Innholdsfortegnelse for Spring 2024 i Audubon Magazine

For millennia seasonal wetlands dotted California’s Central Valley, providing crucial habitat for millions of shorebirds to rest and refuel during migration. But as farms and towns have taken over the landscape in the past 150 years, nearly all of those shallow, ephemeral water bodies have disappeared, leaving avian migrants with scant options for pit stops. With shorebirds rapidly declining along the Pacific Flyway, conservationists and landowners have joined forces to create temporary wetlands when and where birds need them most. To date, the BirdReturns program has paid more than 100 farmers a total of $2 million to flood 60,000 acres. It’s a good start, but there’s evidence that shorebirds visiting the Central Valley still don’t have enough to eat most years. A recent influx of funding to the program is…

Help for Harpies Sporting an imposing crown of feathers and talons the size of bear claws, the Harpy Eagle is one of Latin America’s most fearsome predators. The powerful birds require a lot of habitat, which once stretched from southern Mexico to northern Argentina. Today, however, they have lost almost half of their territory to logging and development. In Bolivia, a multiyear project recently released a pair of rescued birds back into the wild—a first for the country. Learn more about the team’s efforts and the raptor’s shaky conservation status at audubon.org/harpy. RE: Winter 2023 “I just read your winter magazine, and I thought it was really great, probably the best one you ever put out,” said FRANK SHELTON of North Carolina in a voicemail. “Thank you for the pleasure…

WESLEY BROWN WAS STANDING on the desert floor last spring, watching his friend ascend a towering Utah cliff, when a Golden Eagle soared overhead. It was Brown’s first close encounter with a raptor since becoming a climber steward, a role that includes educating his peers about the birds of prey that nest at Indian Creek Special Recreation Management Area. “That day sticks out not because of the climbs we got on,” Brown says, “but because of the connection and sense of place created by that eagle.” Climbers are drawn to Indian Creek by the sandstone cliffs that splinter into nooks and crannies and the vast landscape of Bears Ears National Monument surrounding them. Those same attributes make it ideal for raptors, too. For thousands of years, falcons and eagles have…

EVEN AS HER BLACK-EYED Susans and milkweed bloomed, Melinda Soltys didn’t consider herself a gardener; she just wanted to see more wildlife. After learning how native vegetation improves habitat for the animals she hoped to attract, Soltys grew a haven for birds and butterflies in her front yard. “As soon as you start researching,” she says, “you realize it’s all about the plants.” But hers is among the growing number of American households that belong to a homeowners association (HOA). U.S. Census Bureau data show that 84 percent of new, single-family homes sold in 2022 belonged to one of these private entities that collect fees in exchange for services like trash pickup and snow removal. HOAs also set rules for what members can do with their property, and in June…

TIME IN THE ALASKAN Arctic moves slowly. Layers of permafrost inter the chilled remains of mammoths and early humans; dwarf birches and lichens grow at almost imperceptible clips; glaciers creep down mountains at annual rates measured in millimeters. Abrupt disturbance is rare: There are no hurricanes or tornadoes, and few floods and wildfires. Landscapes are static. Change, when it comes, is subtle and incremental. Besides the beavers. Climate change has given the industrious mammals a foothold in Arctic Alaska, the vast tundra ecosystem in the northern reaches of the state. As the region has warmed, new willows have sprouted and invited beavers, who both eat the inner bark and harvest stems for dam-building material. Beavers have also benefited from more open water, as their ponds are less likely to freeze…

OF THE THOUSANDS OF SPORTS THAT humans have invented, paragliding may be the most birdlike. Racers fly in groups known as gaggles, suspended from parachutes and powered solely by columns of warm, rising air called thermals. For vultures and other soaring birds, finding thermals is not a thrill but a necessity. Flapping their large wings burns a lot of energy, so instead they rely on the updrafts to efficiently seek out food, a mate, and a safe place to roost. But thermals are invisible, so how do birds know where they are? That question fascinates Hannah Williams, a movement ecologist at the University of Konstanz in Germany. Her research showed that vultures read one another’s behavior—a phenomenon called social eavesdropping—to locate thermals, but it wasn’t clear what signs they look for.…

RYAN CARLE COULD USE A NAP. Bleary and hunched on a boat dock, he sounds nearly defeated. “It’s feeling like a bit of a boondoggle,” he tells me, not much louder than Mono Lake lapping beneath us. Carle, science director for the nonprofit research group Oikonos Ecosystem Knowledge, has gathered a small team of scientists in his tiny hometown of Lee Vining, California, at the eastern base of the Sierra Nevada, with a clear purpose: to catch phalaropes. They’ve been at it for a week. Nothing doing. This morning they tried two new techniques. Carle set out in one boat with Margaret Rubega, a University of Connecticut ornithologist, to deploy a contraption built with an old window frame that Carle pilfered from his parents’ garage. The DIY device is meant…

AT HOME Move feeders. Place bird feeders and baths less than three feet from the nearest window to prevent birds from gaining deadly speed as they take off. Even better, install features more than 30 feet away to give birds room to maneuver. Fix windows. Face the problem head-on by making windows and glass doors more visible to birds. A wide variety of store-bought and DIY solutions have proved effective (see a few options below). Limit lights. Nighttime lighting can draw in and disorient birds, particularly during migration season. Close curtains or blinds and limit exterior illumination. Direct outdoor lights downward and, where possible, set up motion sensors to ensure bulbs only switch on when needed. IN YOUR COMMUNITY Join existing efforts. Check out audubon.org/lights-out and also try searching online…

1 MIDGES With hundreds of species, mosquito-size midges occur throughout North America and are especially plentiful around water. Some bite; many do not; all taste delicious to birds. Midge hatches happen year-round, but the best time to bird one is when it coincides with peak migration in May. Checking reports on eBird and listservs is a good way to learn when and where a hatch is happening close by. Who loves ’em: Flycatchers, orioles, warblers, vireos, kinglets, gnatcatchers, swallows, and more. 2 MAYFLIES A key insect for fly-fishing, various types of mayfly can be found across the country, hatching on or around bodies of water from spring through fall. The best way for birders to experience this buffet for fish and birds alike: Call your local fishing shop to learn…

WHEN NORA AUSTON MOVED TO a new house in Portland, Oregon, a few years ago, she’d long been thinking about building a catio. Her family had revoked roaming privileges for Bertie, “our grouchy old lady cat,” after three strikes: Bertie had harassed a neighbor’s elderly dog, and she needed professional rescue when she got stuck 50 feet up in a redwood. And then there were the dozens of dead birds Bertie brought home. “That cat was a total pain in the butt outside,” says Auston, who has never allowed her younger cats, Peaches and Herb, outdoors unrestrained; she’s concerned they’d cause trouble, too. When the pandemic hit, Auston, an oncology nurse, needed an outlet for work pressures. “When I get stressed, I build things,” she says. “I think that explains…

LAST YEAR, THE NONPROFIT Kestrel Land Trust put a picturesque piece of property in western Massachusetts under contract. The 53-acre parcel in Easthampton contains a mix of meadows, hayfields, and forests along the Manhan River, a habitat corridor for bobcats, bears, and birds. “It’s one of the largest remaining undeveloped properties in the city,” says Mark Wamsley, the trust’s conservation director. In keeping with its mission of protecting ecologically valuable land, the trust is finalizing a conservation easement with Mass Audubon so that most of the property will never be developed. But the group has a different vision for the remainder: A national nonprofit called The Community Builders will buy around 11 acres to construct 90 affordable housing units. Their residents and the public will have access to the land…

ACCORDING TO THE TRACKING APP ON MY PHONE, THE CAT WAS in the alley, right in front of me. He should’ve been easy to spot: He’s bright white and, for the past week, he’d been sporting a blue GPS collar, which I’d selected to match his eyes. I peeked behind a dumpster and under a discarded truck topper, but didn’t see him, so I stepped on a junk tire for better vantage into a yard, then froze. I suddenly recalled the previous day, when my similar behavior prompted a passerby to ask suspiciously, “Are you all right?” Flustered, I’d explained I was following a cat, and pointed to—nothing. My feline friend had disappeared. Reluctant to draw attention again, I stepped back and finally saw him: 15 feet up, perched atop…

San Francisco, CA | 2011 This first major bird-safe materials policy from a U.S. city was a call to action, but its narrow definition of “bird hazards” and exemptions for many low-rise residential buildings significantly limit its impact. Madison, WI | 2020 Though limited to certain windows and glass features on large new buildings, this was the first bird-friendly building policy in the country to face a legal challenge. A Wisconsin court of appeals upheld the law last year. Washington, DC | 2023 This recent law requires bird-friendly materials for new buildings and major renovations up to 100 feet above grade—a a taller height than any other policy to date. New York, NY | 2019 A landmark for its comprehensiveness, this law raised the bar by implementing bird-friendly standards for…

AS A TEEN, MEG T. JUSTICE OFTEN SKETCHED DUCKS ALONG THE TENNESSEE RIVER, CAPTURING their glorious quirks. Today her primary medium is printmaking, but she still delights in water-birds. She chose the Hooded Merganser for this print because of the male’s striking plumage: “I’m really drawn to the black and white and creating texture and contrast with the ink.” Justice transferred a line drawing of her extravagantly crested subject and his surroundings onto a linoleum block, then used gouge tools to carve out the design, rolled ink over uncut areas, and pressed the block onto paper, creating a mirror image of her carving. The final product is an exquisitely wrought merganser in a richly detailed ecosystem. Justice centered the print around the water line, allotting nearly equal space to life…