Monthly Archive
Oil spill update from the field: Can rice fields help prevent Gulf birds from getting oiled?
07/30/2010
Louisiana wetlands are disappearing and the oil spill has heightened the problem by soiling additional habitat. One solution in an effort to create new habitat and draw birds away from the oiled coast is for rice farmers to flood their fallow fields. I tour fields with a Ducks Unlimited biologist, but he explains that there is another problem. Rice is also disappearing.
 Susan Cosier |
In the heart of the Peruvian Amazon, still water perfectly reflects its surroundings: a jungle alive with singing birds and calling mammals. In the July-August issue of Audubon magazine, you can find the story of my adventure in the five-million acre forest, where close to 500 bird species and a spectacular blend of wildlife color the landscape.
 Photo by Noel Zia Lee, Flickr Creative Commons |
This past weekend, in Northern Virginia, I spotted my first pileated woodpecker. You know the kind…one of the biggest in North America, kind of looks like Woody Woodpecker (though actually, Woody’s supposed to be an acorn woodpecker, according to this NPR story).
Anyway, the spot got me thinking more about this crow-sized bird. How much do you know about it? Test your skills on our quick five-question quiz.
An employee takes precautions to avoid the odor Lois gives off. Photo: Houston Museum of Natural Science
Usually when flowers bloom, you want to lean in and breathe deep to inhale the floral scent. Not so much with Amorphophallus titanum, more commonly called the corpse flower for the stench of decay it gives off. One of these large, rare, smelly plants (named 'Lois') bloomed at the Houston Museum of Natural Science last week.
courtesy of "Nationaal Archief"
Did you lather up with a carcinogen today? Dab a little endocrine disruptor under your arm? Those are the things you might find yourself thinking about when you watch Annie Leonard’s new video, The Story of Cosmetics, The Ugly Truth of Toxins In, Toxins Out. Leonard, the creator of The Story of Stuff, is using her latest in a series of illustrated videos to take aim at the unregulated personal care products industry.
 Photograph © Matt Valentine, www.mattvalentine.com |
Earlier this month, the Library of Congress announced the 17th U.S. poet laureate: W.S. Merwin, author of more than 30 books of poetry, translation, and prose on subjects ranging from Vietnam to environmental activism.
Jacob Watson, Jr., volunteers with Audubon in Louisiana as a wildlife transport facilitator and beach steward. David J. Ringer/Audubon
"My reason for being here is just to give help in any way that I possibly can," Jacob Watson said. "It's a good feeling to know that you're helping a cause for the animals that suffered so great with this manmade catastrophe."
Brown Pelicans rest near the edge of a breeding colony in Louisiana. Some chicks are lightly oiled. Melanie Driscoll/Audubon
As Tropical Storm Bonnie approaches, and fledgling pelicans and wading birds move out from the inner parts of colonies onto the oiled habitats at island edges in preparation of fledging, I am filled with dread. In her path are birds with thousands of young growing, wading, swimming, exercising their tender wings, and moving at their natural pace toward independence and the relative safety of flight.
