Audubon articles from January 2006

Audubon archives from January 2006

Editor's note.
January 1, 2006... As Audubon goes to press, the future of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is hanging by a thread. This time all that may end up stopping the refuge's irrevocable loss to oil drilling is a coalition of 25 centrist Republicans in the U.S. House...

Audubon view.(neighborhood development)
January 1, 2006... Remember what three things determine home value? Location, location, location. People would rather live near a park than a polluted property. As a result, neighborhoods with parks are usually desirable, and neighborhoods near dangerously...

Harvesting hope.(Letter to the Editor)
January 1, 2006... THANK YOU FOR "GREEN ACRES" [November-December 2005] and the subsequent portraits ["Healing Time," "Bumper Crop," "Gaining Ground," and "Prairie King"] of four farmers utilizing government programs to enhance wildlife habitat. Farmers have...

Paper chase.(Letter to the Editor)
January 1, 2006... I RESPONDED TO THE ARTICLE ON THE loss of Canada's boreal forest ["The Final Frontier," September-October 2005] by calling the companies from which I have received catalogs thus far in November. I am up to 33--and these are only the ones in...

Bearing down.(letters)(Letter to the Editor)
January 1, 2006... AS I READ "BAD NEWS BEAR HUNTERS" [September-October 2005], my initial response was to agree with Ted Williams, but I was left thinking the article sounded so much like antihunting rhetoric. I am surprised to see this type of article in...

Hogwash?(energy conservation)
January 1, 2006... AFTER HURRICANES KATRINA AND RITA knocked out oil rigs, refineries, and natural gas processing plants in the Gulf of Mexico, President George W. Bush ordered the White House and all government agencies to curtail nonessential travel and reduce...

Love flap.(DISPATCHES ...)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2006... Most male birds attract mates by singing. But the club-winged manakin, it seems, takes a different approach. Males of this tiny, colorful South American species impress the fairer sex by making music with their wings, which they vibrate at more...

The monster lives!(DISPATCHES ...)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2006... For centuries the seldom-seen giant squid has fascinated and terrified humans. In 1555 the Swedish cleric Olaus Magnus described it as a "monstrous fish" of "horrible forms with huge eyes," and warned that "one of these Sea-Monsters will drown...

Flower power.(environmentalism)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2006... In 2004 more than 650 million cell phones were sold worldwide, and environmentalists expect the majority of them to end up in landfills within the next year or two. Still, there are those with a grander plan for the phones: toss their outer...

There goes the neighborhood.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2006... If the hot real estate market is any yardstick, the American Dream is alive and well. The bad news is that the better the market, the greater the number of exotic plant species. Kudzu in the South and purple loosestrife in the Northeast are...

On the hot seat.(global warming)
January 1, 2006... MOST SCIENTISTS LEAD CLOISTERED, anonymous lives, publishing their findings quietly in peer-reviewed journals. Until recently they didn't have to worry about Congressional inquisitors banging on their doors, demanding to see computer data and...

The lowdown on National Parks.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2006... Internet bloggers are a new media force to be reckoned with, weighing in on subjects far and wide, from prospective Supreme Court justices to the breakup between Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitt. Kurt Repanshek, author of America's National Parks...

Toughing it out.(ecological adaptation)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2006... This winter, when you look out in your yard and see birds that haven't left for warmer climes, you might show some respect for the stragglers. They're not there because they're lazy; new research, in fact, indicates they're the smart ones. A...

The eyes of an astronaut.(Eileen Collins)
January 1, 2006... Early last summer, during the second half of the space shuttle Discovery's most recent mission--a rendezvous with the international space station--there were plenty of things to worry about: the state of the ceramic pieces protruding from the...

State of the bird.(migrations)(bobolink)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2006... Species: The bobolink is a seasonally dimorphic blackbird. The male is striking in his breeding plumage of black chest and belly, white-splotched back and rump, and straw-colored nape. Females and nonbreeding males have a buffy, darkly striped...

Hedging their bet.(grassland birds at Bartel Grassland, Thorn Creek Audubon Society)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2006... Why would conservationists go to the considerable trouble of cutting down miles of hedgerows, a key habitat for wildlife. At Bartel Grassland, a reclaimed 380-acre ecosystem and Important Bird Area (IBA) 25 miles south of Chicago, the answer is...

Bring on the bees: by building this simple nest box, you can attract a gentle but prolific pollinator to your suburban yard and enjoy the fruits of its labor.(orchard mason bee)
January 1, 2006... With its classic yellow abdominal stripes and signature buzz, the honeybee might be the quintessential pollinator. But it's a lesser-known member of the Megachilidae family that is the ultimate ally to the fruit trees, berry bushes, and spring...

Winterkeeper: for 30 years, Steven Fuller has lived a hermetic life as the snowbound caretaker of Americas first National Park.(profile)
January 1, 2006... It's late February, the air temperature has plummeted to 35 degrees below zero, and our lungs burn and billow steam like the volcanic fumarole vents around us as Steven Fuller, his friend Joe Sawyer, and I glide forth on skis, following a lone...

Snow daze: for people caught on the wrong mountain slope at the wrong time, avalanches can be lethal. But for wildlife, they can be a benefit, carving out a habitat and increasing biodiversity.
January 1, 2006... Even by snowy Colorado's standards, the blizzard that blanketed the state's Front Range between March 17 and 20 of 2003 was extraordinary. With a hurricane-like eye 100 miles across, the storm dumped an astounding seven feet of snow in...

Tasmania where isolation breeds unique species.
January 1, 2006... More than 200 bird species dart, dive, soar, roost and nest on Tasmania and its 300 satellite island. Among the more widespread species only found in Tasmania are: strong-billed, black-headed, and yellow-throated honeyeaters; yellow...

NASCAR conservationist: challenger is the country's most famous bald eagle, flying at sports events from stock car races to the World Series. He may well be our most powerful ambassador for wildlife, too, with an all-American appeal that no one can resist.(National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, Al Cecere, American Eagle Foundation)(Biography)
January 1, 2006... IN LATE 2004 AL CECERE, FOUNDER AND president of the American Eagle Foundation, was on Capitol Hill, trolling for votes for a bill he had hatched, the Bald Eagle Coin Act. Its goal was to raise $10 million for bald eagle recovery projects...

On the front lines: in the spirit of Guy Bradley, who died a century ago fighting to protect Florida's birds from feather hunters, a new flock of citizen warden is on patrol. They may not pack guns, but the threats they face are just as real.
January 1, 2006... JASON FREDERICK SLIPS HIS WHITE KAYAK into the Indian River Lagoon near Titusville, Florida, almost 100 years to the day after Audubon warden Guy Bradley launched a small boat from the village of Flamingo, 300 miles to the south. On that...

Suspended in animation: the next time you look out the window at the flurry of birds visiting your feeders, behold nature in its ineffable wonder.
January 1, 2006... Picture yourself standing at a window, looking out at a busy flock of birds visiting a bird feeder. No matter that this is a common scene, played out in backyards everywhere; indeed, it is common because so many of us find it rewarding. Lured...

Timberrr! New York landowners are finding it's possible to have their forests, and log them, too. The result is an ideal alternative to sprawl.
January 1, 2006... Which forest was recently logged? Answer: The one on this page, Such Careful thinning of a woodlot can create gaps in the tree canopy, allowing sunlight to penetrate to the forest floor. This type of sustainable forestry can yield a more...

Audubon directory: your quick guide to the National Audubon Society.(Directory)
January 1, 2006... BOARD OF DIRECTORS CAROL M. BROWNER Chair of the Board LESLIE DACH W. HARDY ESHBAUGH Vice-Chairs ALLEN J. MODEL Treasurer JACK J. DEMPSEY Secretary CHRISTOPHER M. HARTE VIVIAN R. JOHNSON ...

Texas: with more than 629 documented bird species, Texas is one of the most exciting places to pursue birdwatching in the United States.(SPECIAL ADVERTISING FEATURE)
January 1, 2006... ALONG WITH THE MUCH-VAUNTED SIZE OF TEXAS comes an incomparable diversity of flora, fauna and landscape. The Lone Star State is a strong contender for boasting rights as the state with the most species of birds--more than 629 if you count the...

Land of the lost: woolly mammoths and mastodons flourished in North America 13,000 years ago before vanishing in a geological heartbeat. Now one ecologist has a bold plan to bring them back.(Book Review)
January 1, 2006... Twilight of the Mammoths: Ice Age Extinctions and the Rewilding of America By Paul S. Martin University of California Press, 269 pages, $29.95 THERE PROBABLY AREN'T MANY conservationists who mourn the Shasta ground sloth or any of the...

Condor: To the Brink and Back--The Life and Times of One Giant Bird.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
January 1, 2006... Condor: To the Brink and Back--The Life and Times of One Giant Bird By John Nielsen HarperCollins Publishers, 272 pages, $25.95 Pete Bloom spent several months in a shallow grave to help save a bird. Hiding in a four-footdeep pit, he...

Out of Eden: An Odyssey of Ecological Invasion.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
January 1, 2006... Out Of Eden: An Odyssey of Ecological Invasion By Alan Burdick Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 324 pages, 525 Invasive species have pushed out native plants and animals all over the planet, expanded at an alarming rate, and caused billions...

The Republican War on Science.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
January 1, 2006... The Republican War on Science By Chris Mooney Basic Books, 352 pages, $24.95 In the mid-1990s, as most of the Republican Party turned increasingly conservative and antienvironment, it began politicizing science to advance its...

One picture.(South Alligator River)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2006... SPECIFICATIONS Subject: South Alligator River Where: Australia Camera: Hasselblad 203SE with Zeiss Planar 100mm lens Film: Fuji Velvia 50 BEFORE JETLINERS DOMINATED THE SKIES, AIR TRAVELERS COULD GET AN INTIMATE VIEW of...