News Release — For info contact Lori Melton, [email protected], 218-726-8830.
KUMD 103.3 FM is celebrating the 30th anniversary of “For the Birds,” a radio program by Duluthian bird expert Laura Erickson, tomorrow Tuesday, May 24 at 12 noon, in front of UMD Bohannon Hall 83 (next to the Tweed Museum). The event is free and open to the public.
“For The Birds” is a locally produced show and has been on the air since 1986, longer than any radio program about birds in America. The program is a vital part of KUMD’s Northland Morning show, providing an interesting mix of encyclopedic knowledge of birds, poetr,y and humor. It airs on KUMD 103.3 FM every weekday morning at 7:30 a.m.
"Laura has produced this show as a volunteer all these years. She showed up at KUMD thirty years ago with bird records under her arm and a toddler or two in hand, and very quickly learned to record and edit her own work. Wherever she goes, she's always thinking about how she can share the experience with listeners. We've been everywhere with Laura: Costa Rica, Europe, the gulf after the BP oil spill, but most of all, in our own backyards," describes Lisa Johnson, KUMD’s Northland Morning host.
“Although my intent is clearly to educate people about birds, and although my universe begins and ends with birds, I do realize that not everyone finds them inherently fascinating. My job is to make listeners see how fascinating birds are from all kinds of angles,” Laura Erickson explains her show’s eclectic approach.
ABOUT LAURA ERICKSON
2014 recipient of the American Birding Association’s prestigious Roger Tory Peterson Award, Laura has been a scientist, teacher, writer, wildlife rehabilitator, professional blogger, public speaker, photographer, American Robin and Whooping Crane Expert for the popular Journey North educational website, and Science Editor at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. She’s written ten books about birds, including the ABA Field Guide to the Birds of Minnesota, the best-selling Into the Nest: Intimate Views of the Courting, Parenting, and Family Lives of Familiar Birds (co-authored by photographer Marie Read); the National Outdoor Book Award winning Sharing the Wonder of Birds with Kids; 101 Ways to Help Birds; The Bird Watching Answer Book for the Cornell Lab of Ornithology; and the National Geographic Pocket Guide to Birds of North America.
Top Photo © 2005 by Thomas Erickson