On a chilly, overcast December morning in North Texas, a car prowls a pitted dirt road. The occupants are straining forward, looking intently at the sky. “Kestrel!” says Maddy Kaleta from the passenger seat, pointing to a tiny black blob on a power line ahead. She whips out binoculars and confirms the bird isn’t banded. […]
Tag: audubon
The Window for Saving the Sagebrush Ecosystem is Rapidly Closing
Added together, the swaths of sagebrush habitat that the West has lost since 2001 would cover half of Utah. This embattled ecosystem’s decline is an old story, but new evidence of the scale and pace of its destruction has conservationists questioning how much longer it can function as habitat for more than 350 plant and […]
Assault on San Antonio’s Waterbirds continues as Audubon Turns their back on the birds.
According to Wikipedia: The National Audubon Society is an American non-profit environmental organization dedicated to conservation of birds and their habitats. So, why does it appear that San Antonio’s local Audubon has distanced themselves from “defending” the birds along with their habitats? Is San Antonio Not Big Enough for a Rookery? The Great Egret-the symbol […]
What Should Be Done About Flaco, the Eurasian Eagle-Owl Loose in New York?
All eyes are on New York City’s latest avian celebrity: Flaco the Owl. In February, the Eurasian Eagle-Owl, a large species native to Europe and Asia, escaped his enclosure in the Central Park Zoo after an act of vandalism. News of his escape quickly spread, and almost immediately Flaco became a star of the local […]
Congress Passes Audubon-backed Bill to Assess and Monitor Saltwater Lake Ecosystems in the West
WASHINGTON—Last night, Saline Lake Ecosystems in the Great Basin States Program Act passed the Senate after passing the House last week. This Audubon-backed legislation will establish a scientific monitoring and assessment program to help save the Great Salt Lake and other saline lakes in the West. Rep. Blake Moore (R-UT), Rep. Jared Huffman (D-CA) and […]
‘Like Finding a Unicorn’: Researchers Rediscover the Black-Naped Pheasant-Pigeon, a Bird Lost to Science for 140 Years
A successful expedition in Papua New Guinea captured photos and video of the chicken-size pigeon, highlighting the value of local ecological knowledge as scientists seek out other long-missing species. For a month the researchers had traversed slender mountain ridges, crossed and re-crossed rivers that roared through canyons cloaked in tropical forest, and endured bloodthirsty mosquitoes […]
More Than Half of U.S. Birds Are in Decline, Warns New Report
The Rufous Hummingbird, Greater Sage-Grouse, Pinyon Jay, and 67 other birds in the United States are teetering on the edge of disaster, having lost at least half of their populations in the past 50 years. A report released today by North American Bird Conservation Initiative (NABCI) calls these birds “Tipping Point” species, on track to […]
Why is the Colorado River in crisis, and what is being done about it?
Q: Why are we in this situation, with the Colorado River and its reservoirs shrinking so quickly? A: Truth is, we saw this coming. We use more water than the river provides. The only reason we got away with it for so long was because the reservoirs were full when the climate’s shift to hotter […]