Audubon articles from September 2007

Audubon archives from September 2007

Audubon view.(Viewpoint essay)
September 1, 2007... What were we thinking? We dump more than 21 million tons of greenhouse-gas pollution into the atmosphere every day. Did we think it wouldn't matter? Unlike some other pollutants that dissipate over time or that weaken as they become...

State of the birds.(Letters from our readers)(Letter to the editor)
September 1, 2007... Wildfire habitats created by humans can also be readily removed by them, a fact we must accept if we are to understand why common birds are losing ground [Common Birds in Decline," July-August]. The principal cause is economically driven...

Offsetting jet-setting.(Letters from our readers)(Letter to the editor)
September 1, 2007... The article on carbon-neutral travel ["Step Lightly, Please," July-August] made some good points. It's a great idea to help fund renewable energy projects, although they tend to include tax subsidies. I see tree planting as the most "beautiful"...

Air care.(Letters from our readers)(Letter to the editor)
September 1, 2007... I have not seen a more slanted, biased, and unfair attack on the commercial air tour industry than Ted Williams's article "Wish You Weren't Here" [July-August]. Had he done any research other than that which fit his agenda, or spent any time...

Sound of silence.(Letters from our readers)(Letter to the editor)
September 1, 2007... Frank Graham's essay "Deafening Silence" [July-August] confirmed my own observations. I have lived in Warren, New Jersey, for over 40 years, reveling in the fields and woods that afforded habitats for local and transient birds. From my front...

Warning: throw up.(field notes)(Brief article)
September 1, 2007... A recent study shows that some species of caterpillar warn predators by making clicking noises before they use their last line of defense--throwing up. "Their primary means to get away from a predator is to just hide and not be noticed," says...

The muckrakers.(THE EVERGLADES)
September 1, 2007... WITH AN EXTENDED DROUGHT causing record low water levels in Lake Okeechobee, the heart and lungs of the Everglades, engineers in Florida recently raced into action--sending swarms of bulldozers and backhoes to scrape newly exposed,...

Green rockers.(field notes)(Smog Veil goes environment friendly)(Brief article)
September 1, 2007... Today, with so much free music being downloaded, the record industry faces hard times. But Chicago-based independent label Smog Veil has a long-range business plan that should keep its books in the black and everyone's air clear. The company,...

Devil in danger.(field notes)(Tasmanian devil facial tumor disease)(Brief article)
September 1, 2007... The Looney Tunes character Taz, based on the Tasmanian devil in Australia, may appear fearsome as he whirls about in a blur of brown fur, but that won't stop his cartoon pals from helping out his real-life counterparts. Warner Brothers,...

All clear.(WILDLIFE CORRIDORS)(safe route for wildlife)
September 1, 2007... HIGH IN THE COLORADO ROCKIES, Interstate 70 crests over Vail Pass, cutting a four-lane asphalt slash through the surrounding national forests that carries 20,000 cars and trucks daily. In recent years dozens of animals have been killed trying...

Copycat songbirds.(field notes)(song sparrows)(Brief article)
September 1, 2007... Male song sparrows love to belt out their melodic repertoire. But their songs are not original creations. On the contrary, they borrow heavily from older birds' tunes. Each learns several songs from influential elders, and then personalizes...

Leading the charge.(Q&A: STEPHEN SCHNEIDER)(Interview)
September 1, 2007... Stephen Schneider, one of the nation's most outspoken scientists, has been calling for a sharp drop in greenhouse-gas emissions since the 1980s. He has authored or coauthored hundreds of scientific papers, book chapters, and other works related...

Tag, you're it.(field notes)(putting tags on marine animals)(Brief article)
September 1, 2007... As climate change and overfishing threaten ocean life, keeping tabs on marine animals is vital to conservation. But finding them isn't as easy as hide-and seek it takes a sophisticated version of tag. The Ocean Tracking Network (OTN), a...

Fooling with paradise.(ALASKA)(Northern Dynasty Mines' plan for Bristol Bay draws flak)
September 1, 2007... OVER THE YEARS Robert Glenn Ketchum's arresting photos and dogged environmental advocacy have helped preserve endangered lands from Arizona to the Adirondacks. In 1998 Audubon ranked him among the 20th century's most influential environmental...

Surf's up: when a giant wall of water turns a tranquil river into a raging monster, hold on tight for a wild ride atop a strange hydrological phenomenon known as a tidal bore.(True Nature)
September 1, 2007... Burton Matthews checks his watch, then scans the placid, empty bay with the dubious eye of a man who makes his living in troubled waters. All around our motorized Zodiac boat, brick-colored mudflats and sandbars glisten in the sun. It's 2:30 on...

Come one come Aull: on the 50th anniversary of one of the nation's premier nature centers, our writer, who has frequented it for more than half of its life, reflects on its recipe for success.(Audubon Center)(Aullwood Audubon Center and Farm)
September 1, 2007... Two school buses appeared as splotches of bright yellow against the spring foliage along a road winding into Aullwood. Catching sight of them, a fortyish man named Chris Rowlands--naturalist, minstrel, bubbly clown, sporting a shaved...

Seeking higher ground: the Bermuda petrel was presumed extinct for more than 300 years until it was rediscovered a half-century ago on a cluster of tiny, low-slung islands. Now, with seas rising, an emergency rescue operation is racing the clock to prevent the last of its kind from becoming shipwrecked.(GLOBAL WARMING)(Cover story)
September 1, 2007... Jeremy Madeiros has to watch the swells carefully to time his leap from the boat onto a light-gray limestone shelf so jagged and sharp it would shred his skin if he happened to fall. Less than half an acre and only, at its highest point, about...

The borderlands: as the bitter debate over illegal immigration to the United States rages, the first of many planned barriers, a 295-mile-long wall, is being built through a remote desert corridor along the U.S.-Mexico border. This spells trouble, not just for people but for the jaguar, the Sonoran pronghorn, the cactus ferruginous pygmy owl, and other imperiled animals that are already struggling to survive.(DEAD END)
September 1, 2007... In the long yellow light of an Arizona afternoon, a young wildfire biologist named Emil McCain walks down a dry creek bed, eyes fixed on the dirt. "Sometimes I'll run smack into a tree branch," he laughs. "I'm always watching the ground." This...

Walk this way: a trip to a Kenyan national park yields a bumper crop of elephants, along with some positive news about the future of these massive, magnificent animals.(PHOTO ESSAY)(Tsavo National Park)
September 1, 2007... As the elephants in my viewfinder kept getting larger and larger, I started to panic, frantically asking Simon Trevor, a filmmaker and former game warden, "What do I do? What do I do?" "Shhhhhh" was his only response. With shaky legs, I...

Grass is ... greener: with demand soaring for alternative fuels, the market for corn-derived ethanol is hotter than ever. But there's another promising source of energy now growing on the American prairie. And unlike corn, this biofuel could power our cars at a much lower cost to the planet.(ENERGY)
September 1, 2007... When European settlers emerged from eastern forests onto the prairies, they encountered what at first seemed like an alien and hostile landscape: a veritable sea of tall grasses, with almost no wood for building homes and fences. But before too...

Green guru: advice for the eco-minded.
September 1, 2007... I'm switching over to environmentally friendly cleaning products, but what should I do with the old, toxic ones? Trash them? Use them? Push them to the back of the cabinet? Jennifer Thorn, Charleston, SC Toxic chemicals--whether from...

Free love: acorn woodpeckers may be noisy birds with clown faces, but their lives are like Greek tragedies, with communal mating and skirmishes over acorn granaries.(Birds)
September 1, 2007... On a sunny day in May, Walter Koenig is balancing atop a 40-foot extension ladder raised straight into the sky in the Hastings Natural History Reservation, 2,350 acres of rolling hills in the Santa Lucia Mountains of Monterey County,...

Findings: Essays on the Natural and Unnatural World.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 1, 2007... Findings: Essays on the Natural and Unnatural World By Kathleen Jamie Graywolf Press, 164 pages, $14 Kathleen Jamie was attempting to explore the beach's shoreline, but all she could really focus on was the steady downpour. "Walking in...

Roger Tory Peterson: A Biography.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 1, 2007... Roger Tory Peterson: A Biography By Douglas Carlson University of Texas Press, 304 pages, $24.95 Roger Tory Peterson's singular obsession with birds, which he called "the most vivid expression of life," made him a pioneer in the birding...

Nature's protector and provocateur: Rachel Carson spawned the modern-day environmental movement and an everlasting legion of admirers. Nearly a half-century after the publication of Silent Spring, she also inspires vitriolic lunacy from a vocal minority of bashers.
September 1, 2007... Gentle Subversive: Rachel Carson, Silent Spring, and the Rise of the Environmental Movement By Mark H. Lytle. Oxford University Press, 288 pages, $23 Courage for the Earth: Writers, Scientists, and Activists Celebrate the Life and Writing...

The Unnatural History of the Sea.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 1, 2007... The Unnatural History of the Sea By Callum Roberts Island Press, 392 pages, 528 Marvelous creatures, large and small, inhabit the sea. But in many places the marine life remaining today is a mere sliver of the abundant and diverse panoply...

Art of the wild.(Scott Ian Barry's new book 'Wolf Empire: An Intimate Portrait of a Species')(Brief article)(Book review)
September 1, 2007... Award-winning photographer Scott Ian Barry's deep personal connection with wolves is on full display in his gorgeous book Wolf Empire: An Intimate Portrait of a Species (The Lyons Press, 208 pages, $29.95). Nearly 100 arresting black-and-white...

One Well: The Story of Water on Earth.(Brief article)(Book review)(Children's review)
September 1, 2007... One Well: The Story of Water on Earth By Rochelle Strauss/Illustrated by Rosemary Woods Kids Can Press, 32 pages, $17.9.5 (ages 8 and up) The earth's surface is nearly 70 percent water, so why do we need to conserve what we use? Rochelle...

Face to Face With Grizzlies.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 1, 2007... Face to Face With Grizzlies By Joel Sartore National Geographic Society, 32 pages, $16.95 (ages 6-9) In Face to Face With Grizzlies, award-winning photographer and regular Audubon contributor Joel Sartore gets up close and personal with...

Accentuate the negative.(One Picture)(Brief article)
September 1, 2007... There's a hot controversy brewing about whether America's cities and counties should be held accountable for greenhouse-gas emissions caused by poorly planned suburban sprawl. California's attorney general has sued rapidly growing San...