News from Rutland Herald in Rutland, Vermont, about Westside Marsh, considered an Important Bird Area:

WEST RUTLAND — The town is poised to buy another chunk of the marsh.Town Manager Mary Ann Goulette said the 55-acre parcel would unite two other municipal properties, giving the town a unified, 357.9-acre conservation area. The Select Board approved the purchase at its regular meeting Monday.

The town manages the conservation area in partnership with the Vermont Audubon Society.

New York Times: "Audubon's Species: Bird Art, in All Its Glory"

Did you catch the delightful article by Cornelia Dean about John James Audubon and three recent books about bird art? The article begins with an unfortunate incident:

In 1812, John James Audubon filled a wooden box with about 200 of his paintings of American birds and left it with a relative for safekeeping while he went off on one of his many trips. When he returned to retrieve the paintings, he discovered to his horror that they had been destroyed, shredded by nesting rats.

As he described it later, his first reaction was “a burning heat” in his brain, a headache so intense it kept him awake for days.

Then, though, he reconsidered. “I felt pleased,” he wrote, “that I might now make better drawings than before.”

We know the results — Audubon turned himself into the most famous practitioner of what some call “bird art.” Copies of his “Birds of America,” published section by section in the mid-19th century, are among the most valuable illustrated books.

Carolina Parakeet by John James Audubon, couresty of NYTimes.com

Check out the online article, if only for the photo of an X-ray showing a Kiwi carrying an egg. Viewers also can watch a slide show of beautiful and interesting images, like the one above.

More birders than AARP members?

From The Daily Green:

One in six Americans is a bird lover, and yet the political clout that would be marshaled by other constituencies of that size has not had as big an influence, the heads of the nation's biggest birding groups told reporters as they discussed the 2007 WatchList of imperiled U.S. birds.

"There are more birders than Baptists. There are more birders than there are members in the AARP," said George Fenwick, president of the American Bird Conservancy.

The Audubon Society, particularly, is active politically. And there are signs that there is bipartisan federal support for bird conservation, despite the constituency being relatively unorganized. That has resulted in federal bird conservation programs remaining stable during the Bush Administration, when several other environmental programs saw dramatic cuts.

"... federal bird conservation programs remaining stable during the Bush Administration" -- That clause intrigues me.

This also intrigues me: "the political clout that would be marshaled by other constituencies of that size has not had as big an influence..." Why hasn't the birding community created a stronger, cohesive political presence? What has prevented us from doing that -- ourselves?

Questions about Audubon's 20 birds in decline

The Toledo Blade's outdoor writer raises questions about the validity of a recent report from National Audubon Society. The report discussed 20 common species with population declines by more than 50 percent.

Steve Pollick wrote:

Sometimes when an environmental alarm sounds and the ring is hollow, it raises questions about why the button is being pushed.

Case in point: The National Audubon Society, a seeming pillar of integrity, may be guilty of spinning the facts about the disappearance of some 20 species of common birds in North America.

The society made a big media splash about the disappearances this summer and the mainstream media gobbled it up like a vulture on roadkill. But some veteran students of the birds in these latitudes, and perhaps elsewhere, are saying not so fast. Maybe Audubon is pushing the truth envelope.

Which is not to accuse the organization of unbridled political spin-doctoring, the kind of which the benumbed American public has been overdosed to the point of nausea by the major political parties. But picking facts to reach foregone conclusions, when found out, can tarnish an image that takes a long time to fix.

Pollick quoted the research director of Black Swamp Bird Observatory, Mark Shieldcastle, as well as Kenn Kaufman. What do you think of their comments?

Audubon Gallery at AMNH now open

The American Museum of Natural History in New York City opened the restored Audubon Gallery last weekend. The first exhibition focuses on mammals -- "The Unknown Audubons: Mammals of North America" -- but no doubt birders who consider themselves naturalists will find it worthwhile.


The collection includes original drawings, paintings and prints by John James Audubon and his sons John Woodhouse Audubon and Victor Gifford Audubon. The exhibition will remain until Jan. 6, 2008, and it coincides with a showing of Audubon's bird paintings at the New-York Historical Society, "Audubon’s Aviary: Natural Selection." The latter will appear until May 20 of this year.

You can see both exhibitions for the price of one. Just show your receipt from one institution to receive a same-day complimentary admission to the other museum through May 20, 2007.

Swift Fox courtesy of AMNH

Have you reduced the lawn on your property?

With the official start of spring, National Audubon Society encourages homeowners to conserve water by replacing unneeded lawn areas with native plants. You'll find action plans and online resources via those links.

In its Audubon at Home program, NAS says:

Our choices of plants, landscape materials and design, and garden practices have an enormous impact on our outdoor water use. Lawns require two-and-a-half to four times more water than shrubs and trees. Indeed, it is estimated that in the course of a single year, a typical suburban lawn uses 10,000 gallons of water over and above that provided by rainfall.

That's a sobering thought, particularly in this dressed-up desert in which I live.