationThe 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.
2024-04-1005 minLaura Erickson's For the BirdsSolar Eclipse!Laura remembers a wonderful eclipse from three decades ago.
2024-04-0805 minLaura Erickson's For the BirdsRedpolls!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.)
2024-04-0305 minLaura Erickson's For the BirdsStopping by Peabody Street on a Snowy MorningLaura waxes poetic about a poet.
2024-03-2704 minLaura Erickson's For the BirdsEvery Day Is a Gift, Part 3: The Big IslandThe second half of Laura's trip to Hawaii was just as wonderful as the first.
2024-03-2505 minLaura Erickson's For the BirdsEvery Day Is a Gift, Part 2: KauaʻiLaura's trip to Hawaii kept getting better.
2024-03-2105 minLaura Erickson's For the BirdsEvery Day Is a Gift, Part I: OahuLaura's trip to Hawaii was wonderful, every single day.
2024-03-2006 minLaura Erickson's For the BirdsWhy I Live in DuluthWhat drew Laura and her husband Russ to Duluth in 1981?
2024-02-2904 minLaura Erickson's For the BirdsMission Accomplished: Fieldfare!!Laura headed back to Prentice Park in Ashland on Wednesday and this time saw (and got VERY bad photos) of the Fieldfare.
2024-02-2305 minLaura Erickson's For the BirdsChickadee with a Deformed BillOn Tuesday, Laura suddenly noticed a chickadee with a badly overgrown, crossed bill at her feeder.
2024-02-2205 minLaura Erickson's For the BirdsFieldfare: The One That Got AwayLast week, an incredibly rare vagrant from Eurasia turned up in Ashland, Wisconsin, sending Laura and Erik Bruhnke on a wild goose chase.
2024-02-2005 minLaura Erickson's For the BirdsSuperb Owl SundayLaura's annual celebration of Superb Owl Sunday was short on birds but did involve her first sighting of Girl Scout Cookies for 2024.
2024-02-1405 minLaura Erickson's For the BirdsA Matter of BalanceLaura'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?
2024-02-0905 minLaura Erickson's For the BirdsSo it goes....In the 38 years since Laura started producing For the Birds, many bad things have not gotten better.
2024-02-0105 minLaura Erickson's For the BirdsStarting 2024 Right!Laura spent last Wednesday birding in the Sax-Zim Bog with Erik Bruhnke. Highlights were a Great Gray Owl and a snowshoe hare.
2024-01-0805 minLaura Erickson's For the BirdsHappy 2024Laura'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.
2024-01-0205 minLaura Erickson's For the BirdsA Promising New YearLaura cancelled an exciting trip for this coming February, but is doing well enough that she cancelled her cancellation.
2023-12-2905 minLaura Erickson's For the BirdsBirding on a Warmish December DayLaura's surgery was successful and she's back looking at, and photographing, birds!
2023-12-1305 minLaura Erickson's For the BirdsBirding on a Cold November DayLaura went birding in northern Wisconsin Saturday.
2023-12-0103 minLaura Erickson's For the BirdsFlorida Scrub-Jays, Part 3: To Feed or Not to FeedLaura talks about the pros and cons of feeding Florida Scrub-Jays, and why it's best to follow the current anti-feeding guidelines.
2023-11-2705 min2023-11-2307 minLaura Erickson's For the BirdsToddler-Approved Bird BooksMust 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.
2023-11-1504 minLaura Erickson's For the BirdsFlorida Scrub-Jay, Part 2a: To Know Them Is to Love ThemWhy does Laura have such a *personal* love for Florida Scrub-Jays?
2023-11-0704 minLaura Erickson's For the BirdsOur Responsibilities in Old AgeAn 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.
2023-10-2705 minLaura Erickson's For the BirdsFlamingo Road, Part ILaura has wanted to see a wild American Flamingo in Florida since her first days of birding half a century ago, without luck. Would this trip to Florida be any different? (This episode was recorded in my motel room, so the sound isn't ideal.)
2023-10-1305 minLaura Erickson's For the BirdsDrama on Peabody StreetA Barred Owl turned up in Laura's yard, distressing all the nearby birds except two hopeful crows.
2023-09-2805 minLaura Erickson's For the BirdsWhatever Happened to National Blue Jay Awareness Month?Even though Laura, in her dotage, is growing forgetful and consumed with her grandson, she says it's not her fault that she didn't mention Blue Jays again after announcing that August was National Blue Jay Awareness Month. She blames the Blue Jays.
2023-09-1906 minLaura Erickson's For the BirdsTunnel Vision, Part 2Conservation biologists tend to compete and undercut one another rather than cooperating, which can hurt the birds they think they're helping. Laura's hero Chandler Robbins provided a stellar example of how cooperation can make things better for everyone, humans and birds alike.
The blog link provides the transcript for Tunnel Vision, Part 1 as well, so you'll need to scroll down to get today's transcript.
2023-09-1207 minLaura Erickson's For the BirdsExploration, Discovery, and TriumphAs long as Laura has been birding, and specifically as long as she's been watching Pileated Woodpeckers, she's still making new discoveries. (As usual, all the photos mentioned in this program are on today's blogpost.)
2023-09-0405 minLaura Erickson's For the BirdsNighthawks! Part I: Why I love them so muchLaura recounts two experiences--when she saw her first nighthawk, and when she rehabbed her first one--to explain why she loves this species so very much.
2023-08-2305 minLaura Erickson's For the BirdsTwo Little Boys Turn Three!Laura's grandson Walter and her backyard Pileated Woodpecker are both three years old!
2023-08-1405 minLaura Erickson's For the BirdsNational Blue Jay Awareness MonthThis August will have a blue moon, making this what Laura calls National Blue Jay Awareness Month. It's a good time to think about how Blue Jay adults look their scruffiest and most bedraggled in August, before they start looking their old selves again.
2023-08-1104 minLaura Erickson's For the BirdsNew Wheels for Birding!Laura plans to reduce her carbon footprint and have a lot of fun on a new e-bike.
2023-08-1005 minLaura Erickson's For the BirdsDisney Wilderness PreserveLaura loves a truly wild little piece of central Florida protected and maintained by The Nature Conservancy.
2023-08-0905 minLaura Erickson's For the BirdsWild FloridaWild Florida's main attractions for visitors are alligators, sloths, and a "wild animal safari," but Laura was impressed with the wild birds she saw, and especially with the knowledge of an airboat captain who pointed out lots of cool things including her lifer Gray-headed Swamphens.
2023-08-0805 minLaura Erickson's For the BirdsDiscovery CoveIn April, Laura and her Explore Kissimmee group visited Discovery Cove, a limited-admission park owned by SeaWorld. Laura got great photos and had a lot of fun, but wishes the park provided more information about how and where these animals survive in the wild.
2023-08-0705 minLaura Erickson's For the BirdsLake TohopekalipaLake Tohopekaliga is the best place Laura knows for getting good looks at Limpkins and Snail Kites.
2023-08-0204 minLaura Erickson's For the BirdsParasitic Jaeger in July!!A Parasitic Jaeger turned up on Park Point in Duluth last weekend, and Laura spent some time watching it Wednesday.
2023-07-2805 minLaura Erickson's For the BirdsOf Magpie Nests and "Man's Pitiful Confusions"Magpies and crows in Europe are incorporating metal anti-bird spikes into their nests to keep other birds away. Laura finds this doubly "ironic," reminding us we're all in this together.
The Eurasian Magpie recording was made by [Uku Paal](https://xeno-canto.org/contributor/XIBLXHRPJO).
2023-07-1905 minLaura Erickson's For the BirdsTen Year Anniversary of My Quitting BeefLaura stopped eating beef ten years ago this week, and received a completely unexpected reward in the form of Pacific Golden-Plovers.
2023-07-1705 minLaura Erickson's For the BirdsBB's Babies!Laura's favorite Pileated Woodpecker has at least two fledglings.
2023-07-1405 minLaura Erickson's For the BirdsThe Value of eBird, Part 1When Laura started birding, the only ways of getting the word out about rare birds were slow and inefficient. eBird has been a game changer.
2023-06-2605 minLaura Erickson's For the BirdsBook Review: What an Owl Knows by Jennifer AckermanNew York Times Bestseller author Jennifer Ackerman has a brand new book about owls. *What an Owl Knows* is extensively researched, beautifully written, and comprehensive, covering just about every imaginable aspect of owl biology, behavior, and psychology, as well as how they figure in the human imagination. And Laura is delighted that her beloved education owl Archimedes is covered in depth. She used recordings of Archimedes at the start and finish of this program.
2023-06-1904 minLaura Erickson's For the BirdsThe Cornell Lab of Ornithology:Starting the first day Laura started birding, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology has been her most valuable and beloved ornithological resource.
2023-06-0805 minLaura Erickson's For the BirdsLeConte's Sparrow!Laura got some photos of this gorgeous little sparrow at the Bog last week, reminding her of the first time she ever saw one.
2023-06-0704 minLaura Erickson's For the BirdsFascinating Robin StoryOne of Laura's friends gave her yet another reason to love robins.
2023-06-0205 min