Innholdsfortegnelse for Fall 2018 i Audubon Magazine

To sequence DNA for the colossal OpenWings project, bits of birds from museum collections are sent to collaborators around the country. Here’s what happens next: Step 1: Extraction Scientists draw flecks of skin from a specimen’s toe pad or from live tissue samples stored in liquid nitrogen and cryogenic freezers. Step 2: Labeling They then attach a microscopic genetic tag to pieces of collected DNA. This allows samples to be mixed together without losing track of which bird goes with which sequence. Step 3: Reduction In a process known as “enrichment,” experts shrink the genome down to four million base pairs—less than half a percent of its original size—to infer genetic relationships. Step 4: Sequencing Reduced genomes from about 200 species are then remixed and inserted into an advanced sequencing…

HIGH IN THE CANOPY OF A 200-foot Douglas fir, a drone hovers and buzzes, a thermal-imaging camera strapped to its landing gear. Far below, Matt Pickett and Jim Rivers study the image it transmits on a tablet. They fixate on a white-hot blob among the magentas and reds. The flare could be sunlight splashing off a branch—or it could be a rare seabird squatting on its nest. Pickett, president of the environmental-tech nonprofit Oceans Unmanned, and Rivers, a professor of animal ecology at Oregon State University (OSU), are testing unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) that can, in theory, detect the body heat of Marbled Murrelets. The experiment is part of the Oregon Marbled Murrelet Project, an effort launched by OSU in 2015 to understand the nesting needs of the elusive and…

WITH ITS LUSH, TIDY PLANT BEDS AND outdoor benches, the office compound in Markham, a suburb of Toronto, seemed park-like on a mid-July morning. Ontario had little rain this summer; forest fires raged in provincial parks. But the trees, shrubs, flowers, and lawns of this corporate campus were damp and green. Michael Mesure stood in the center of the complex, taking stock. A few months earlier, the property manager had asked him for an assessment. “When a building contacts us, it is because there are dead birds in front,” Mesure said, pointing to a glass façade that mirrored the verdant canopy. “The birds move from tree to tree gobbling up insects, and unbeknownst to them, the tree they are flying toward is the one they just left.” Mesure, cofounder of…

AS BIRDS THAT MAY BE ON THE WING FOR days at a time, swifts sometimes wander or are driven far outside their normal ranges. In the summer of 1972, two Antillean Palm-Swifts from the Caribbean spent five weeks in Key West, Florida. Another tropical species, the White-collared Swift, has swooped through Texas and Florida a few times, with scattered sightings as far north as Ontario, Michigan, and Northern California. In the far north, three of the heftiest members of this family have crossed into Alaska: the widespread Common Swift of Eurasia and Africa, and the White-throated Needletail and Pacific Swift from Asia. The latter has appeared over the Aleutian Islands in flocks of up to 40 individuals. The Common Swift is a remarkable adventurer. It’s crossed the Atlantic to Puerto…

PART OF THE CHARM OF Chimney and Vaux’s Swifts is that they’re so ubiquitous and obliging. They flutter all day over cities and towns, chirping constantly to alert you to their presence. The allure of the seven-inch-long Black Swift is just the opposite: It’s one of the most mysterious and elusive birds in North America. The first Black Swift nest wasn’t even discovered until the 20th century, on a sea cliff in California. Today, we still know of only about 80 nesting sites in total, the majority of which are found on cliffs or behind waterfalls in remote alpine areas in California, Colorado, and British Columbia. When not on the nest, the birds wander widely in search of food and stay high in the air, hidden from human eyes. Which…

WHEN YOU THINK OF ECOTRAVEL, A thatch-roofed hut in a Costa Rican jungle, or a canvas tent overlooking an African savannah, likely comes to mind. Such trips may have a green sheen, but a conscientious traveler needs to do some digging to find the deepest hue. The International Ecotourism Society offers advice to avoid getting green-washed, such as asking operators about their social and environmental policies and finding lodgings with eco-certifications. Look for seals of approval from Global Sustainable Tourism Council, The Long Run, and Rainforest Alliance; all of these groups factor energy and water use, as well as sustainability and improving the livelihoods of local people. The key word is sustainability, says Rainforest Alliance tourism expert Saúl Blanco Sosa: “Being sustainable is more than just being green. It means…

Smooth Moves For flocks with predictable flight patterns, a tripod with a gimbal head will allow the camera to move steadily, either horizontally or vertically, with the birds. For more erratic fliers, hand-hold your camera and pan with your whole upper body. Starter Settings There’s no one formula for panning, so experimentation is the name of the game. That said, a good starter combo is a shutter speed of 1/25 second, an f-stop of 13, and an ISO of 400-800, which tends to soften the birds’ bodies and feathers and add a bit of sharpness to their beaks and feet. Light Touch Lighting conditions in the frame may change as birds fly from, say, a dark field into a sun-filled sky. Check your LCD after a test run and lower…

WHEN CONTRIBUTING EDITOR Rene Ebersole first started poking around the black market for songbirds in South Florida, she knew she was onto something big. So did federal investigators. It took another two years for the undercover operation to unfold and for the first wave of smugglers to be prosecuted under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. The resulting cover story, “Operation Ornery Birds,” on page 20, provides a rare glimpse into one way the nation’s most powerful avian-conservation law is being enforced—by a web of wildlife agents working covertly on behalf of birds. Other champions of birds in this issue are operating in the light (even as they push for Lights Out, to prevent migrating species from becoming confused at night). In Toronto and elsewhere, advocates, architects, and inventors are teaming…

TO MOST AMERICANS, THE Endangered Species Act of 1973 has been an astounding success, saving some 99 percent of listed plants and animals from extinction, including iconic birds like the Bald Eagle and Whooping Crane. But it’s far from an industry darling. Critics of the law argue that it puts an unnecessary burden on the land users that brush up against it. Their frustrations have, in turn, inspired a fresh wave of political efforts intended to make the law more maneuverable for businesses—a push conservationists fear will undermine the species it protects. According to the Center for Biological Diversity, since January of 2017 more than 75 bills and amendments have been introduced in Congress that would simplify, restrict, or outright weaken the act, ranging from attempts to delist individual species…

Long before researchers began deploying drones to track Marbled Murrelets, Paul Engelmeyer and Kim Nelson launched a corps of volunteers. To better understand breeding patterns on Oregon’s central coast, the efforts leveraged community scientists. Engelmeyer, the manager of the Ten Mile Creek Sanctuary for the Audubon Society of Portland, and Nelson, who has studied the seabirds since the 1980s, kicked off the July counts 13 years ago with about 20 volunteers. Now, up to 80 murrelet enthusiasts gather at Cape Perpetua State Park twice a summer to scan the predawn horizon. “You’ll have youth from the Siletz tribe camped next to forest activists and East Coast birders,” says Engelmeyer. “Connecting people with the bird and its habitat is incredibly powerful.” Once volunteers learn to spot the fast-flying alcids and recognize…

LIGHTS OUT In 1999 Audubon and partners launched the first Lights Out program in Chicago, collaborating with property owners to dim lights, so as not to disorient nighttime migrants. Today hundreds of buildings and thousands of homes in 20-plus U.S. cities flip the switch. OUTREACH Tropical Audubon Society, with input from New York City Audubon and Atlanta Audubon, and global architecture firm HKS Architects produced a presentation about bird-friendly building practices that will be shown this fall to HKS and the American Institute of Architects’ Miami chapter. NEW RULES In the absence of federal standards, several Audubon chapters have worked with municipalities to adopt bird-friendly building guidelines. Last year, for instance, Portland, Oregon, incorporated bird-safe glazing into city code for new construction and remodels. MONITORING Each spring and fall, Audubon…

With their insect-exclusive diets and oddly arranged feet, swifts spend the majority of their days in flight. Only at night do they fall still, clinging to cliffs and chimneys with eight sharp toes. Centuries ago, Chimney and Vaux’s Swifts roosted primarily in tree hollows, but as cities grew, they learned to nestle into buildings. Today many carry on this unique practice. But as adaptive as some swifts are, they haven’t acclimated to all the world’s changes. Over the past 50 years, North American populations have plummeted by as much as 45 percent, largely due to tree loss and pesticides. To give the birds a fighting chance, groups like the Atlanta Audubon Society are putting up roosts in promising habitats. The chapter installed a 24-foot-high wood-and-steel tower in Piedmont Park this…

Portland, OR The Audubon Society of Portland holds a nightly vigil at Chapman Elementary School through September. Drop by at 6 p.m. to check out thousands of Vaux’s Swifts swirling through the skies from the comforts of a lawn chair or blanket. Farmington, MI Detroit Audubon and the Swift Sanctuary throw a late-September party each year at the Historic Farmington Winery in the shadow of a smokestack. The 151-foot structure, built more than a century ago, houses some 50,000 swifts during migration. Tomball, TX What’s the secret to surveying swifts? A hand counter, like the ones coaches use to track laps, and owlish focus. Get your gaze on with Houston Audubon during a tally at the Kleb Woods Nature Center on September 28.…

Bernardo Wildlife Area, New Mexico Not far from photographer mecca Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, Bernardo offers the same golden light and Sandhill Cranes, minus the crowds, says Steve Torna. Shooting from an elevated blind, he'll use a 30-second exposure to create a glasslike effect as the cranes’ colors meld together. Pro tip: If you see one crane lower its head and lean forward, it likely means the flock is about to take off, says Torna. Sonny Bono Salton Sea National Wildlife Refuge, California Sandrine Biziaux-Scherson returns every autumn to the imperiled Salton Sea, where a peculiar mix of wilderness, agriculture, and industry offers a surreal backdrop for the flocks of White-faced Ibises, Red-winged Blackbirds, Snow Geese, and myriad other species. Pro tip: When shooting flocks against a sunset,…

FROM THE OUTSET, BERLIN-BASED ARTIST CHRISTOPH NIEMANN knew that his depiction of a Great Horned Owl wouldn’t be naturalistic like John James Audubon’s. “That owl that he drew is absolutely perfect,” he says. “There’s nothing to add.” Mulling at his desk, he noticed a pair of gently used paintbrushes. What sold him weren’t their bristles, evocative of the bird’s signature ear tufts. “They’re almost too obvious,” Niemann says. Rather, he fancied the effect of crossing the tools: “There’s something interesting that justifies looking at it for a little bit longer.” Just below the nexus, for instance, the semblance of a beak emerges from a wee triangular shadow. Using a highly pigmented, fade-resistant ink (he prefers the Rohrer & Klingner brand), Niemann drew several renditions of the common North American species…

AQUA TOWER, CHICAGO With its wavy façade, this 82-story tower stands out among its rectangular neighbors downtown. Designed by Studio Gang, it is built from the usual materials; the twist is in their bird-friendly application. Curving concrete balconies are apparent to the avian eye; metal railings, instead of glass ones, prevent strikes; and fritted glass helps ensure birds won’t mistake Aqua for sky. CITY HALL, SAN FRANCISCO Municipal buildings in San Francisco, including City Hall, voluntarily turn off nonessential lights from dusk to dawn during fall and spring migration, when more than 250 bird species pass through the area. Many warblers, tanagers, and other small songbirds fly at night; brightly lit structures along their flyway can lure them off course and into deadly collisions. JAVITS CENTER, NEW YORK CITY A…

Go out on any fall day when there are insects buzzing about, and you’ll see a unit of feathered fighter jets swooping and diving after them. These avian aerialists—swifts and swallows—may look similar and exploit the same niche, but they’re not related at all. They only resemble each other because of convergent evolution, which means they’ve developed some of the same physical traits to adapt to their shared environment. So how does the enterprising birder tell them apart? By paying attention to details and behavior. First, check the color. Flashes of blue, green, orange, or iridescence are characteristic of swallows. Swifts are mostly soft gray. There are a few exceptions to this rule, however: The White-throated Swift has a chalky belly, while Northern Rough-winged and Bank Swallows are brown overall.…

Fly Smart Carriers such as United Airlines and companies like Myclimate calculate carbon credits to offset flights, which cost a fraction of the ticket price. Fly nonstop when possible; a quarter of plane emissions come from takeoff and landing. Never Buy Wildlife Products That piece of coral or feathery charm might be an enticing keepsake, but buying such items is not only potentially illegal, it also supports practices that harm birds and habitat. Donate Old Gear If you are buying new binoculars, consider donating your old pair to a project like Birders’ Exchange or Optics for the Tropics. These groups place castoffs with educators, conservationists, and scientists in the Caribbean and Latin America.…

SHOT 1: UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL Using a telephoto lens to zoom in on a handful of birds allows for an intimate portrait of individuals in the flock. Focus on the bird closest to you and wait until the birds are evenly separated, without any overlapping, to take your shot. SHOT 2: GROUP PORTRAIT At middle distance, a flock takes on a shape of its own. A distraction-free background will reduce visual chaos, and shooting early or late in the day—or with some cloud cover—will keep the birds from throwing shadows on one another. SHOT 3: THE BIG PICTURE Frame-filling exposures evoke the feeling of being in the midst of thousands of birds. From far away, the relative distances between birds are compressed, making it easier to achieve focus on…

Flocks of birds taking to the air can result in stunning images, but flushing birds for flight pictures is never acceptable. A flock may be resting after a long migratory flight or feeding to build up strength for the next leg of the journey, and flushing them may harm the birds' chances for survival—especially waterfowl that already may be skittish during hunting seasons. Instead, take time to learn the birds’ habits—such as flying between feeding sites and resting at certain times of day or at certain tide levels along the coast—to increase your odds of capturing a fly-up on their terms, not yours.…