Tag: conservation
Four Decades of Building Strike Records Point to ‘Super Collider’ Birds
Every spring, as birds fly north to their breeding grounds, they run a gauntlet unique to the modern era: forests of towering buildings in urban centers from coast to coast. Hundreds of millions crash into structures and fall to their deaths—some attracted and confused by buildings lit up at night and others simply not seeing windows and glass in day. […]
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John Young Rediscovered the Australian Night Parrot, but Did He Lie About His Later Findings?
There is no doubt that John Young rediscovered Australia’s Night Parrot in 2013. But the naturalist may have fabricated just about everything he reported about new populations and nesting sites of the birds over the past two years. That’s the conclusion of an independent panel of experts convened by the Australian Wildlife Conservancy (AWC), to […]
Tags: conservation, news
The Greater Sage-Grouse’s Most Important Habitat Is on the Auction Block
The U.S. Department of the Interior this week is offering oil and gas companies drilling rights on 758,198 acres of federal land in Wyoming. Despite a 2015 agreement to steer energy development away from areas where Greater Sage-Grouse dwell, everything on the auction block—each of the 565 parcels on offer—falls within the bird’s habitat. Nearly half […]
Tags: conservation, news
A Club for Everyone
At Audubon headquarters there’s a big red button near the window looking out over a certain water tower. Every few days someone hits it and a “Bird Alert” blasts out to the whole office. A scramble ensues. When the bird perching atop the tower is a Peregrine Falcon, as was recently the case, most of […]
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EPA Struck Secretive Deal Over Toxic Site Leaving $13 Million in BP’s Pocket
.dropcap { color: #838078; float: left; font-size: 82px; line-height: 60px; padding: 5px 8px 0 0; } In February, before an invitation-only crowd assembled in near secrecy behind locked gates, Scott Pruitt, then head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, signed over control of one of the nation’s biggest toxic waste sites to the state of […]
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Report on Arctic Drilling’s Environmental Impacts Is Deeply Flawed, Critics Say
Just over a year ago, Congress passed a tax bill that included a provision to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas development. The bill required that the first lease sales, when oil and gas companies can lay claim to develop parcels of land, occur within four years—and the Trump administration is moving […]
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When Problems Present, So Do New Opportunities to Help Birds
Of the many menaces to the state of Florida—red tide, sea level rise, supercharged storms—perhaps none looms quite so large as the Burmese pythons slithering through its swampland. Up to 18 feet long and able to swallow multiple Great Blue Herons in one fell swoop, even they, as Chris Sweeney discovers in “Invasive Reptiles Are […]
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From Native Plants to Clean Energy, We Lead Where Birds Need Us
It's been an eventful year for conservation, and often it felt like wild birds were the targets each time we looked skyward: From rollbacks at the EPA and attempts to weaken the Endangered Species Act to a sneak attack on the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and the shrinking of public lands for drilling and mining, […]
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Nepal’s Endangered Vultures Are Finally Making a Comeback
In a restaurant in Pithauli, Nepal, there's just one offering: raw beef. Your food isn&rsquot for individuals&mdashit&rsquos for endangered vultures. As the wild birds feast, vacationers inside a nearby blind can view as much as eight species pick apart the flesh. The website, a refuge just north from the India border, continues to be the […]
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Conservation Groups See a Lot to Like in the New Farm Bill
Update December 20, 2018: President Trump signed the brand new farm bill into law. It wouldn&rsquot considerably fun to talk about a seesaw having a copy from the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018, also known as the farm bill. The 800-plus-page behemoth packs a great deal in, such as the SNAP food assistance program, crop […]
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