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Customer Reviews

Only A Sliver of Its Former Glory

2008-06-09
Over the years this magazine has been transmogrified from a quality bird/nature magazine to just some mediocre literature that focuses mostly on pseudoscientific "man-made" global warming. You'd think that Al Gore owns the magazine; it's just ludicrous ravings about how everybody must change their hideous lifestyles and buy "green" products to save our world from impending destruction.

If that appeals to you, then by all means go right ahead, but I for one am sick of the extensive media coverage of dying polar bears and melting ice caps. These are obviously issues of concern; I'm just tired of getting it shoved in my face and told that it's my fault.

The photos alone are worth the subscription!

2006-06-02
The articles are always well-written and very informative, but I love this magazine most of all because of the fabulous photographs that appear cover-to-cover. I frequently cut out the pics after finishing the issue and cover my office's cubicle walls with them -- the wonderful colors of the scenery and the fascinating close-ups of birds and other wildlife just leave me breathless!!

Audubon is Great

2006-03-16
This magazine is not only informative but also entertaining. I am so happy I decided to subscribe. The price is inexpensive and for all you nature lovers, you must have this.

Sandhill Cranes stay mainly on the Plains

2005-03-15
You can buy a subscription to the bimonthly "Audubon" magazine, but the best way to get it is as a benefit derived from joining the National Audubon Society (currently $35/year). Conservation is a central theme of this magazine, but it also has lots of gorgeous photographs of sandhill cranes, snowflakes, caribou, and everything else that you might expect from a nature magazine, although the articles tend toward pessimism ('grim realism' some might say.)

There are also lots and lots of ads for people who would like to go eco-touring or birding in exotic locales. I learned to my dismay that I'm not even classified as a birder because I've never traveled somewhere to see a particular bird. I'm just a humble birdwatcher who tries to identify the avian species that show up at our feeders (everything from wild turkeys to ruby-throated humming birds.)

On the pessimistic side, the March-April 2005 issue of "Audubon" has warnings about global warming (which might affect the fertility of leopard geckos), Easter ducklings that parents buy for their children, then drop off in the local pond when they get too big (most breeds of domestic ducks and geese can't fly. Basically the unwanted ducks sit in the pond and starve), the over-harvesting of dead wood in European forests (Bechstein's bat nests in dead wood), and the American eel, which has to run the gauntlet of "bait hunters, turbines, and spillways...in a constant battle to hold its own."

There are some bright spots, too: the red-tailed hawk known as 'Pale Male' is holding its own in New York City, along with its mate, Lola. 'Freecycling' on the internet has "inspired more than half a million people to keep their junk out of landfills"--I thought this was going to be an article about E-Bay, but 'freecycling' is something different. It's more of an 'adoption agency' than an auction site. If you're interested in 'freecycling' your extra firewood or an outdated computer, check out the website at freecycling.org.

Anyone who is interested in birding, or the state of the world's ecology would do well to join the National Audubon Society. Your membership fee will help in the fight to protect endangered environments and species, and you'll get this interesting magazine as a side benefit.