Audubon articles from September 2000

Audubon archives from September 2000

Animal Obsessions.(staff of Audubon magazine, and their obsessions with various animals)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2000... "I THINK I NEED TO ENTER A SUPPORT GROUP," KIM HUBBARD, our photo editor, said the other day. Neither alcohol nor drugs are Hubbard's problem--lemurs are. For the past five years she has been obsessed with these big-eyed primates. There are...

Vote for the Environment.(election year is a good time to remind candidates of environmental concerns)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2000... AS THE FIRST NATIONWIDE ELECTION OF THE new century approaches, we have an opportunity to raise the consciousness of our elected leaders about the need to protect birds, other wildlife, and their habitat. Polls show that the American public...

Letters.
September 1, 2000... Magnificent Gift I THOROUGHLY ENJOYED WENDY Williams's article on the ocelots in southern Texas ["The Ghost Cat's Ninth Life," July-August]. How far removed I often feel from magnificent creatures who are continually struggling just to...

What's Worse Than a Squirrel in Your Garden?(elephants can threaten crops in Africa)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2000... Is an acrobatic squirrel conquering your "squirrel-proof" bird feeder? Things could be worse. Imagine living in Africa, where a five-ton elephant might stomp through your garden. In recent years African elephants have acquired a taste for...

Going for the Gold, and Green.(environmental cleanup helped Sydney, Australia, win the bid for the 2000 Olympics)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2000... The throngs of people at the Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia, this September will doubtless be wearing breezy summer garb--in a spot where a decade ago they would have been well advised to wear HazMat suits. The Olympic Stadium stands on the...

Not-So-Silent Seas.(indications that human-produced noise may be the cause of whale beachings)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2000... LAST MARCH 15, THREE BEAKED WHALES STRANDED THEMSELVES on a beach in the Bahamas, in front of a research facility run by the Bahamas Marine Mammal Research Station. The whales were among a total of 16 that ran aground along 60 miles of Bahamian...

From Sea to Shining Sea.(6,300-mile American Discovery Trail)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2000... Want to hike from California to Delaware? Start walking--on the American Discovery Trail. The 6,300-mile ADT, which officially opened to hikers, backpackers, and bicyclists on June 3, is the first coast-to-coast, nonmotorized route across the...

The Man Who Eats Manhattan.(Steve Brill conducts edible-plant tours of Central Park)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2000... FOR NEARLY 20 YEARS, NEW York City's Central Park has served as Steve Brill's personal grocery store and classroom. The environmental educator knows how to connect with nature and eat off the land--without leaving the city. Each weekend from...

First-Class Cats.(plan, at the Queen Mary in Long Beach, California, to trap, sterilize, and put up for adoption, feral cats)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2000... Biologists contend that each year free-ranging feral and house cats kill millions of birds and other wildlife across the country (see "Catfight," July-August 1997). The problem is particularly acute at the Queen Mary, a historic luxury cruise...

Make Love, Not Noise.(indications that traffic noise is adversely affecting bird breeding in the Netherlands)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2000... Highway roar is interfering with the ability of European birds to breed, according to studies at dozens of sites in Holland. Ornithologists there studied 43 different woodland species, and 60 percent of them showed depressed breeding numbers...

The Next DDT: R.I.P.(chlorfenapyr to withdraw its application to continue using the pesticide)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2000... FOR THE PAST FIVE YEARS, FARMERS HAVE ROUTINELY APPLIED A NEW type of pesticide, dubbed "the next DDT' by scientists, on cotton fields across the South. But in March the Environmental Protection Agency warnedthe chemical's manufacturer that if...

How Green Is My Congress?(environmental ratings of members of Congress)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2000... The League of Conservation Voters rates the environmental records of all members of the US House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate based on key votes. The map below shows the voting averages for each state, with the House displayed in...

FACE OFF.(Al Gore and George W. Bush on environmental issues)(Brief Article)(Interview)
September 1, 2000... In an Audubon exclusive, we invited the two major-party candidates, Vice-President Al Gore and Governor George W. Bush, to respond to questions on how they would tackle environmental issues if they were elected. For more on their stances, visit...

The Artistry of Bird's Nests.
September 1, 2000... A home is what you make of it. Try spiderwebs or hornet paper for a unique final touch. THE THICK DUFF MUFFLED MY FOOTSTEPS, LENDING A dreamlike aspect to my sojourn. The ground was layered with the leaves that had so recently obscured the...

The Shaman of Colors.(nature painter Rick Harlow)
September 1, 2000... Painter Rick Harlow found inspiration in the rainforest-and conjured up a successful business for its people. ONE DAY, WHILE RICK HARLOW WAS working in a makeshift studio in the Colombian Amazon, a butterfly crashed kamikaze-style into the...

SEEING SCARLET.(observing scarlet macaws in Costa Rica's Corcovado National Park)
September 1, 2000... They'd never seen a scarlet macaw except in a cage. So this best-selling author and her ornitholosist husband decided to seek the magnificent bird in one of its last strongholds: Corcovado National Park. PICTURE A SCARLET MACAW: A FIERCE,...

FOR THE LOVE OF LEMURS.(tracking lemurs in Madagascar)
September 1, 2000... It's no walk in the park, but tracking these peculiar primates through Madagascar's steep, slippery, leech-filled rainforest could be the most rewarding vacation you ever take. STANDING THERE EYEBALL TO EYEBALL WITH THE LEMUR, I WAS NOT...

Volunteer Vacations.
September 1, 2000... Take a vacation that's good for you, good for wildlife, and even good for your tax return There is a new breed of tourism that links science, conservation, and public involvement. These journeys of discovery not only give you a chance to...

RESCUING ORCHIDS.(protection of orchid species and habitats in Guatemala)
September 1, 2000... In Guatemala's tropical highlands, an 81-year-old orchid farmer's passion led him to rescue orchids from extinction, plucking the plants off freshly logged trees and raising them far away for the future. IN THE TOWNS OF GUATEMALA, ONE...

Global safari(*).(nature photographer Art Wolfe)
September 1, 2000... For the past three years veteran nature photographer Art Wolfe has focused his energies on documenting some of the world's most remarkable species while they still survive in their natural habitats. In the process, he circled the globe four...

TREKKING COPPER CANYON.
September 1, 2000... A maze of gorges more complex than the Grand Canyon is a last refuge for both trogons and the Tarahumara. EARS POPPING AND HIKING POLES SCRAPING FOR PURCHASE, I DROPPED INTO THE Canon de Cusarare on a steep trail that switchbacks through...

The LIST.(birdwatching narrative)
September 1, 2000... What drives a man to count birds, to travel to 75 countries to count them, to spend a fortune counting them, and to keep counting them? And what do you do if that man is your father? FIVE DECADES OF COUNTING HAD BROUGHT DAD'S LIFE LIST to...

THE WORLD'S BEST BIRDING TRIPS.
September 1, 2000... Are you down for the count? Four big-league birders name their all-time favorite birding trips. What makes a birding trip great? "It isn't just numbers," says Jim Plyler, who at last count had seen 7,642 different species on the 110...

The Ethics of Ecotravel.(Megan Epler Wood, president of the International Ecotourism Society)(Interview)
September 1, 2000... Are you thinking of going on safari in Kenya but haunted by fears that you will only add to the growing crowds that are destroying wild places? You re not alone. As ecotourism becomes one of the fastest growing segments of the travel market,...

Africa in My Blood: An Autobiography in Letters--The Early Years.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2000... Africa in My Blood: An Autobiography in Letters--The Early Years By Jane Goodall, edited by Dale Peterson. Houghton Mifflin, 386 pages, $28. LIKE CHARLES DARWIN, JANE GOODALL FOUND HER life's work by accident. This charming volume of...

What Bird Is That?(Brief Article)
September 1, 2000... Two worthwhile new bird guides take different approaches to illustrating avian life on this continent. Focus Guide to the Birds of North America (Houghton Mifflin, $30 hardcover, $20 paper), by Kenn Kaufman, a longtime Audubon field editor,...

Something New Under the Sun: An Environmental History of the Twentieth-Century World.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2000... Something New Under the Sun: An Environmental History of the Twentieth-Century World By J. R. McNeill. W. W. Norton, 421 pages, $29.95. THE ENORMITY OF ECOLOGICAL CHANGE in the twentieth century strongly suggests that history and...

A Fish Caught in Time: The Search for the Coelacanth.(Review)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2000... A Fish Caught in Time: The Search for the Coelacanth By Samantha Weinberg. HarperCollins, 220 pages, $24. IN DECEMBER 1938, MARJORIE COURTENAY-Latimer, the curator of a small museum of natural history on the east coast of South Africa,...

Requiem for Nature.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2000... Requiem for Nature By John Terborgh. Island Press, 234 pages, $24.95. THE ECOLOGIST JOHN TERBORGH does not mince words in this succinct and valuable analysis of the difficulties facing the preservation of tropical biodiversity....

Precious Heritage: The Status of Biodiversity in the United States.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2000... Precious Heritage: The Status of Biodiversity in the United States Edited by Bruce A. Stein, Lynn S. Kutner, and Jonathan S. Adams. Oxford University Press; 399 pages, $45. THIS LANDMARK BOOK LAYS THE groundwork for protecting the rich...

Ask AUDUBON.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2000... Do birds have a good sense of hearing? If so, where are their ears? Sjhaana Clovoc, via e-mail AVIAN HEARING HAS BEEN FAMOUSLY credited with alerting humans to impending danger. During World War I parrots kept on the Eiffel Tower...

Marco Island & The Everglades.(habitats)
September 1, 2000... FEATURING NAPLES FEW COMBINATIONS OF TRAVEL DESTINATIONS CAN QUITE MATCH THAT OF MARCO ISLAND AND THE EVERGLADES. Set as a jewel on Florida's western "Emerald Coast," Marco Island not only offers the finest in dining, shopping and top-tier...

FOURTH ANNUAL: Corkscrew Swamp Photo Safari Adventure.
September 1, 2000... Audubon Magazine's annual Corkscrew Swamp Photo Safari Adventure has been growing in popularity since it was introduced 3-1/2 years ago... and the 2001 edition promises to be bigger and better than ever! From January 19-22, 2001, photo...

On the Mend.
September 1, 2000... BETWEEN POWER LINES, CARS, and lead shot, it's hard to be an eagle in Wyoming. Now things are getting even tougher: A convalescent home for the state's injured raptors is falling apart. Operated by the Murie Audubon Society, the Wildlife...

In Praise of Robbins.(ornithologist Chandler Robbins receives the Audubon Medal)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2000... ON JUNE 16 THE National Audubon Society presented Chandler Robbins with this year's Audubon Medal. The medal is Audubon's most prestigious award and recognizes substantial accomplishments in conservation or environmental protection. "Few...

IN BRIEF.(brief information about bird protection, MacArthur Foundation recipient Carl Safina and Greater Antilles)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2000... Safina Wins MacArthur Carl Safina, the National Audubon Society's vice-president for marine conservation, was dining at a friend's house in British Columbia recently when he got a phone call. "I thought, 'This is strange,'" he says. "I was...

Northern Imposer.(Venezuela controls dickcissel bird, which destroyed farm crops)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2000... EACH SEPTEMBER THE SKIES OF northern Venezuela darken. The local farmers' worst nightmare has arrived from the central United States. Though the dickcissel, a melodic little songbird with a big taste for seeds, looks harmless, it has been...

Leaders Honored.(conservationists Paul Tudor Jones, II, Marion Heiskell and Roy Disney)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2000... MORE THAN 500 PEOPLE DINED AND danced at New York City's Chelsea Piers on May 15 at the National Audubon Society's inaugural Environmental Leadership Awards. NAS president John Flicker (far left) presented the awards, which recognize...

A Man for All Birds.(bird conservationist Christopher Rustay of New Mexico)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2000... THAT'S GOOD FOOD FOR SOMEBODY," CHRISTOPHER RUSTAY SAYS AS HE STOPS TO WATCH countless tiny insects dance over the Rio Grande River like fizz over a just-opened can of soda pop. On a sunny New Mexico morning, as black-chinned hummingbirds zip...

Coastal Conservation.(protecting the Gaviota Coast, California)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2000... ON U.S. HIGHWAY 101, JUST WEST OF Santa Barbara, California, there is an inconspicuous street sign that catches the eye of every passing nature lover. It says, NEXT SERVICES 32 MILES. Beyond it lies the Gaviota Coast, which, besides some...

Taking Matters Into Your Own Hands.(National Audubon Society sanctuaries that allow people to participate in activities)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2000... THE NATIONAL AUDUBON SOCIETY HAS 200 SANCTUARIES THAT COVER 250,000 acres and a wide variety of habitats. (For a partial listing, visit www.audubon.org/local/santuary/.) While many can be visited, here are three where conservation is a hands-on...

Danger! Bear Crossing.(photo of polar bear illustrates effects of tourist visits to Hudson Bay)(Brief Article)(Illustration)
September 1, 2000... WHOEVER COINED THE PHRASE, "TAKE ONLY PICTURES, LEAVE ONLY FOOTPRINTS," wasn't thinking of the tracks of tundra buggies that carry tourists to the shores of Hudson Bay each year. Polar bears congregate here by the hundreds each October, waiting...