Laura Erickson's For The Birds

Laura had a splendid trip to Cuba.

Elon Musk is hoping to set up a launching and landing area for his SpaceX Starships in a very vulnerable, important area.

Laura and Russ had a "Three Owl Morning" on Superb Owl Sunday.

Laura tells the true story of a baby Pine Siskin.

Laura's feeders are buzzing with the "Miss Congenialities" of the finch family.

STOP feeding ducks! Feeding other birds may be fine, depending on where you live.

Knowing when and when not to intervene when an owl seems distressed is not straightforward.

For 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.

Laura'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.

BB the banded Pileated Woodpecker still visits Laura's yard now and then.

Jimmy Carter did not fail us. We failed him. (I used Lang Elliott's recording of a Brown Thrasher, the state bird of Georgia, for this program.)

Northern owls are staging an irruption this year, many of them physically stressed. Birders can't help but want to see them. If birders stick together and stay on the road, most owls can handle birders and photographers.

Laura has lots of plans to celebrate her "Year of the Chickadee."

It 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?

Fifty years ago, Laura was abysmally ignorant about birds. And then--a miracle!

Humans aren't the only creatures who have a need to nurture and help others. (This program's transcript is the second half of the linked blogpost.)

More evidence that Laura's fifth grade teacher was the very best. (The transcript for this program is the first half of the linked blogpost.)

Reports of BB's demise were premature. When that happens to human beings, it can sometimes change history.

The 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.

Laura 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.