Migration Flyways Take Center Stage
Grammy-winning saxophonist Paul Winter will receive the John James Audubon Center Award for Art Inspiring Conservation in April. His latest project, Flyways, is a musical celebration of the great bird migration from Africa to Eurasia.
When Winter and the Great Rift Valley Orchestra perform Flyways March 16 and 17 in New York's Cathedral of St. John the Divine, Audubon New York and New York City Audubon staff will be on hand to welcome concertgoers and provide information about our mission. His sequel will focus on the “Flyways of the Americas.” Winter will perform a benefit concert for the Audubon Center at Mill Grove April 21. More.
Puffin Mystery Solved With First Tracking Evidence
Researchers in Audubon’s Seabird Restoration Program, Project Puffin, used new technology to track the winter whereabouts of Atlantic Puffin for the first time.
“This is just one example of what Audubon researchers are doing along our shores, up and down the Atlantic Flyway and beyond,” said Audubon Chief Scientist Gary Langham. “It’s also another chapter in the success story of the Atlantic Puffin recovery in Maine, led by the pioneering spirit and amazing perseverance of Steve Kress, whose techniques for seabird restoration have become a global model used in Europe, Mexico, and as far in the Pacific as Midway Island.”
A puffin nicknamed Cabot has taken researchers on an unprecedented electronic voyage into the previously unknown wintering waters. Editorial The Boston Globe
Knowing where the puffin goes will be useful to conservationists seeking to protect the birds across their range. “It is an amazing moment for all of us who work with these birds to have a glimpse into where they go after they leave the islands,” said Steve Kress, vice president for bird conservation at the National Audubon Society and the founder of Project Puffin. The New York Times
In 2009, Audubon researchers affixed tracking devices to the leg bands of eight puffins….They had to be recovered from the birds before scientists could get access to the data. It's a tricky business, and scientists had to wait two years… The Philadelphia Inquirer
AUDUBON POLICY ACTION
Great Backyard Bird Count: Record-breaking participation!
Thanks to each of you who supported and joined in for this year’s GBBC, Feb 17-20. Participation was at an all-time high, with 103,960 checklists submitted, 618 species observed, and over 17 million individual birds counted.
Live Twitter “chats” were a hit with Audubon’s followers. Steve Saffier did a live-Tweet, while David Ringer and Liz Pomper Tweeted about regional counts. The count also scored on Facebook, turning up the volume and the interactivity among Audubon’s growing social media community.
For the fourth year in a row, traditional media results also set a record with over 1,500 media hits. Highlights include:
Will the mild winter weather send some birds farther north this year? New York Times Green Blog
February may not seem like the peak time for bird-watching, but this past weekend proved to be the perfect time to learn about species and their surroundings. The Baltimore Sun
Bird lovers all over the country count the birds in their yards and at their feeders to provide a real-time snapshot of where the bird populations are. Yahoo News
Last year, more than 92, 000 people took part, spotting more than 11 million birds, 594-distinct species. ABC TV News Philadelphia
The only thing keeping Texas from ranking first in all categories of the Great Backyard Bird Count is participation. My San Antonio
AUDUBON POLICY ACTION
BP and Gulf restoration were a prime topic for policy-related media coverage; the following are some highlights from Audubon.
Dr. Doug Meffert, Audubon’s new VP & Executive Director for the State of Louisiana, demanded environmental restoration funds from the BP Trial on New Orleans Fox News.
Brian Moore, Legislative Director for National Audubon, told the New York Times, “It’s the largest Clean Water Act violation we’ve seen in our nation — maybe those things should be talked about publicly, and not privately.”
Audubon President & CEO David Yarnold writes in an op-ed for The Miami Herald: “BP’s bill is coming due and almost nine of 10 Floridians think the oil company’s fines should go to the states that suffered the greatest harm from the spill.”
ANNOUNCEMENTS
List Your Earth Day Event
To be included on a special Earth Day page at www.audubon.org please send info below to Jason Gross by April 1:
* Event title
* Event location (Address, City, State, ZIP)
* Brief event description (200 words or less)
* URL for more info
* E-mail contact for more info
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