This week Laura saw a bird that belongs in an entirely different St. Louis County.

Laura is making picture cards to teach her little grandson about birds and other animals.

How early do you have to get up to hear the very beginning of the dawn chorus? Earlier than you might think.

Laura, back from her close encounter with Covid, finishes her sparrow identification series.

The end of April and beginning of May are when sparrows descend upon the Northland in big numbers. Identifying these little brown jobs isn't as daunting as it might seem.

When Laura photographed a male and female Pileated Woodpecker feeding together in her suet feeder, she realized just how happy she is.

Laura brings us up to date on the conflicting recommendations from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and Cornell Cooperative Extension with regard to bird flu and keeping bird feeders going. She also talks about some birds dying at feeders not from diseases but from the bird feeder itself.

What spring birdsong is Laura happiest to hear?

Laura's researched as much as she can about this year's outbreak of a dangerous variant of bird flu. She wrote a lot about it on her blog at blog.lauraerickson.com

Laura asked Scott Weidensaul about the people he features in his new children's picture book, *A Warbler's Journey*, and also more about Yellow Warblers and their treacherous migration.

Laura had a long conversation with Scott Weidensaul earlier this month. Here is Part 1 of their conversation about Scott's new book, *A Warbler's Journey.*

One of Laura's favorite writers, Scott Weidensaul, has written a children's picture book that Laura loves.

Laura talks about some more old and more recent children's picture books about birds—both favorites and some not. Note: Laura pronounces the name of the main character in *The Trumpet of the Swan*, Louis, as *loo' iss*. E.B. White pronounced it *loo' ey*, but he said he named the character for Louis Armstrong. Although many people called Armstrong "Louie," he was very clear that he wanted people to pronounce his name "Louis." He even emphasized that whenever he sang "Hello, Dolly!" E.B. White

This week I'll be talking about some old and some new picture books about birds, for small children, starting with some old classics.

My friend Patricia sent me some fun information about the magpies she grew up with in Australia.

Lots of birds are making their presence known now. Except the chickadees heard near the end, all the sounds heard in this program were recorded out Laura's home office window.

Laura interviews Jim Baker from Baker's Blue Jay Barn about his newest product, Bluolingo, which translates both of the two different sounds coming from a Blue Jay's voice box.

One of the smartest birds on the planet is making it very difficult for scientists to research its movements.

This in-between period where winter slowly melts into spring is Laura's favorite time of year. At least, right now.

Laura just marked her 50th wedding anniversary,. Sticking it out this long involves luck more than anything..