Innehållsförteckning för Summer 2021 från Audubon Magazine

A YEAR AGO, CAROLINA FRASER was lying on the hot, dusty earth in Los Novios Ranch in Texas, angling for a perfect shot. The roadrunner in her frame obliged, casting a glance back, just as the golden hour (and careful camera settings) dramatically backlit the arid scene. This year’s grand prize image was Fraser’s second winning snap for the Audubon Photography Awards. Five years ago, when she was 15, she took home the prize in the youth category. Coming full circle to win the 2021 contest—after a year that tested the resolve and creativity of many photographers—was especially meaningful to Fraser. Her win was also meaningful to us. We strive for the awards to be not just a platform for spectacular photography (although it is definitely that!) but also a…

LAST OCTOBER TWO MEN IN Indonesian Borneo noticed an unidentifiable red-eyed bird while on a forest foraging trip. They sent images to a local birding group, setting off a game of telephone as incredulous ornithologists circulated the photos around the world. The verdict: It was a Black-browed Babbler, last reported alive 170 years ago. “I just screamed,” says Indonesian ornithologist Panji Gusti Akbar. “It was quite an amazing moment.” Until its rediscovery, the Black-browed Babbler was a “lost” species—it was not officially extinct, according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, but it hadn’t been documented in the wild for at least a decade. The nonprofit Re:wild, which started a “Search for Lost Species” campaign in 2017, lists more than 2,000 such plants and animals in an online…

THE DAYLIGHT HAS FADED IN THE CARIBBEAN PORT OF Santa Marta, but high above the coast, the sun’s last rays sharpen the outlines of the white peaks of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta. From my vantage point at the Hotel Don Pepe’s rooftop bar, the glowing mountaintops form a jagged, triangular halo behind Tito Rodríguez, who rolls an unsipped bottle of beer between his palms. Rodríguez is the director of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta National Park, a natural wonderland that rises from Colombia’s Caribbean shore to nearly 19,000 feet in just 26 miles. The park ascends from beaches and mangroves through dry forests, rainforests, cloud forests, glaciers, and the tropical tundra known as páramo. Its steeply stacked microclimates support an exuberantly complex range of ecosystems and endemic…

COLLEGE JUNIOR Courtney Knerr, co-chair of the Tiger Audubon campus chapter in spring 2020, was cramming for an exam. Knerr’s partner, who was visiting Colorado College, in Colorado Springs, during his spring break, sat nearby planning the logistics for a Lawrence concert the couple hoped to attend. Then Colorado College announced the switch to remote learning. The campus emptied. Within days Knerr (who uses they/she pronouns) packed up their apartment, put most of their things in storage, drove three days and through a snowstorm to Pittsburgh to pack their partner’s dorm room, and returned home to Philadelphia. Some students elected to stay behind, including Knerr’s Tiger Audubon co-chair Mary Rudolph, who watched as the sprawling buffet in the cafeteria dwindled to a few food stations, professors began to teach behind…

“If you’re coming from a photography background, you must become a better birder. If you’re coming from a birding background, you must become a better photographer.”BLAKE SHAW “The more time you spend outside looking at birds, the more opportunities you will have to photograph something cool. It’s sometimes more about just being out there than being the most technically advanced.”MARLEE FULLER-MORRIS “Study art, even art that has nothing to do with birding. Visual art has its own language, and it’s worth taking the time to learn it. Find a painting that moves you and think about why it has such an impact.”KEVIN EBI “One of the most important things is to not have expectations. By having that clear mind, you have less tunnel vision and may notice more of the…

The exercise is based in protocol for inter-tribal meetings. “Whenever we go to someone’s land, we recognize ourselves as visitors on their territory, exchange cultural practices, and welcome one another,” says Allan Vicaire from the Mi’gmaq community of Listuguj and project coordinator with Concordia University’s Indigenous office. “Land acknowledgment continues with that tradition.” The formal statement, read aloud or shared in writing, honors the land and its original inhabitants, and expresses a commitment to connecting with their descendants today.…

ON A RECENT WARM DAY I BIKED along the Chicago River. Migrating songbirds sang in the trees, night-herons fished the site of a recently removed dam, and waterfowl lined the riverbank. In awe, I found myself saying, “neewe šikaakwa siipiiwi—thank you, Chicago River, for being here.” Before a forced removal to the West in the 1800s, my community—the Miami Tribe—called the southern Great Lakes, including Chicago, home. But many Chicagoans don’t know our history. That’s because America’s mythology depends on our omission. The idea of manifest destiny, taught in U.S. history classes, describes the land as empty and ripe for European colonists’ taking—even though Indigenous peoples have stewarded the landscape since time immemorial. Land acknowledgment chips away at that dominant, ahistorical narrative by countering stereotypes that Indigenous people are bygone…

1 GATHER MATERIALS Robins often build nests in trees from grass and twigs. Killdeer line a depression in the ground with small stones. What’s available to build your nest? Go outside and gather materials. Remember: Birds design nests to blend in with their surroundings. Hummingbirds may cover theirs with lichen, while robins strategically use paper scraps or string. 2 GIVE THEM SHAPE Experiment with different ways of shaping your materials. Like a bird, make sure your nest is strong enough to hold eggs and then growing chicks. Some birds use mud to cement their nests into cups. Others weave twigs together to form a base. Orioles knit grasses and other plant fibers into a sock-shaped nest and hang it from a tree branch. 3 ADD EGGS When your nest is…

AMONG NEARLY 800 WHITE-tailed deer spleens mailed to a Minnesota state lab in 2019 were three from Barry Sampson, who hunts with his nephews on his forested property. His samples—along with 61 percent of the total from varied landscapes across the state—were found to contain pesticides called neonicotinoids. “I am puzzled at how this got into the deer,” he says, “and I’m not happy about it.” The results, released in March, suggest how ubiquitous these chemicals have become in the environment, says Michelle Carstensen, the study’s leader at the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. Neonicotinoids, also called neonics, began replacing older bug-repelling chemicals in the arsenals of farmers, homeowners, and groundskeepers in the early 1990s. They are now the most widely used class of insecticides globally, found on nearly all…

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A SELF-DESCRIBED “social butterfly,” Adrian D’Mirez hated being cooped up in his apartment when California’s San Diego City College (SDCC) closed its campus and shifted online. “I am the type of person where I’ll email you, and if you don’t email me back I’ll knock on your door,” he says. “I couldn’t do that, so I just felt stuck for a little bit. I didn’t know how to move forward.” He fought that feeling by refocusing on two things he’s passionate about: nature and community service. As treasurer of the SDCC Audubon Club, D’Mirez and his fellow club members masked up and got to work doing ecosystem restoration for San Diego Audubon, the city’s long-existing chapter. They pulled weeds at Least Tern nesting sites, tended to baby native plants at…

Anyone pursuing bird photography beyond casual interest quickly realizes it’s expensive. “I don’t have a lot of disposable income, so it’s a matter of prioritizing,” says 2020 APA honorable mention awardee Natalie Robertson. “I want to become a professional—it’s an investment looking toward that.” Do a ton of research, set a budget, and scale the learning curve with what you can afford, she says. Her early setup was a Canon Rebel T3i camera, which she received as a gift and retailed for around $600 at the time, with a Canon 70-300mm f4-5.6 IS USM lens. “Once you use your equipment enough that you know it inside and out, and your skill level outweighs the capabilities of your equipment, that’s a good time to think about upgrading.” Robertson moved to a…

Photographers called out these growing issues. Don’t make them worse. Crowds Throngs of photographers can harm delicate habitats and birds, such as owls. Be cautious about sharing news of birds that may become “celebrities” as the word spreads. If you see a scrum, step back and kindly encourage others to do the same. Alteration Overedited photos aren’t new, but the practice may be more tempting with social media followings to feed. Aim for little alteration of wildlife scenes or images to show off nature’s authentic beauty. Drones Flying cameras are great for some purposes, but not for getting close to birds. Generally, drones cannot get good photos without stressing out a bird—so don’t try.…

There is no formula. Writing your land acknowledgment requires research, thought, and time with uncomfortable truths. Done well, it is not performative but rather expresses an authentic, personal relationship with the land and its native people. Indigenous experts offer some guidelines. LOCATION Identify the land you’re occupying or engaging with. Then name the group (or groups) with ancestral ties. Don’t acknowledge “Indigenous people” generally. “It’s important to be specific,” says Felicia Garcia, who is Samala Chumash and creator of landacknowledgements.org. Share cultural knowledge, too. Vicaire’s Concordia University, for example, acknowledges Montreal as a Kanien’kehá:ka (Mohawk) diplomatic and trade hub. LANGUAGE Use Indigenous language for group and place names. For example, a mural by artist Britt Freda (above), in collaboration with Washington’s Vashon Audubon Society, foregrounds the sxw babš in their…

Get started with these resources. Native Land is a tool that uses your zip code to drill down into native territories, languages, and treaties—each a keyword to unlocking more information. Go to native-land.ca. Cultural institutions point you to knowledge and experts. Indigenous scholars at universities and museums can answer questions or confirm language and pronunciation. Tribal governments can be excellent resources. However, ensure you’re not seeking approval, Vicaire says. Be respectful if tribes don’t help. “They have their own challenges.” Examples online can provide models to follow and inspiration. Glean language tips and, along the way, absorb a variety of Indigenous experiences.…

Wings are one of birds’ most impressive adaptations. They have evolved to be exactly the right shape birds need to flap, glide, hover, or soar. You can explore bird flight by folding paper airplanes, starting with the high-speed wings of a Peregrine Falcon. For three more wing designs, go to audubon.org/paperwings. Instructions: Some birds are as tall as kids. How do you compare? For more summer fun, go to www.audubon.org/kids.…

Each bird has a beak, or bill, specially equipped for its lifestyle. Cardinals have thick beaks to crack seeds. Herons spear fish with long, daggerlike beaks. Hummingbirds sip flower nectar from tubelike beaks. And warblers have thin, sharp beaks for grasping insects. Go outside and observe birds’ beaks. Then try some out yourself. Gather “beaks,” like a clothespin, chopsticks, drinking straw, and tweezers. Next assemble “food,” like uncooked rice (“seeds”), macaroni in water (“fish”), juice (“nectar”), and pennies (“insects”). Choose a beak and gather as much food as possible in one minute. Try again with different beaks. Which combination was easiest?…

Birds are telling us we are in a climate emergency and it is wreaking havoc on our communities, our lands, and our waters. And if climate change continues unchecked, two-thirds of North American bird species are at risk of disappearing forever. Birds may be in trouble, but with your ongoing commitment, we can turn things around. Help Audubon take bold action to protect birds and reverse climate change by becoming a monthly donor today. For as little as $15 a month (just 50 cents a day), your consistent, reliable support will help Audubon act on climate and protect birds and the places they need to survive and thrive…every day. Become a monthly donor today! Go to audubon.org/monthly.…

PROLOGUE: CHARLY SMELLS A RAT Juan Carlos Ruiz Miranda had spent many early mornings chasing furry pests from his garden on Isla Natividad, a windy stretch of sand off Mexico’s Baja California Peninsula. If it wasn’t an invasive ground squirrel, known locally as the juancito, bothering his plants, it was a tiny cactus mouse—Natividad’s only native terrestrial mammal. But one morning before dawn in spring 2019, as he returned home from a shift at the water treatment facility, Charly (as he’s known to Natividad’s 300-odd residents) spotted an unusual body skittering past his mallow bush. Its outline was that of an out-of-place critter, but since he saw barely a shadow, Charly dismissed it. He next glimpsed the four-legged creature about a month later, in the wee hours of June 14.…

JOSHUA BELLAMY was ready to build bird boxes to attract Eastern Bluebirds and Carolina Wrens. He had collected the materials at the student maker space and selected sites across Morehouse College, in Atlanta, Georgia, for boxes. A passionate nature enthusiast, Bellamy started working in environmental education in high school and in his junior year joined Morehouse MoreGreen, the college’s environmental club. Both Bellamy and Curtis Dodds, the club’s founder and an applied physics major, saw Morehouse MoreGreen as a fun outlet for educating students and school staff about crucial environmental issues. Ideally, it would also help students break away from stereotypes about Black people in nature, says Bellamy. “I wanted to see more people of color, especially Black people, in conservation and in this field because there’s a lack of…

Eye on the Prize In our last holiday gift guide, Audubon recommended the Canon EOS R5 camera ($3,899), released in July 2020. The mirrorless camera’s superb image quality, ergonomic design, and excellent 8k video capture—enabled by a 45-megapixel full-frame sensor—impressed our tester. The R5’s autofocus feature and animal-eye detection technology, which zeroes in on a bird’s face, was also a selling point. In our survey, the product earned raves in response to our open-ended question about the best purchase related to bird photography made this year. It is “all the rage,” says one respondent, calling the animal-eye detection an “amazing addition, along with its light weight.” Another called the R5 “absolutely insane,” with its “arguably game-changing autofocus system.” Still another, Natalie Robertson (left) praised its high-quality images in low light.…

Birders have a norm around: “What can I cross off my list at this place?” Land acknowledgment leads to deeper engagement with cultural and social dynamics of land we’re visiting. At a meeting, before we delve into work, we recognize historical wrongs that need to be righted. We are actively looking to support tribes’ priorities. Making the statement can be uncomfortable. It requires constant learning and adjusting. There is no perfect way to say it. But are we better off saying it or keeping quiet about it? That’s where I tend to come down. —Trina Bayard, director of bird conservation, Audubon Washington In science-based management plans, we talk about plants and soils. Those patterns incorporate traditional knowledge. Many Indigenous cultures had a low-intensity way of working the land, which created…

THERE’S A STORYBOOK QUALITY TO JOHN JAMES AUDUBON’S WORK THAT INTRIGUES ILLUSTRATOR Phil Wheeler. Birds interact with each other, and with their environment, like a narrative unfolding. “They’re scientific,” he says, and yet “they’re very alive.” After poring over Audubon’s paintings, Wheeler chose the American Avocet for its gangly charm. “They’re so awkward, but at the same time, quite elegant.” In pose and coloring, his wader honors the original. But stylized vegetation and crepuscular light hint at otherworldly terrain. “The detail in the background is, for me, as fascinating as the birds,” he says. Stipples and stripes are common motifs in his art, created in Photoshop. “I go back and find textures and patterns that I’ve made previously and repurpose them,” he says. In this piece, some designs stem from…