Audubon articles from September 2005

Audubon archives from September 2005

Editor's note.(shrinking boreal forest)(Editorial)
September 1, 2005... While driving through Mill City, Oregon, 15 years ago, at the height of the timber wars, I saw a bumper sticker on a pickup truck: NO TOILET PAPER! WIPE YOUR ASS WITH A SPOTTED OWL! A vulgar sentiment, for sure, but one that contains a grain of...

Audubon view.(restoring glory, Rio Salado)
September 1, 2005... Water is the lifeblood for desert cities. When Phoenix was growing up, its lifeblood was the Rio Salado. But despite what the river offered both people and wildlife, it was severely abused. First dams were built upstream, blocking the flow....

Deer debate.(letters)(Letter to the Editor)
September 1, 2005... RE: "PUBLIC MENACE" [INCITE, July-August]: One of the points I've tried to make to anyone willing to listen is just how much the overpopulation of deer has impacted the habitat and how little food is now available to deer in many extensively...

Crichton critique.(letters)(Letter to the Editor)
September 1, 2005... PERHAPS MICHAEL CRICHTON should have stated that some of "the research supporting the theory of human-caused global warming is 'shockingly flawed,'" because some of it is ["Pulp Fiction," May-June]. And the popular media is not doing a proper...

Correction.(letters)(Correction Notice)
September 1, 2005... The photography credit for "Treasure island" (above) on page 62 in the July-August 2005 Audubon was incorrect. The photographer was William Abranowicz. Additionally, the photography credit for page 65 should have been Matthew Hranek. Both...

Gardening for ivory-bills.(forestry)
September 1, 2005... THERE'S BEEN A LOT OF TALK ABOUT A second chance for the ivory-billed woodpecker. The way things look now, it might need a third chance. A growing demand for cypress mulch in recent years has led to increased logging of cypress trees in areas...

Some sport.(DISPATCHES ...)(internet hunting)(Live-Shot.com)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2005... In early April, Dale Hagberg aimed a high-powered rifle at a fallow deer in the Texas Hill Country. Thanks to the latest high-tech twist in game ranching, he could do so without leaving his bed in Ligonier, Indiana, more than a thousand miles...

Saved by a shrunken head.(DISPATCHES ...)(poisonous toads)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2005... Ever since 101 cane toads were brought to Australia from Hawaii in 1935 to control two beetle species, they've been making themselves at home. Unfortunately, they're also taking a heavy toll on Aussie lizards, snakes, and quolls (a small...

Mixed (garbage) bag.(recycling)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2005... More and more, blue recycling bins are joining trash cans at the ends of American driveways. From 1990 to 2003 recycling rates in the United States almost doubled, from 16.2 percent of total trash to 30.6 percent. There were improvements in...

Gardening in the buff.(DISPATCHES ...)(World Naked Gardening Day )(Brief Article)
September 1, 2005... It all started in the early 1970s when organic farmer Jay North and his late wife, Pamela, spontaneously decided to get naked and do some gardening. After that the Norths tilled the land four or five times a week au naturel. "It's like going to...

Fish on Prozac.(DISPATCHES ...)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2005... Antacids, painkillers, antibiotics, and antidepressants are among the prescription medications commonly found in rivers and streambeds, according to a spate of studies published over the past few years. The drugs, which come from both human...

A path to the future.(migration)(Bureau of Land Management)
September 1, 2005... EVERY AUTUMN FOR AT LEAST 7,000 YEARS, pronghorn antelope have departed the sagebrush flats in what is now Wyoming's Grand Teton National Park, setting out on a 270-mile round-trip journey between their winter habitat in the Upper Green River...

On the lookout.(Morro Coast Audubon)
September 1, 2005... IT WAS ON AN EARLY SPRING DAY LAST year that Steve Schubert of the Morro Coast Audubon Society set off with colleagues and family members into central California's Santa Lucia Wilderness Area. Clearing the trail of brush and poison oak as they...

Smuggling down under.(DISPATCHES ...)(law to import plant or animal products )(Brief Article)
September 1, 2005... After stopping a woman for a baggage check at the Melbourne, Australia, airport in early June, customs officials heard "flipping" noises coming from underneath her skirt. Further examination revealed a hidden apron holding 51 tropical fish...

All politics is local.(DISPATCHES ...)(climate change)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2005... When the U.S. government refused to join the 141 nations that signed the Kyoto Protocol this past February, Seattle mayor Greg Nickels decided to make climate change a local, rather than a national, issue. After an unusually warm and dry winter...

A hero for the age.(centennial)(Guy Bradley Day)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2005... On July 8, 1905, Guy Bradley was shot to death at Oyster Keys, just south of Flamingo, at the tip of the Florida Everglades. The Audubon warden was trying to arrest a notorious plume hunter. [paragraph] The world he knew has changed a lot since...

State of the bird.(migrations)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2005... Species: The western sandpiper (Calidris mauri) is distinguished from the semipalmated sandpiper by a usually slightly longer bill that droops at the tip and, in spring, by rust-colored blotches and black spots on its side. Status: Like...

West coast way station.(migrations)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2005... Washington State's Bowerman Basin may not match the celebrity of San Francisco Bay or Alaska's Copper River delta on the migrant shorebird stopover itinerary. But now impressive numbers and the basin's topography are changing that perception....

Nevada: from the expanses of the Mojave Desert to the rugged terrain of the Sierras, the Nevada landscape is filled with beautiful natural sites and majestic panoramas. It is also home to a vast range of wildlife, and to go in search of it, all you need is a good pair of binoculars and hiking boots. Because when you are in Nevada, you are ... where the wild things are.(Advertisement)
September 1, 2005... There is a great deal to do in Nevada, this quintessential state of the American west: hiking, biking, backcountry adventures, water sports, even air sports. The state's dramatically varying terrain makes it very attractive to a wide range of...

Decoding the egg: biologists have long wondered why some bird eggs hatch and others don't. Recent studies reveal that an embryo's development depends as much on its surrounding environment as it does on its mother.(true nature)
September 1, 2005... The flawless curve of its nacreous horizon, the shimmering gloss of its textured surface: nothing in nature is more perfect than a bird's egg. An egg holds all the makings for the without any of the messiness to come: the blood, the hunger, the...

The holy & the hawks: in one of the unlikeliest coalitions Washington has seen in years, the religious right, defense hard-liners, and environmentalists have joined forces to save the planet.
September 1, 2005... One man drives his Toyota Prius on God's behalf. The other drives his to fight terrorism. Although both men are longtime Washington, D.C., insiders, adept at working the corridors of power on Capitol Hill, the dissimilar worlds they belong to...

The final frontier: imagine a place called the boreal forest, an area so vast and intact that 3 billion birds gather there each year, giving it the greatest breeding-bird diversity of any place in North America. Next think of this forest as one big paper mill, being razed at a rate of five acres a minute, and you can see why a unique coalition is racing to save the boreal before it's too late.(FORESTS)
September 1, 2005... KEITH HOBSON, A RESEARCH SCIENTIST FOR THE CANADIAN Wildlife Service, stands in a cathedral of black spruce and jack pine, a highly sensitive recording device shaped like a short stack of pancakes mounted on a tripod in front of him. Hobson's...

Fertile ground.(boreal forest, Canada)
September 1, 2005... Canada's boreal forest stretches from the Atlantic Ocean to the Alaskan border. Its health is crucial to the survival of almost half of North America's bird species. Each year more than a billion of the 3 billion to 5 billion birds migrating...

Robin, Robin, wherefore art thou?(Cal Vornberger)
September 1, 2005... Four years ago this September, Cal Vornberger was preparing to launch a new career in travel photography. He had just returned to his apartment in uptown Manhattan after a summer abroad in France and Spain. His journeys had begun to yield a...

Madame butterfly: Camille Parmesan has been in the news after documenting the extent to which climate change has been affecting the wildlife of North America and Europe. With the science so sound and the consequences so grave, her call to action is much more than an academic exercise.(PROFILE)
September 1, 2005... IN THE LATE 1970s I WAS THE RESIDENT NATURALIST at a nature sanctuary in Mount Kisco, New York, an hour north of the city. On our Sunday morning bird walks we started noticing species that were unusual this far north: mockingbirds, tufted...

Trailmix: ever since Audubon published its first birding trail guide three years ago, new routes have been spiraling across the country. We take you to the latest and greatest.(BIRDING)
September 1, 2005... PENNSYLVANIA'S SUSQUEHANNA RIVER BIRDING TRAIL the big draw By David Howard IT SOUNDS LIKE A BRAINTEASER PULLED FROM THE PAGES OF A Mensa application: How do you create a tourist attraction where there was none before--no national...

Birding Maryland: the Chesapeake & more.(Advertisement)
September 1, 2005... Maryland, home of the Chesapeake Bay, is a land of winding rivers and wetlands; of rolling farmland; of historic towns and cities; and of the rugged Appalachian mountains and Allegheny plateau. The state's diverse natural habitats serve up a...

Nature's daredevil: high society bankrolled his exploits. Hollywood loved him. Radio listeners hung on his every word. So why is this once-famous naturalist now all but forgotten?(The Remarkable Life of William Beebe: Explorer and Naturalist)(Book Review)
September 1, 2005... The Remarkable Life of William Beebe: Explorer and Naturalist By Carol Grant Gould Island Press/Shearwater Books, 447 pages, $30 THE 16-YEAR-OLD WILLIAM BEEBE, already an inveterate birdwatcher and bug collector, exulted at the end of 1893...

The Fluoride Deception.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
September 1, 2005... The Fluoride Deception By Christopher Bryson Seven Stories Press, 374 pages, $24.95 Most people still think of fluoride as nothing more than a dentist's tool in the fight against cavities. Nonetheless, it's also a toxic chemical--used in...

Tiger Bone & Rhino Horn: The Destruction of Wildlife for Traditional Chinese Medicine.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
September 1, 2005... Tiger Bone & Rhino Horn: The Destruction of Wildlife for Traditional Chinese Medicine By Richard Ellis Island Press, 312 pages, $26.95 Instead of using synthetic remedies to cure their health woes, many Asians have increasingly turned to...

How to Be a (Bad) Birdwatcher.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
September 1, 2005... How to Be a (Bad) Birdwatcher By Simon Barnes Pantheon Books, 221 pages, $17.95 Can't tell a wrentit from a blue tit? Be not ashamed, says Simon Barnes. Join the ranks of "bad" birdwatchers, and hold your head high. Essayistic and droll,...

Art of the wild.(Birds: The Art of Ornithology)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
September 1, 2005... Jonathan Elphick's new book, Birds: The Art of Ornithology (Rizzoli, 335 pages, $60), reads like a chronological encyclopedia of bird artists, from Pliny the Elder to John James Audubon and John Gould through Roger Tory Peterson. The highlights...

One picture.(deformed frogs)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2005... SPECIFICATIONS Subject: Pacific treefrog collected at Aptos, California Technique: Flatbed scan YOU'RE LOOKING AT AN EXTRAORDINARY IMAGE OF A DEFORMED PACIFIC TREEFROG (Hyla regilla), a tiny amphibian found from southern British...