Indholdsfortegnelse for Spring 2017 i Audubon Magazine

TARGET LOCKED Snail Kites soar over Florida wetlands, scanning for apple snails below. When the birds spot their prey, they turn in toward the wind, spread their wings wide, drop, and grab their quarry in an acrobatic assault that generates the merest splash. Mac Stone has spent weeks on Lake Okeechobee, where most of the nation’s nearly 2,100 Snail Kites reside, capturing intimate portraits of the endangered raptors. He’s collaborating with biologists monitoring kites’ nesting success and diet, which consists almost entirely of apple snails. This bird is about to grasp a snail on a submerged platform outfitted with a camera, which Stone triggered from 20 yards away. (Audubon opposes baiting birds of prey for photography, but makes exceptions for projects done with scientists, like this one.) EXOTIC FARE The…

Young Voices I heartily commend Audubon for its article “The Kids Are Not All Right” in the winter 2016 issue. Our Children’s Trust’s approach of having children be plaintiffs in lawsuits to force federal and state governments to move faster toward policies and actions addressing climate change is brilliant. ben emory salisbury cove, me “The Kids Are Not All Right” is a perfect example of a controversial cause that Audubon has chosen to champion by prominently featuring it as a lead story, with no consequential opposing view included. These kids are clearly not experts in anything, and this article is a Disney-fication of the issue. Readers are supposed to have their heartstrings tugged to “root for” a spunky group of kids who take on the United States government. I will…

In his first months in office, president trump and the 115th Congress have launched a blitzkrieg of anti-environmental actions, aimed at undermining and axing policies deemed “unnecessary” and “out of control.” So far, their arsenal has included censorship, draconian bills, and proposed budget cuts, but they’ve also made more subtle attempts to discredit scientists and conservation. In essence, they’re laying out the groundwork to drastically roll back environmental progress and clear the way for fossil fuels and other industries—at the expense of avian and human health. Here’s a look at the new government’s biggest targets, along with a forecast of the toughest fights to come. Audubon in Action: For continued coverage on these assaults on the environment, visit audubon.org. If you want to take a stand for the well-being of birds…

SAFE SPACE The Macal River (above) winds through western Belize. Two Scarlet Macaw chicks sit in their nest in the cavity of a quamwood tree in Belize’s Chiquibul Forest. The scarlet macaw’s last, best defense against wildlife poachers doesn’t look like much: just a ramshackle collection of tarps, makeshift tables, plastic five-gallon buckets, jungle hammocks, and a cook fire, hidden in the dense understory of a tropical hardwood forest near the fraught and uncomfortably porous border between Belize and Guatemala. It’s taken us hours to get here—the first leg an overland journey from San Ignacio in the Cayo District of western Belize, haggling our way through military and ranger checkpoints and bumping over red dirt roads that are more rock and ravine than actual thoroughfares. But reaching the banks of…

Grasslands may be the most endangered habitat in the United States, with only 1 percent of the native prairie remaining. As the vast landscape is paved and tilled, Western Meadowlarks, Sharp-tailed Grouse, and other species dependent on the rich ecosystem are disappearing. To stem those losses, a new initiative is helping ranchers restore the large swaths of prairie where they graze cattle. Audubon’s Conservation Ranching Program has paired private landowners in seven states with local ecologists who guide them through sustainable grazing practices and other land-management systems that create vital habitats for birds. Cattle owners who commit to the program get to brand their beef with Audubon’s “Grazed on Bird-Friendly Land” label and sell it on a premium market for an extra 50 cents to $2 per pound. So far…

PARIAH The Lesser Prairie-Chicken was booted off the endangered species list last year—a win for ESA naysayers. Forty-four years ago, the Endangered Species Act (ESA) passed the U.S. Senate with a vote of 92 to zero. But the law has come under attack in decades since. Currently, 14 state attorneys general are asking the Trump administration to revise the law, and the chairman of the House Committee on Natural Resources is threatening to repeal it. An outright repeal would be extremely challenging. Even if every Republican senator voted to scrap the law, they would need to sway eight Democrats to overcome a filibuster. Given that the ESA is still popular among the masses—a 2015 survey shows that 90 percent of Americans support it to some degree—that’s highly unlikely. A more…

spring is an irresistible season for photographers: Birds arrive en masse, following the warm weather, longer days, and resurgent food supply, and in their showiest plumage. Warblers, grassland birds, and wading birds all look more spectacular at this time of year, and if you catch them in the mood, they often exhibit behavior to match. This seasonal transformation serves birds well by attracting mates. It also presents photographers with an enticing challenge: puzzling out how to best set off and showcase the rich colors and textures on display. Grail Bird White-morph Reddish Egret Dark-morph Reddish Egrets can be easily found, but the white morph is a scarce prize—especially in breeding colors, with pink bill, violet face, and blue legs. Search tidal flats along the Gulf Coast in early spring, or…

BAND TOGETHER A Wilson’s Warbler is banded in Ohio to track how and when songbirds use critical stopover habitat. Two things have become clear since the November election.The first is this: An administration is coming into power promising to rework policies and practices that have effectively protected clean air, clean water, and the places birds need for more than four decades. There’s no question that bureaucracies need periodic pruning, but Audubonis committed to defending core principles and places. The Endangered Species Act and the Arctic Wilderness Act are just two examples that spring to mind. Even while we’re working to limit the harm to those bedrocks of American conservation, we’ll be collaborating with the agencies that are still committed to doing billions of dollars of work on wetlands, coastlines, forests,…

Jay pitocchelli has worn many different hats—professor, ornithologist, sound technician— but he never thought he’d be an expert on Canadian accents. Twelve years ago, Pitocchelli recorded Mourning Warblers on their various breeding grounds across Southern Canada and the Northeast United States. Back in his lab at Saint Anselm College in New Hampshire, Pitocchelli noticed an unusual pattern in the sonograms he’d made: Mourning Warblers in different breeding “neighborhoods” had their own unique songs. The species, he discovered, is a regiolect songbird, meaning each regional population has a distinct dialect. (The phenomenon is well known in some birds, such as White-crowned Sparrows and Blue Tits, but hasn’t been documented in many warblers.) One Mourning Warbler population, for instance, will sing the same song over hundreds of miles, but when there’s a…

COMFORT ZONE Penguin quickly became the sixth member of our family, and she developed an especially close relationship with Sam (far left). In the early morning she’d often zip into a bedroom, plop onto the covers, and get some extra sleep. Waking up in a remote coastal village on our second day in Thailand, my wife, Sam, and I thought the trip with our three sons was turning out to be the dream family adventure we’d hoped it would be. Then the unthinkable happened. As we sipped fresh papaya juice on a rooftop viewing deck, the safety fence Sam was leaning against collapsed. She plunged to the tiles 20 feet below. It was seven months before Sam was released from the spinal ward back home in Australia. She had lost…

birding festivals have exploded in popularity all over the continent during the past three decades. Beginner-friendly events, like the Biggest Week in American Birding, held at a warbler hotspot in Ohio in May, swell during spring migration and pack a plethora of birding activities into a few days: field trips, talks, social gatherings, and often a lineup of vendors and exhibitors. Festivals offer unparalleled chances to learn, see new birds, and make new friends. So get out and start exploring. —Kenn Kaufman Grail Bird Rock Sandpiper Most nesting sites are in remote areas of western Alaska, and even in midwinter these shorebirds are uncommon south of Canada. But large numbers of Rock Sandpipers winter near Homer, Alaska, and lingerers are regularly spotted during the Kachemak Bay Shorebird Festival in May.…