Laura Erickson's For The Birds

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.