Indholdsfortegnelse for Summer 2024 i Audubon Magazine

Paint the Town The Audubon Mural Project uses public art to showcase birds highly vulnerable to a changing climate. Now communities are putting their own spin on the effort. AN UNUSUAL FLOCK IS TAKING FLIGHT: storefront sparrows, grouses on grates, walls full of warblers. As part of the Audubon Mural Project, more than 100 such works have proliferated in New York City, where the public-art initiative featuring climate-threatened bird species launched in 2014. Now, the murals are winging their way across the country—from a Black Rail peering into a Washington, D.C., park, to a White-crowned Sparrow alighting on a campus in San Diego. “I can’t think of anything better than a bird mural in your community,” says Jennifer Kuroda, president of Sinnissippi Audubon, who spearheaded the first chapter-led Audubon Mural…

Three billion North American birds have been lost since 1970. For half a century, bird populations have been in precipitous decline, driven by habitat loss and, more recently, climate change. Audubon is committed to a future where birds thrive. We will reverse this alarming decline and bend the bird curve upwards.…

We imagine a world where birds thrive throughout the Americas. Achieving that vision requires a clear set of milestones that will keep us on track and ensure that our efforts deliver the biggest possible positive impact—for birds, people, and the planet. That’s why we established Flight Plan: Audubon’s 2023-2028 Strategic Plan. As a member, you’re helping to fuel our plan and create the brighter future we all desire. Thank you for joining us in this exciting endeavor. MILESTONES: HABITAT CONSERVATION Using science to identify, protect, and conserve 300 million acres of bird habitat across the Americas CLIMATE ACTION Deploying 100 gigawatts of renewable energy and storing 30 billion tons of carbon through natural climate solutions POLICY LEADERSHIP Pairing diplomacy with advocacy to develop and implement bird-friendly solutions BUILDING COMMUNITY Creating…

FOR LAURIE EZZELL BROWN, local news has always been a family affair. Her dad was the longtime owner and publisher of The Canadian Record, a weekly paper serving the small Texas Panhandle town of Canadian since 1893. She spent much of her childhood in the newsroom, placing ads and setting type. “You’re in the business whether you like it or not,” Brown says. She liked it, so when her father died in 1993, she stepped up as editor. Brown was proud to dig deep on environmental issues her neighbors cared about, such as groundwater depletion and pollution from industrial hog farming. But over the years, keeping a newspaper afloat became grueling. She tried to sell but couldn’t find the right buyer. Finally, in March 2023, she made the heartbreaking decision…

A YEAR AGO, A GOLDEN EAGLE approaching the Glenrock/Rolling Hills wind farm in Wyoming might have seen a dangerous optical illusion: A turbine’s blades, spinning at more than 150 miles per hour, would appear not as solid objects to be avoided, but as a blur the bird could fly through. Scientists believe this disorienting visual phenomenon, known as motion smear, contributes to the collisions that kill an estimated 140,000 to 679,000 birds per year at wind farms in the United States. The same eagle soaring over the area’s scrubby sagebrush today will see warning signs. Those once indistinct and innocuous-seeming blurs will present clearly as physical masses, signaling to birds that they should steer clear. Such is the hope, anyway, of a study now testing a surprisingly simple tool for making…

Want to create a mural and wondering where to start? Follow these pointers, and for more detailed advice, email muralproject@audubon.org for a copy of the Audubon Mural Project Toolkit. CHOOSE YOUR STAR Your mural should feature birds that have been identified as vulnerable to extinction from climate change. Go to Audubon’s Birds and Climate Visualizer at climate.audubon.org to search for species relevant to your region. SELECT A SITE Look for a location where your mural will be visible to the public free of charge. You can get creative here: Many of the project’s early murals appeared on metal grates covering storefronts and ranged in size from huge walls to tiny alcoves. FIND YOUR FUNDS You’ll need to budget for expenses from paint and equipment rentals to an artist fee. Consider…

There’s no denying the scale of the challenges facing our birds and environment today. To make a meaningful, lasting difference when it comes to protecting birds and the places they need, we must act at a hemispheric level to curb habitat loss, advocate for green policies and programs, and enlist the broad support of community members to act on behalf of the birds we love. This is an ambitious endeavor, but it’s one we’re prepared to undertake. To help ensure our success, we have established a series of quantitative milestones that unite and focus all of Audubon on the important work ahead. We’re also building a rigorous system for tracking progress against all of Flight Plan’s milestones so we can keep a close eye on which strategies are working, where…

Audubon’s Survival by Degrees report showed that two-thirds of North American bird species may face unlivable conditions across their current ranges by 2080. By advocating for the rapid development of bird-friendly clean energy, we can reduce the growing impacts of climate change. One gigawatt powers about 750,000 households for a year; we will support the deployment of 100 times that much energy. In addition, we will take advantage of nature’s ability to store carbon in forests, grasslands, wetlands, and other healthy habitats. Capturing carbon in plants and soil reduces carbon dioxide in our atmosphere and helps protect vital bird habitats—a win-win for birds and the climate. SUNZIA TRANSMISSION LINE Audubon collaborated on the SunZia transmission project in New Mexico and Arizona—one of the largest clean energy infrastructure projects in U.S.…

The ability of birds to bring people together has always been one of Audubon’s great strengths. Through Flight Plan, we are making movement-building a top priority—activating our chapters, transforming our Conservation Action Centers, and engaging new members across the hemisphere. We are also adopting meaningful practices that will promote equity, diversity, inclusion, and belonging (EDIB) within Audubon and throughout the conservation community. Our EDIB conservation principles are informing our priorities and ensuring our projects reflect the needs of local communities. Working collectively, we will spark people’s joy of birds, provide engagement and education opportunities, and help build the next generation of conservationists. CENTERS TRANSFORMATION Audubon’s 32 Conservation Action Centers serve as local hubs where curious and passionate visitors can learn about the role their neighborhood birds play in hemispheric flyways.…

SINCE 2009 A VOLUNTARY FEDERAL permit program has offered wind-energy companies a trade-off: If they adopt certain technologies or practices to prevent collisions, they’ll be shielded from prosecution under the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act if their turbines injure or kill those birds. The problem? Deterred by high fees and a slow application process, very few companies have enrolled. New rules that took effect this April seek to change that. Wind projects that pose a low risk to eagles can now apply for a faster, less expensive permit. Conservationists hope that will convince more operators to take part, and consequently decrease the harm to wildlife in meeting the nation’s climate goals. To receive a permit, projects must take steps to prevent collisions and purchase credits—designed to offset deaths from…

MOLTING CAN LEAVE BIRDS LOOKING LIKE ZOMBIES, insomniacs, or, in the case of this European Starling, 1 Elvis impersonators. Spy a bald bird in late summer? Northern Cardinals 2 and Blue Jays 3 sometimes drop their head plumes all at once; take the chance to admire usually hidden features like their ear cavities. Many songbirds, including the American Goldfinch 4, molt twice a year. After breeding season the finches swap brilliant yellow feathers for duller brown ones, restoring their vibrancy come spring. Have some empathy for all of these ragamuffins: Molting demands lots of energy, and birds are more vulnerable during the process. Always give molting birds plenty of space, and help them out by keeping your feeders full!…

Audubon is a conservation organization that is meeting the urgency of our moment through the unifying power of birds. To achieve that mission, we are bringing individuals of diverse backgrounds and perspectives together to protect birds and the places they need. Every one of us can play a role in achieving that vital effort. Flight Plan lays out a clear roadmap to reverse the catastrophic decline in birds we’ve witnessed, including the more than three billion birds that have vanished from North America during my lifetime. We must act now—together—to change that trajectory by mitigating the effects of habitat loss and climate change. DRIVING CHANGE At the heart of Flight Plan are three drivers that underpin everything we do at Audubon: • Taking a hemispheric approach to conservation by working across…

Protecting birds means protecting the places they rely on throughout their life cycles. That work takes many forms—from advancing bird-friendly farming practices and reclaiming wetlands to designating new protected areas. It also takes us to many places, both within and beyond the United States. By engaging a wide range of new international partners and collaborators, Flight Plan is harnessing the strength of our hemispheric organization to mitigate climate change and biodiversity loss and protect more places that birds rely on—from the northern wilderness of Canada to the southern tip of Chile. CONSERVA AVES Through our Conserva Aves hemispheric initiative, Audubon, BirdLife International, American Bird Conservancy, the Network of Latin American and Caribbean Environmental Funds (RedLAC), and other partners provide grants to fund high-impact land protection efforts run by community groups,…

From the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and the Endangered Species Act to the Inflation Reduction Act, Audubon members have always spoken up—loudly, consistently, and effectively—to protect birds and our environment. Public policy and funding can have a tremendous effect on the largest issues facing our planet. As a science-backed, non-partisan advocate, we influence hearts and minds in our nation’s capital and throughout the hemisphere. Through Flight Plan, we will secure the passage of critical legislation to protect important bird areas and address the mounting threats associated with our changing climate. GREAT SALT LAKE In the face of historically low water levels that have dramatically impacted birds and people throughout the region, Audubon drove the development of a bill that would create the Great Salt Lake Watershed Enhancement Trust. The legislation…

Together, we can create a world full of birdsong, with abundant precious and protected places for wildlife to thrive. We can bend the bird curve on a hemispheric scale and establish a more effective, more energetic Audubon movement than ever before. And we have a plan to get it done. Please join with us to support Flight Plan by taking action today—volunteering with your local chapter, contacting a lawmaker to advocate for bird-friendly policies, or donating to Audubon to advance our hemisphere-spanning and world-changing work. Thank you for all you do on behalf of birds. Learn more about Flight Plan and how you can help: Cover: Black Skimmers rely on shorelines and wetlands from the Atlantic seaboard to the Amazon rainforest.…