Audubon Magazine Fall 2021

the nature of beauty

The diversity of birds continues to amaze us. Their colorful plumages, fascinating ecologies, and complex behaviors enrich our lives and challenge our imaginations. In an entrancing collection, Birds (Abrams, November 2, 2021), photographer Tim Flach invites us to wonder anew at avian diversity—capturing with his camera awe-inspiring images of natural phenomena that I explore in the book’s accompanying text. With their sensuous textures, striking color patterns, and whimsical highlights, birds’ beauty certainly delights us, but its real audience is birds themselves. Avian ornaments have evolved through their capacity to intrigue, entrance, inform, and attract mates. In this way, birds are agents in their own evolution. From Birds by Tim Flach, copyright © 2021 Tim Flach. By permission of Abrams, an imprint of ABRAMS, New York, NY. All rights reserved.…

you can count on us

Mommy,” my four-year-old son recently asked me, “will you read me your Audubon magazines?” Heart melted, I immediately dropped whatever pressing Grown-Up Thing I had been doing. “But just a little bit,” he added. “It’s kinda boring.” To be fair, his preferred author byline is Dr. Seuss. Also, he hadn’t yet seen the photos by Tim Flach that open this issue—stunning portraits of birdlife in all its varied glory that could absorb even a pre-schooler’s limited attention span. I will offer a strong counterpoint anyway: Bird journalism is not boring because birds are not boring. They are, in fact, endlessly fascinating. They’ve evolved a breathtaking range of adaptations to occupy an extraordinary array of niches. They offer a window into a past we strive to learn from and a future we’re actively…

birds are telling us to act

THE NEWS ON CLIMATE THIS summer has been grim. Not only did an Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report paint a depressing future, the dire consequences of unchecked emissions are already wreaking havoc across the globe. Those effects include powerful storms across the eastern half of the United States, and brutal heat that seared the West, killing more than 200 people. It did a number on birds, too. The temperatures, which exceeded 110°F in places where it rarely gets above 85°F, drove young birds to fling themselves from their nests in a desperate attempt to escape the heat. In Seattle, most of the chicks in a Caspian Tern colony leapt from their rooftop nesting site; Seattle Audubon and Audubon Washington worked with rehabbers to save as many birds as they could,…

inbox

Bonus Footage Didn’t get enough of the 2021 Audubon Photography Awards? Head to our website to see 10 more fabulous submissions to our new video category. From stunning Cedar Waxwings visiting a backyard “bird spa” to Acorn Woodpeckers fiercely defending their territory, these clips capture vivid and intimate moments that show birds in all their beauty and power. As with the award winners and Top 100 images, our team worked in close collaboration with the videographers to ensure that the intent and essence of each clip was incorporated into vibrant alternative text to make the awards accessible to the largest audience possible. Visit audubon.org/APAvideos. RE: Summer 2021 Thank you AUDUBON PHOTOGRAPHY AWARDS for this very fine issue of Audubon. I have been a member of Audubon for almost 50 years, and the…

the case for climate liability

SAN FRANCISCO ENGINEERS recently mapped out a chilling scenario: What will happen if the bay surges over a six-foot seawall protecting the Embarcadero water-front? If an unusually high storm surge breached the structure, water could submerge subway tunnels, knock out utilities, and impact hundreds of thousands of people. Today the risk is low, but climate change will push flooding inland. If sea levels rise by seven feet, which could occur by 2100, according to California’s Legislative Analyst’s Office, downtown San Francisco could be flooded every single day. To protect the city, officials want to fortify the seawall at a cost of $5 billion—and that’s for just one of the city’s exposed areas. These are costs that “taxpayers shouldn’t be forced to shoulder alone,” says city attorney Dennis Herrera. Because climate change…

a bond across ages

IT WAS THE SPRING OF 2016, AND Trish O’Kane, a college professor, sat in Flynn Elementary School’s auditorium in Burlington, Vermont. When a student who was typically very shy volunteered to take the stage, O’Kane was as proud as a parent. In front of hundreds of classmates and with a mentor by her side, the girl demonstrated the lively sounds of a chickadee’s call. For the next week, O’Kane was tickled to learn, the kids used their newfound avian knowledge to annoy their teachers. O’Kane’s class, Birding to Change the World, helped facilitate that moment. In the University of Vermont (UVM) course, O’Kane teaches undergraduates about ornithology, outdoor education, and activism, and then helps them put their lessons into practice: The college students mentor the Flynn Elementary kids and take them…