Audubon articles from September 1998

Audubon archives from September 1998

Biophilia at its best.
September 1, 1998... Admit it: You're a biophiliac. I am. So are a lot of my friends. We can't help it. We feel a primal need (as E.O. Wilson first defined biophilia) to get close--really touchy-feely close--to nature. For some, biophilia manifests itself in such...

Field of dreams.(The Audubon View)
September 1, 1998... Back in 1862, the Spring Creek Prairei, looked much like the rest, of the rolling tallgrass hills of eastern Nebraskam--except that it got a lot more traffic. It was part of a shortcut from Nebraska City to the Oregon Trail. Pioneers may have...

Pushing up orchids.(rare plants of cemeteries)
September 1, 1998... The question of life beyond the grave has finally been settled, at least in the immediate vicinity. Biologists across the country are finding rare plants and other creatures in the sanctuary of old burial grounds. In some regions, tiny...

Skullduggery.(smuggling remains of endangered species)
September 1, 1998... There's probably nothing William Stevens regrets more than sending his mother a box of 11 stuffed co bras from Thailand. From the moment the bodies of the threatened species were intercepted at New York City's John F. Kennedy airport, the bone...

The few, the proud, the bluebirds.(US government research on the effects of toxins on bird species)
September 1, 1998... The U.S. government has drafted the western bluebird into military service. At the Los Alamos National Laboratory, in northern New Mexico, a team of scientists is pioneering research with bluebirds to determine how heavy-metal, chemical, and...

Sprites, jets, and elves: a writer who was injured by lightening describes this force of ephemeral beauty, which strikes the earth 100 times every second.
September 1, 1998... A writer who was injured by lightning describes this force of ephemeral beauty, which strikes the earth 100 times every second. The sky has dimmed to gray flannel, a curtain falling down the mountain, melting over its lion-colored flanks...

Queen of the canopy: since Nalini Nadkarni began climbing into the treetops, 17 years ago, the study of forest canopies has never been the same.
September 1, 1998... Since Nalini Nadkarni began climbing into the treetops, 17 years ago, the study of forest canopies has never been the same. Nalini Nadkarni, a pioneering forest scientist and energetic eccentric, occasionally wears moss on her feet. It grows...

Courage under fire: government workers who are willing to blow the whistle on their employer are rare. They're also essential.
September 1, 1998... Government workers who are willing to blow the whistle on their Employer are rate. They're also essential. The word whistleblower is misleading, evoking images of frenetic cops, referees, and dog handlers. But the state and federal resource...

Fading colors: are we losing the sugar maple to acid rain?
September 1, 1998... ON A RAIN-SOAKED NEW HAMPSHIRE HILLSIDE, Scott Bailey is deep in dirt. Huge, gray-barked sugar maples stand starkly beautiful in the mist, but Bailey, a research geologist with the U.S. Forest Service, doesn't notice. He is focused on the...

It's 10:00 p.m. We know where your turtles are: with GPS and other new technologies, scientists can track a bird, a fish, or a mammal almost anywhere, anytime.(includes related internet addresses for additional resource information)
September 1, 1998... WITH GPS AND OTHER NEW TECHNOLOGIES, SCIENTIST CAN TRACT A BIRD, A FISH, OR A MAMMAL ALMOST ANYWHERE, ANYTIME. Crammed into the tiny cockpit of a Cessna flying 700 feet over Delaware Bay, biologist Sherry squinted as she tried to distinguish...

Coming undammed.(environmental aspects of concrete dams)(includes related information on dam closures)
September 1, 1998... Since 1925, thousands of dams Have been flung across rivers in an Explosion of concrete. As their negative Effects become more and more apparent, Will these walls finally begin tumbling down? The lower Elwha River gorge in April is a...

Guide to the guides: is ecotourism an oxymoron? What you should know before you get really close to nature.(The Great Eco-Trips)(includes related resource information)(Cover Story)
September 1, 1998... Call it animal magnetism: the almost universal human compulsion to get close to wild animals in their natural habitat. "There is a set of inherited predispositions in people that draw them toward nature," says E. O. Wilson, the renowned...

Gorillas in our midst: deep in Uganda's Impenetrable Forest, you can watch mountain gorillas at play in the wild.(The Great Eco-Trips)(includes related resource information)
September 1, 1998... DEEP IN UGANDA'S IMPENETRABLE FOREST, YOU CAN WATCH MOUNTAIN GORILLAS AT PLAY IN THE WILD. He's right, down there," my wife, Kelly, whispered, pointing to a shadow in the foliage below us. A veil of vegetation hid the creature completely,...

Midway to paradise: every year, albatrosses fly from around the Pacific to Midway Atoll. Now a few lucky humans are flying here too.(The Great Eco-Trips)(includes related resource information)
September 1, 1998... Lights twinkled improbably in the Pacific black outside the aircraft window. The little 19-passenger turboprop steered toward them. It was 1:30 in the morning when we touched down and taxied to a cavernous hangar. Exiting the plane, I was...

Amazon adventure: six days of intense birding in South America yield a sighting of - at last - the cumbersome hoatzin.(The Great Eco-Trips)(includes related resource information)
September 1, 1998... On birding expeditions I've always tried to search for a particular species, the rarer and more exotic the better. On a trip to the Amazon region not long ago, I was especially hoping to see a large neotropical bird called the hoatzin, which...

Where the wild things are: 25 ways to get close to nature this winter.(The Great Eco-Trips)(includes related resource information)
September 1, 1998... Imagine glimpsing a tiger stalking its prey, or seeing thousands of monarch butterflies swarming through a forest in Mexico, or watching polar bears playing in the snow. This is wildlife at its wildest, rare moments that do what eco-travel is...

Bad, bad birds: the cowbird's habit of intruding on the nests of other birds obscures a marvel of evolution.
September 1, 1998... The cowbird's habit of intruding on the nests of other birds of obscures a marvel of evolution. A long time ago, as a neophyte birdwatcher creeping along a road in the Maine woods after an elusive warbler, I had my first encounter with a...

They only come out at night: common plants like honeysuckle and rose can perfume your evenings and attract interesting pollinators.(includes related resource information)
September 1, 1998... Common plants like honeysuckle and rose can perfume your evenings and attract interesting pollinators. Years ago, long, slow, summery evenings were usually enjoyed out of doors. Houses without air conditioning held the day's heat, so family...

Ecology of Fear: Los Angeles and the Imagination of Disaster.
September 1, 1998... By Mike Davis. Metropolitan Books, 466 pages, $25. Twentieth-century nature writing is the direct descendant of a romanticism that first flourished in the 18th century. Such writing considers the natural world from the perspective of an...

It isn't easy voting green: with so many politicians posing as environmentalists, on Election Day it helps to have a way to identify the true believers.(includes related politicians' voting patterns)
September 1, 1998... With so many politicians posing as environmentalists, on Election Day it helps to have a way to identify the true believers. If you're going to the polls to vote green in November, you'll need to keep your wits about you. When it comes to...