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☆ The Original Birders Gave Photography a Run for its Money
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-03 | by ( Walker Mimms | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

As the National Audubon Society recovers from a referendum to change its name in light of the fact that America’s founding birder was a slave owner (the name stayed), a luxe reissue of John James Audubon’s magnum opus, BIRDS OF AMERICA (Abbeville, $195), proves the man’s artistry itself unimpeachable. His paintings foretold the ambitions of the camera, and at only a quarter of the size of the four-volume folio that was first published between 1827 and 1838, this still hefty edition preserves the poetic backdrops and fierce detail of the original. The copperplate lines are so exact they mimic the individual venation of feathers; the neck of a gyrfalcon takes on all the ripply realism of moiréd silk.

Persons: birder, John James Audubon’s Organizations: National Audubon Society, OF Locations: Abbeville

Birds in North America will no longer be named after people, the American Ornithological Society announced Wednesday. “There is power in a name, and some English bird names have associations with the past that continue to be exclusionary and harmful today,” the organization's president, Colleen Handel, said in a statement. “Everyone who loves and cares about birds should be able to enjoy and study them freely.”Rather than review each bird named after a person individually, all such birds will be renamed, the organization announced. She said heated discussions over bird names have been happening within birdwatching communities for the past several years. And a group called Bird Names for Birds sent a petition to the ornithological society urging it to “outline a plan to change harmful common names” of birds.

Persons: Colleen Handel, Alexander Wilson, John James Audubon, John P, McCown, “ I'm, ”, Emily Williams, Susan Bell, Christian Cooper, Amy Cooper, Cooper, birdwatchers Organizations: American Ornithological Society, Confederate Army, Georgetown University, National Audubon Society, National Audubon Society's, Audubon, Birds, Associated Press Health, Science Department, Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science, Educational Media Group, AP Locations: North America, U.S, Canada, ”, New

David Willard has been checking the grounds of Chicago's lakefront exhibition center for dead birds for 40 years. Researchers estimate hundreds of millions of birds die in window strikes in the United States each year. When they see plants or bushes through windows or reflected in them, they head for them, killing themselves in the process. Pre-dawn rain forced the birds to drop to lower altitudes, where they found the McCormick Center’s lights on, Willard said. The first buildings at McCormick Center were constructed in 1959.

Persons: David Willard, ”, Willard, we've, Matt Igleski, it's, Stan Temple, They’ve, Temple, they’ve, “, McCormick, Anna Pidgeon, ” Willard Organizations: Chicago Field Museum, Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, U.S . Fish, Wildlife Service, Chicago Audubon Society, University of Wisconsin, University of Wisconsin -, University of Wisconsin - Madison ., World Trade Center, National Audubon Society, McCormick Center Locations: McCormick, United States, U.S, Galveston , Texas, Chicago, Madison, Michigan, University of Wisconsin - Madison, New York City, Toronto , New York, Boston, San Diego, Dallas, Miami

☆ We Asked Readers to Spend the Summer Watching Birds. Here’s What Happened.
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-20 | by ( Emily Anthes | More About Emily Anthes | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

One Saturday morning in June, Amy Simmons spotted some sparrows flitting around a coastal marsh in Maine. She and her two companions, all dedicated bird-watchers, quickly identified one of the foraging birds as a Nelson’s sparrow, a small, round bird with a yellow stripe over its eye. The stripe over this sparrow’s eye had a more saturated, orange tint, and its breast was speckled with black and white. It was a saltmarsh sparrow, a species threatened by sea level rise. Without significant conservation action, climate change could render the species extinct by the middle of this century, some scientists predict.

Persons: Amy Simmons, ”, Simmons, Ms Organizations: National Audubon Society, Cornell, of Ornithology Locations: Maine

☆ The US has pumped so much groundwater that it's literally splitting the ground open across the American Southwest
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-11 | by ( Maiya Focht | Sebastian Cahill | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

The United States has been pumping so much groundwater it's splitting the ground open. Brian Conway/AZGSBut humans are pumping groundwater faster than Earth can naturally replenish it. A giant fissure in the Mojave Desert in California from groundwater pumping near Lucerne Lake. And four out of every 10 sites hit "all-time lows" in the past decade as American groundwater pumping outpaces water replenishment, per the Times. As a result, the severity of excessive groundwater pumping nationwide is not as easy to recognize and may help explain why regulation on pumping is so limited.

Persons: Brian Conway, Joseph Cook, Cook, Brian Gootee, Joesph Cook, it's, Warigia Bowman, RJ Sangosti Organizations: Service, Arizona Geological Survey, New York Times, Times, University of Tulsa, Queens, MediaNews, Denver, Getty, National Audubon Society Locations: States, Wall, Silicon, Arizona , Utah, California, Arizona, Lucerne Lake, Sulphur Hills, AZGS Arizona, Basin , Arizona, Colorado, Eads , Colorado, Picacho Basin

☆ These tiny creatures are losing their battle to survive. Here’s what we can do to save them
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-03 | by ( Amy Chillag | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

The first time Mike Parr, president of the American Bird Conservancy, saw one, it was feeding on blossoms of a lemon tree in California. These tiny creatures are one of 70 bird species on the “Tipping Point” list that will lose another fifty percent of their populations in the same time frame if conservation doesn’t improve. You can create more habitat for birds by planting native species and not overly tidying your yard. They kill an estimated 2.4 billion birds every year in the US alone, according to the American Bird Conservancy. You can also help fight for the survival of bird species by donating to these groups: American Bird Conservancy, National Audubon Society and International Bird Rescue.

Persons: Mike Parr, ”, Parr, “, Laura Erickson, ” Parr, they’re, “ We’ve, Greg Homel, landscapers, catios, they’ve, everybody’s Organizations: CNN, American Bird Conservancy, Cornell, of Ornithology, Bird Conservancy, National Audubon Society Locations: California, Alaska, Mexico, Rocky Mountain, North America, United States, Arizona

☆ Is Social Justice for the Birds? Audubon Attempts an Answer.
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-07 | by ( Clyde Mcgrady | More About Clyde Mcgrady | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

On the same day George Floyd was murdered by a police officer on a Minneapolis street — Memorial Day, 2020 — Christian Cooper was searching for songbirds in Central Park. To David Yarnold, the chief executive of the National Audubon Society at the time, both events demanded a response. The powerful conservation group and pre-eminent bird enthusiasts’ organization needed to weigh in, and even examine itself. “Black lives matter,” Mr. Yarnold, who is white, wrote in a letter to the society’s staff after the first weekend of the George Floyd protests. “Our nation is in turmoil because our governments, our institutions (including Audubon), and private individuals haven’t done nearly enough to act on that fundamental truth.”Mr. Yarnold promised to start a “long conversation” about how the Audubon Society could “become antiracist in everything we do.”

Persons: George Floyd, Christian Cooper, Cooper, David Yarnold, Mr, Yarnold, “, ” Organizations: National Audubon Society, Audubon, Audubon Society Locations: Minneapolis, Central Park

☆ We're losing the battle against bird loss. Scientists estimate North America's bird population is down 3 billion and dropping fast in other countries worldwide.
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-06 | by ( Emily Sohn | Knowable Magazine | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

In North America, more than half of 529 bird species have declined, according to one study. Another study of 378 European bird species estimates numbers fell by as much as 19% from 1980-2017. There are birds on mountains, birds in cities, birds in deserts, birds in oceans, birds on farm fields and birds in parking lots. Bird numbers are falling across a broad range of habitats, as these graphs from Europe and North America show. A recovery program has boosted the species' numbers to more than 500, with several hundred living once more in the wild.

Persons: —, Peter Marra, It's, Alexander Lees, Lees, Christopher Michel, Marra, we're, Lees et, Philip McGowan, Glenn Simmons, McGowan Organizations: Service, Penguins, Earth Commons, Manchester Metropolitan University, Cornell, of Ornithology, National Audubon Society, Survey, US Geological Survey, Environment Canada, European Union, International Union for Conservation, Environment, Resources, Newcastle University, IUCN, California condor, Recovery Initiative Locations: North America, Antarctica, ptarmigan, Everest, Georgetown, England, Canada, United Kingdom, Gould Bay, eBird, United States, Science, Costa, India, Europe, California, Arizona, Brazil

☆ Moving species emerges as last resort as climate warms
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-17 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +6 min

Moving species to save them — once considered taboo — is quickly gaining traction as climate change upends habitats. Concerns persist that the novel practice could cause unintended harm the same way invasive plants and animals have wreaked havoc on native species. “Climate change is causing a greater need for this — for taking a species outside its known historical range.”A pending change to the U.S. “In the future, some species’ ranges may shift due to climate change, or their current habitats might become unsuitable due to invasive species encroachment,” Armstrong said in an email. Humanity has been moving species around for centuries, often inadvertently and sometimes causing great harm.

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