Laura Erickson's For The Birds

How did the nation come together to start the Environmental Protection Agency and pass the Clean Air, Clean Water, and Endangered Species Acts?

When Blue Jays and chipmunks stash away food, some people call them greedy pigs. They're not.

How can we possibly think we can communicate with non-human life forms from other galaxies when we can't communicate with intelligent carbon-based life forms right here on earth?

Two weeks ago, I transported a crow from my neighborhood and a fawn with neurological damage from our local Wildwoods rehab facility to Wild & Free in Garrison, Minnesota. Now I'm unsettled wondering how the crow is doing.

Even with minimal effort, my backyard habitat is pretty nice!

Back in 1977, Laura made flashcards from the illustrations in her original Golden Guide. She still has them.

This thrush with the ethereal, spiraling song keeps many secrets that scientists keep trying to tease out.

Seeing ourselves as the one species at the pinnacle of evolution is as wrong-headed as seeing our planet at the center of the universe.

To know them is to love them. But first, we have to be aware of them.

Seeing or even hearing one of these rare birds is a matter of the “3 P’s”: Patience, Perseverance, and Providence.

Two warblers were on the official Endangered Species List in 1973. Now they're both off the list, but for opposite reasons.

Last 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](https://open.substack.com/pub/lauraerickson/p/searching-for-wood-thrushes?r=aaa7&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true) for this program is much longer and more fleshed out, with lots of photos.)

A cute little predator on the Endangered Species List for Wisconsin and Minnesota has been turning up here and there in both states this spring.

On Saturday, Laura went to Ashland County, Wisconsin, to look at a very lost tropical falcon, a Crested Caracara.

BB's fine but somebody isn't.

An unprecedented number of Scarlet Tanagers turned up on Peabody Street this year, and Laura was thrilled.

A beautiful, useful, and engaging tour de force.

It's a red-letter day when we see one of the prettiest woodpeckers of all.

Laura recalls the birds who inspired her baby daughter's second word.

The Cornell Lab of Ornithology has created two extremely useful apps for birders. Merlin is wonderful and useful, but far from perfect.