Laura Erickson to pen regular column about attracting birds for BirdWatching

Posted Tue, Dec 13 2011 2:01 PM by Chuck Hagner

I encourage you to pick up a copy of our February 2012 issue when it appears on newsstands in early January.

The issue has a wonderful photo of a Black-capped Chickadee on the cover (taken by Robert McCaw), and its pages are simply jam-packed with good stuff.

It has a fascinating feature about the Golden Eagles living and migrating in the eastern half of the continent... an eye-opening profile of the introduced and well-established Eurasian Tree Sparrow... and an article (by me) about a superb place to watch migrating hawks not in fall, but in the spring -- Michigan's Brockway Mountain.

Just as exciting, the February issue will be the first to carry a column by our newest contributing editor, Laura Erickson (right).

The column, called "Attracting Birds," will appear in every issue. In it, Laura will describe simple, effective steps you can take right away to attract, feed, shelter, and understand the birds in your yard. In her debut column, she tells how you can help chickadees, redpolls, nuthatches, woodpeckers, and other birds survive even the coldest winter weather.

Chickadees with access to feeders, Laura writes, survive winters in higher numbers than those that don't. Read her column and you'll know the best foods to provide -- and whether it's a good idea to make a deer's ribcage one of them. Like I said, it's good stuff.

And in this case, it's good stuff from a well-respected, talented science writer who has dedicated her professional life to the love, understanding, and protection of birds. I'm delighted to be able to work with her regularly.

Laura is a frequent, and entertaining, public speaker (she and I both were keynote speakers at the 2011 Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival); she has worked as science editor at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology; and she is both the American Robin expert and the Whooping Crane expert for Journey North, the free, Internet-based program that engages students in the study of wildlife migration. She is also the author of two blogs: Laura’s Birding Blog and Twin Beaks, which she writes from the bird’s perspective.

She is the producer of the radio segment For the Birds, which is available as a podcast and broadcast on community stations in Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, Wyoming, and New York, and she's the author of a growing collection of really good books about birds, including For the Birds: An Uncommon Guide (1994), Sharing the Wonder of Birds with Kids (1997), 101 Ways to Help Birds (2006), and The Bird Watching Answer Book (2009).

Read our interview with Laura about The Bird Watching Answer Book.

We included her most recent book -- a series of charming, informative profiles of the owls that can be found in her home state of Minnesota -- in our December 2011 issue, in our year-end roundup of notable books for birdwatchers. The book, titled Twelve Owls, features paintings by fellow Minnesotan Betsy Bowen. It's a keeper.

See the contents of our December 2011 issue.

And if you're thinking that you've seen Laura's byline in Birder's World/BirdWatching before, you're correct. We've had the good fortune to be able to call her one of "our" writers since 2003. In that time, she's produced a series of really good articles.

How many have you read? Here's a rundown:

The first was Snow Bird, published in 2003. In it, she described the migration and winter habits of the American Robin and explained why you may find it difficult to know whether the red-breasted bird in your yard is the first robin of spring or the last robin of winter.

In Goin' Buggy (2004), Laura gave yard-tested secrets for offering mealworms successfully and passed along a clever way of using melon or banana chunks to attract flying insects that are sure to attract flycatchers, warblers, kinglets, waxwings, and other birds.

In Nature's Clown (2004), she shared what she had learned about Blue Jays -- the jolliest, spunkiest, handsomest, yet most controversial of all regular feeder birds -- during the years she was licensed to care for them. One that she kept as an education bird she named “Sneakers.”

In Birds with a Sweet Beak (2005), she told how to attract warblers, woodpeckers, orioles, and other migrating songbirds with banana pieces, raisins, frozen or fresh strawberries, sugar water, jelly, and other sweet treats.

In The Uncommon Common Nighthawk (2005), Laura reported why much remains to be learned about the mesmerizing and beautiful Common Nighthawk, including why it may be disappearing from our nighttime skies.

In Twenty-two Binoculars You Can Afford (2006), she advised how and where to buy affordable binoculars. In Point, Zoom, and Shoot (2007), she told how to use point-and-shoot mega-zoom digital cameras to take pictures of birds. And in Hear, Record, and Enjoy (2008), she explained how to make your own recordings of bird calls.

Laura's most recent article, The Wonder of Wichita Mountains, appeared in our August 2011 issue. In it, she described the successful decades-long work of population biologist Joe Grzybowski to preserve the endangered Black-capped Vireo at two locations in southwestern Oklahoma. Another keeper.

I am very happy that her good writing will now appear in every issue of BirdWatching. Welcome, Laura! -- Chuck Hagner, Editor

Comments