Audubon articles from May 2000

Audubon archives from May 2000

Stand Up for the Mississippi.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2000... IT BEGINS WITH A TRICKLE AMONG THE white pines in Minnesota's Itasca State Park, not far from the farm where I grew up. It gathers volume for 1,366 miles before it merges with the Ohio River at Cairo, Illinois. It is an internationally...

LETTERS.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2000... "Our population will not stop at half a billion but will continue to surge upward from that base. What will that do to wildlife habitat?" --THOMAS P. MACKENNA Future Shock I PICKED UP YOUR MOST RECENT issue to read your article on...

FIELD NOTES.(stadium rubble used for fish habitat)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2000... Reef Madness Though it was demolished three years ago, Cleveland's Municipal Stadium still draws crowds, only this time they're smallmouth bass, rock bass, yellow perch, and walleye. Rubble from the old ballpark, once home to the Indians...

Is the Ivorybill Back?(Brief Article)
May 1, 2000... THE IVORY-BILLED WOODPECKER, wan ghost of southern woodlands, may actually be flying forth from its niche in extinction. In April 1999 David Kulivan, an undergraduate majoring in forestry at Louisiana State University (LSU), walked into the...

Hog Hell.(pollution from hog farm)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2000... IN THE WAKE OF HURRICANES DENNIS AND FLOYD LAST SEPTEMBER, HOG-WASTE-FILLED lagoons overflowed and thousands of dead hogs littered eastern North Carolina. Now it is feared that this summer the waters between the mainland and the Outer Banks may...

Loving Birds to Death.(impact of birdwatching on bird habitat)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2000... OVER THE COURSE OF APRIL AND May, thousands of people visit Cave Creek Canyon, in Arizona's Chiricahua Mountains. This is breeding season, a time when eager birdwatchers can spot such uncommon birds as the whiskered screech-owl (below), the...

Rare Frozen Tiger Cub!!! Wow!!! Take a Look!!!(endangered species sold on Internet)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2000... IN THE PRE E-COMMERCE WORLD, IT WASN'T EVERY DAY THAT NEIL Mendelsohn, a Fish and Wildlife Service agent based in Torrance, California, could add a freshly frozen, stillborn tiger cub or an African leopard skin to his impoundment collection...

Insect Opera.
May 1, 2000... After a 17-year silence, cicadas will creep out of their underground chambers this spring to fill the Appalachian forests with a deafening noise. I STEPPED TOWARD THE TREES AND QUELLED A FLUTTER IN my gut. I harbor few phobias, and none...

The Woman From Alligator.(conservationist converts hog farm to plant farm)
May 1, 2000... In one of the poorest parts of North Carolina, Mavis Hill builds boardwalks and aims to turn a hog farm into a native-plant nursery. STEPPING SLOWLY DOWN THE SANDY PATH, MAVIS HILL glances around at 44 acres of withered soybeans, rusting...

SEA SICKNESS.(diseased oceans)
May 1, 2000... Seals with distemper, turtles with herpes, and corals with fatal fungus. Is the ocean becoming a cauldron of disease? BIG DOMES OF BRAIN CORAL, RUMPLED HEAPS of olive cactus coral, and purple sea fans that look as if they've been shut flat...

ALL THINGS GREAT & EVEN MICROSCOPIC.
May 1, 2000... Scientists are discovering that America's most-visited national park still holds minions of secrets, as they catalogue every species within the Smoky Mountains' 521,000 acres. BEYOND THE HONKY-TONK AND TRAFFIC JAMS OF GATLINBURG AND PIGEON...

TROPICAL RETREAT.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2000... It's Miami, exotic--and no one knows about it. THE MELTING POT OF MIAMI IS MORE LIKE A PRESSURE COOKER. EVERY NOW AND THEN the lid blows off the pot, but the heat is always on, the burners cooking. Squeezed between the Atlantic Ocean and...

MOUNT ST. HELENS REVISITED.
May 1, 2000... The 1980 eruption blew apart a mountain, scorched 230 square miles of land, and rearranged a river--and it was just getting started. Twenty years later, the surprising secrets of this volcano are still unfolding, for scientists and visitors...

CALIFORNIA DREAMING.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2000... Beyond L.A., remnants of a vanished natural world. ALL OF MY WRITING ABOUT LOS ANGELES REQUIRES A BASELINE OF IMAGINATION. I NEED TO BE able to visualize what pieces of the city might have looked like 20, 50, or even 100 years ago. More...

BEASTLY VACATIONS.
May 1, 2000... Tired of tame trips? Remove the harriers between you and North Americas wildlife and set face-to-snout (or beak) with manatees, eagles, and more. WATCHING WILDLIFE FROM A DISTANCE OR THROUGH THE Windows of a bus you a glimpse of animals in...

THE SANDS OF TIMELESSNESS.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2000... Close to Chicago, sun-warmed sand dunes overlook a whitecapped lake and draw us toward an intimacy not found in the city. I LOOK DOWN AT CHICAGO'S GRAY APARTMENT BLOCKS, AND MY EYES CATCH LAKESHORE parks that sweeten the map of childhood...

Ask AUDUBON.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2000... What chemicals are discharged by bombardier beetles? Could the chemicals be manufactured and used as fuel if conventional supplies run out? --Lee Gaillard, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania UPON SENSING DANGER, THE BOMBARDIER beetle raises...

From Big Bend to the Gulf: the great outdoors of Texas.
May 1, 2000... Everyone knows Texas is big. With more than a quarter-million square miles of land and water area, the state would cover most of the northeastern U.S. from Maine to Virginia. But aside from the state's sheer magnitude, Texas represents a great...

An ongoing commitment to lovers of the great outdoors.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2000... Innovations at Subaru reflect America's ever-intensifying passion for freedom, performance and the great outdoors. Given the diversity of the Texas landscape, its expansive breadth across prairies and plains, hills and valleys, marshlands...

Bonk, Bonk--It's a Three-Wattled Bellbird.
May 1, 2000... These captivating creatures are in trouble, and if their decline continues, Costa Rica's dwindling forests will suffer, too. OF THE MORE THAN 800 SPECIES IN COSTA RICA'S marvelous avifauna--the resplendent quetzal included --there cannot be...

In Search of Deep Time: Beyond the Fossil Record to a New History of Life.(Review)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2000... In Search of Deep Time: Beyond the Fossil Record to a New History of Life By Henry Gee. The Free Press, 267 pages, $26. MUCH OF WHAT WE THINK WE KNOW ABOUT THE history of life is based on untested or untestable hypotheses," Henry Gee argues...

The Shape of the Journey: New and Collected Poems.(Review)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2000... The Shape of the Journey: New and Collected Poems By Jim Harrison. Copper Canyon Press, 463 pages, $30. JIM HARRISON'S POEMS EMBODY the deep time of personal experience, of a life lived at an acute level of self-consciousness, fully...

A Story as Sharp as a Knife: The Classical Haida Mythtellers and Their World.(Review)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2000... A Story as Sharp as a Knife: The Classical Haida Mythtellers and Their World By Robert Bringhurst. Douglas & McIntyre/University of Nebraska Press, 544 pages, $45 cloth, $24.95 paper. A DISTINGUISHED POET, LINGUIST, AND TRANSLATOR, Robert...

Swampwalker's Journal: A Wetlands Year.(Review)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2000... Swampwalker's Journal: A Wetlands Year By David M. Carroll. Houghton Mifflin, 292 pages, $27. DAVID CARROLL WRITES THE BEST KIND OF NATURAL history, combining keen observation on an intimate scale with far-reaching thoughts about the...

The Killer in Your Yard.(pesticides)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2000... Each time you douse your lawn with pesticides, you could be poisoning birds, wildlife, even the neighbor's kids. Here are some alternatives. WHENEVER THE SUBJECT OF PESTICIDES COMES UP, it's easy to point a finger at farmers. But we...

Keeping Sharks From the Soup Pot.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2000... SHARK-FIN SOUP MAY BE SWIMMING off the menu at many Chinese restaurants in the months to come. In January a bill was introduced in Congress that would ban shark-finning in all U.S. waters, including in the Pacific Ocean near Hawaii, where the...

The Birder's Handbook.(Review)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2000... STEPHEN KRESS WAS IN FOURTH GRADE WHEN HE identified his first bird, a northern flicker. It set the course for the rest of his life. Now he's vice-president of bird conservation for the National Audubon Society and the author of the National...

IN BRIEF.(National Audobon Society)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2000... Wings for Urban Youth For city children, even a park can be an inaccessible wilderness. Now the South Bend Audubon Society in Indiana is using binoculars and field guides to teach inner-city kids how to navigate their landscape. Three...

Summer Vacations, Audubon-Style.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2000... IF BAKING ON A BEACH ISN'T YOUR IDEA OF HOLIDAY FUN, WHY NOT WADE THROUGH A wetland, meet a moose, or raft a river? Each summer Audubon offers camps for explorers of all ages. Prices are per person and include food, lodging, and supplies. For...

An Aquarium Reaches Inland.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2000... THE DECLINING NUMBER OF FISH AND the rising levels of E. coli bacteria in local waters have the citizens of Orangeburg County, South Carolina, concerned. Runoff from hog farms is threatening the areas entire watershed. The solution? Ask the...

No Regrets for Nine Egrets.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2000... THANKS TO THE BEXAR AUDUBON Society of San Antonio, Texas, nine rehabilitated cattle egrets flew to freedom last November. The birds, confined since they were rescued as chicks, clearly had high ambitions when the cage doors opened. "They just...

A Model Leader.(Conservationist Thomas W. Keesee Jr.)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2000... IN JANUARY ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION lost one of its most devoted advocates, Thomas W. Keesee Jr., who died at 84. Whether in a boardroom or a marsh, Keesee was committed to the natural world--exemplified during his 23 years on the board of...

It's Superfrog!(Brief Article)
May 1, 2000... FROGS CAN'T FLY, CHILDREN'S FABLES TO THE CONTRARY. HOWEVER, A NUMBER of tree frogs in Southeast Asia and Latin America have more or less mastered the knack of gliding. With the help of a colleague whose hands served as a launchpad, Mark W....

10 COMMANDMENTS FOR A HEALTHY YARD.
May 1, 2000... Starting with vibrant, healthy trees, ornamentals, and vegetables is your best defense against pests and weeds. Whenever possible, choose strong native varieties over high-maintenance exotics. Before planting, test your soil and adjust the...

THE AUDUBON GUIDE TO HOME PESTICIDES.
May 1, 2000... Before you don work gloves and take up the perennial battle against pests and weeds, consider this : Pesticides used by homeowners can wreak havoc on wildlife, even when they're correctly applied. About a dozen pesticides approved for backyard...