Every environmental organization down in the Gulf during the BP oil disaster had to abide by a 5-year moratorium on ALL of their eye-witness information except as BP allowed. National Audubon did way more than honor BP's rules--they publicly parroted all of BP's false claims minimizing how bad the disaster was.…

At 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.

Who can we trust after a major disaster?

Laura visited one of the four rehab centers allowed to treat birds oiled in the Deepwater Horizon spill.

Laura 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)…

As 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.)

The 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.

Billionaires and corporations have too much power over us, birds, and the environment we need and share.

Birding may keep us young, but not literally.

Clean energy should be making us less, not more, reliant on huge transmission lines.

Power transmission lines can be very harmful for birds and human beings.

Laura recently returned from the American Ornithological Society's annual meeting. Some things have changed, and some remain the same.

Laura's has attended a few professional ornithological meetings through the years.

Blue Jays help protect each other from Sharp-shinned Hawks.

More cases of errors and mistaken identity, and one case of vindication

When 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.

Laura talked to Lillian Stokes and Matt Young about their decision to include the finches of Hawaii (called the Hawaiian Honeycreepers) in their new book.

Matt 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.

When 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.

Laura 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.

On September 17, Little Brown will be releasing a great new book, *The Stokes Guide to Finches.* Laura explains why she likes it.

A plucky little survivor. Except when it isn't.

The mystery of Blue Jay migration, and the irony of human nature.

On Labor Day, Laura had a most unexpected visitor at her birdbath.

Duluth birders, and even many non-birders, have been enjoying a huge nighthawk migration this week.

There's a lot happening on Peabody Street these days.

Are this year's numbers normal?

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.

The many forces funded by anti-environmental think tanks and the chemical industry are still vilifying Rachel Carson, accusing her of being responsible for the deaths of millions of children. Why are they so persistent?

Human beings won a huge battle when DDT was banned. The powerful anti-environmental forces quickly regrouped to ensure that the success would not be repeated, and did their best to vilify the woman whose book sparked so much of the environmental movement.

Laura 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.

Two mammals made a visit to Laura's yard on Sunday night.

In "Star Wars," even as the Rebel Alliance celebrated defeating the Galactic Empire, Darth Vader and the Emperor were plotting their revenge. In the 1970s, even as environmentalists celebrated, dark forces were plotting how to gut the EPA and destroy the legislation protecting air, water, and wildlife.…

Laura has fallen in love with one particular catbird in her yard. Naturally, she's worried about it.

Three 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.…

Everyday life for most Americans in the 1950s and 60s involved a mind-boggling array of toxic chemicals.

Laura takes a momentary break from an important environmental issue to reminisce about a tragicomedy in the 1990s.

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 for the 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.