Top Recent Magazine Articles about Birds

Let's belatedly call this Bird Week at ricklibrarian. There may be many bird weeks to come, as I always enjoy reading about birds and birding. If you do, too, here are some recent magazine articles that I suggest to you.

"Flight Club" by Alex Shoumatoff and photographs by Melissa Groo. Smithsonian, March 2014. Pages 54-67. 

The author tells us what it is like to visit the sandhill cranes at their spring migration stopover on the Platte River in Nebraska. Shoumatoff tells us about crane evolution, migration routes, and future survival, while Groo adds some beautiful photographs. Reading the article makes me want to go to Nebraska some spring soon. (Thanks to Bonnie who found this article. If I go, she goes, too.)


"A Mighty Wind" by Ted Williams. Audubon, March-April, 2014. Pages 32, 34, 64-67.

Articles written by Ted Williams under the banner "Incite" always tackle difficult topics. In this latest issue of Audubon, he measures the impact of wind turbine crashes on bird populations. He interviews research scientists, government wildlife experts, and birders. There are statistics to ponder, but there is no consensus.


"Have Lemmings, Will Travel" by Scott Weidensaul. and photographs by Francois Portmann. Audubon, March-April, 2014. Pages 36-40, 62.

The winter of 2013-2014 will be remembered not only for the snow and bitter cold across much of the U.S. but also for the surprising large number of snowy owls that migrated south, sometimes to places where they had never before been seen. The author reports on the irruption (a word birders should learn). One point is that snowy owls have an uncanny ability to locate sources of food and communicate the information to others. They will go where the food is, not back to prior haunts. Unlike many birds, they show little site fidelity (another good term to learn).


"Hotel Kalahari" by Bernd Heinrich and photographs by Dillon Marsh. Audubon, March-April, 2014. Pages 42-45.

This is the third of three articles from one issue. Birds are still a primary concern of Audubon. The readers sees and reads about spectacular communal nests built by sociable weavers. Sociable weavers (Philetairus socius) is a species - I looked it up.


"Marsh Madness" by Scott McMillion and Photographs by Karine Aigner. Nature Conservancy, November-December 2013. Pages 52-59. 

The author tells about the annual Christmas Bird Count at Mad Island Marsh Preserve in Texas, which had recorded the highest number of species of any count sites in the U.S. in 14 of 15 years at the time of the writing of the article. There are seven nice bird photos that are not captioned. Readers have to do their own identifications.

National Geographic, October 2013: 125th Anniversary Collector's Edition: The Photo Issue

Much has changed since the National Geographic Society began issuing its bulletin 125 years ago. The early issues had no photographs. Now the monthly magazine is celebrated for its arresting photojournalism that shows the world to its readers. With its October 2013 issue, the Society celebrates its photographic heritage but not by reproducing its most famous images. There are books already doing that. Instead, through a series of new reports, it shows why its photojournalism is still important today.

That is not to say that some of the most famous pictures are not in the magazine. A few are in the short features that populate the front section of the magazine issue, and there is a foldout with more. But the emphasis is on the current state of the world, which is not promising. Jeffrey Gettleman and Marcus Bleasdale show how a corrupt government and rebel armies keep people poor and hungry in the mineral rich Congo. Robert Kunzig and James Balog present undeniable evidence of global warming in their article about the melting of glaciers. Tim Sullivan and David Guttenfelder take readers into the gray and oppressive streets of North Korea.

There are also articles to cheer readers. Martin Schoeller and Lise Funderburg reveal the "The Changing Face of America" in an article about people of mixed heritage. Schoeller's portraits of biracial men, women, and children are stunningly beautiful. Also, Tom O'Neill explains how Abelardo Morell has used the old technology of the camera obscura to create unique yet recognizable images of America's national parks.

Not to be skipped are the short pieces that feature bits of National Geographic's photographic history, including a chart that shows how frequently the magazine has included nudity. There have been 539 photos including bare breasts in 125 years, with a high of 20 in the September 1912 issue. I also liked Theron Humphrey's amusing photos of his dog Maddie who stands on small surfaces.

Digital editions are reported to have interviews with NG photographers. NG fans will find much to enjoy in this issue.

Poets & Writers on the State of Book Reviewing:

The September/October 2011 issue of Poets & Writers has an article that should interest any librarian or reader interested in current trends in book reviewing. Back From the Dead: The State of Book Reviewing by Jane Ciabattari does not consider reviews generated by libraries and librarians but does a good job of reporting on the transformation and survival of the book reviewing "establishment," the reviews in industry journals, newspapers, magazines, media, and big-time online. There are numerous links so an interested reader or librarian can revisit review sources that he or she may have neglected of late. (I have neglected many of late.)

Ciabattari mentions in her article that in 2010 there were three million new book titles of which two-thirds were self-published or print-on-demand. I'll bet few from that two-thirds ever get mentioned in the sources the author cites.

Grand Slam Gazette: Fan Newspaper from the Kane County Cougars

When I attend a baseball game, either major or minor leagues, I do not expect much from any free team-related magazine or newspaper that I am given at the gate. These publications are often filled with advertising and not much else. I just hope for basic information about the facility and the players. With low expectations, I was genuinely surprised by the July 2011 issue of Grand Slam Gazette that we got at a Kane County Cougar game. Bonnie said I should look it over, and she was right.

I enjoyed "Behind the Plate Then ... In the Dugout Now," an interview with Cougar manager Vance Wilson that starts on page 8. Wilson is a former major league catcher who retired in 2009, but few fans will remember him, for he spent more time in the bullpen and dugout than on the field. He did not get into a game the first time he was called up to the Mets. First time he got to bat he had been in the bullpen and had to run through the tunnel in cleats to just get to the on deck circle in time. When with the Tigers, he got to meet and listen to Al Kaline talk about baseball in the 1950s and 1960s. Wilson seems to be a man with firm opinions and the ability to tell stories. I wonder if he might be capable of writing a book.

I also liked "Affiliation 101," a primer to the relationships between major league teams and the partnerships that run minor league teams. This Q&A spells out how a minor league team comes into being and who pays for what. While the article asserts that some great players have passed through Kane County, it is honest in mentioning that some players are released after their KCC season. I was surprised to learn that Adrian Gonzalez was a former Cougar. The Marlins traded him to the Rangers before he debuted in the majors. I checked the scorecard for the game that we attended in 2002; Gonzalez was out of the lineup that day.

Looking at the roster and at the "Top 10 Prospects" page, I see for the first time players that are younger than my daughter. Boy, do I feel old. Still, I think I ran the bases well after the game.

"Big League Dreams" states that 111 former Cougars have made it to the majors in the minor league teams in KCC's first twenty years. (Bonnie and I missed seeing at least one game only one year.) The article identifies players in the Oakland As organization who are close to promotion. The Cougars are now affiliated with the Kansas City Royals, so we should see a stream of players debuting in the next several years.

I am reminded that we saw Aaron Cames pitch a no-hitter at Elfstrom Stadium in 1997 by the story "Sugar Ray and Chas Throw Some Pizzazz." There have now been seven Cougar no-hitters.

Now that I have finished reading the Grand Slam Gazette, I will put it away in my baseball card closet. It will be even more more fun to read ten years from now.

Mad Magazine, August 2010 Issue

I've just read the August 2010 Mad magazine, number 504 if you are counting issues. It was sitting on a table at the library waiting to be reshelved. On the cover is Alfred E. Newman slipping an iPad into the bottom of a bird cage. Thinking it might be fun to read and knowing I will be seeing my old school friend Robert Goehring soon, I checked the magazine out. Back in the late 1960s, Robert and I spent many hot Texas afternoons in his room reading Mad while listening to orange vinyl rock records that his older brother bought at a PX in Japan. I think Pete Midkiff sometimes had Mad, too. I had not looked at any issue in decades. It would be like old times.

Well, yes and no. Mad has changed. While it is now in full color, it is still an irreverent humor magazine that spares no one from parody. It still has "Spy vs. Spy," tiny cartoons in the margins, and a folding back cover. I still find it funny. It is that last point that surprises me. Isn't Mad supposed to be aimed at teens. I'm over fifty.

Reading through the issue of the magazine, I kept finding items that spoke more to adult concerns or expressed old guy sentiments, such "9 Unmistakable Signs That You're Not Quite Over Your Ex" and "12 Reasons We Hate Cell Phones." Do teens know who Mr. T and Don Rickles are? Have they ever seen a Calvin and Hobbes comic strip to recognize the parody? On page 2, the editors celebrate that they were visited by the stars of Mystery Science Theater 3000 - a bunch of old guys. Are the editors and writers of Mad a bunch of old guys, too?

Kids are not forgotten. There is a two-page spread comparing teen idol Justin Bieber with other things that start with the letter B, such as Babar and butter, followed by a four-page parody of Twilight in which you learn why the handsome dude has dog breath. There are cartoons "Rex in the City" and "Projectile Vomit Baby." The Toy Story gang gets a new story in which they drive around in a Toyota that won't brake. Sarah Palin is drawn with lots of wrinkles. Much of the content is rude. I suspect some teens still enjoy the magazine.

The editors saved some of the best work to last with the very cynical "One Afternoon in the Confessional" and the campy "Archie Marries Jughead."

Bonnie says that Mad was always written by adults for adults. As a teen I must have just assumed that it was written for me. It's still written for me but you might like it, too.

Critter Encounters: Exploring Our Fascination with the Animal Kingdom by Richard Conniff

I have written an a chapter about popular science readers' advisory for a book being edited by Jessica Moyer. At Jessica's request, it takes an interdisciplinary approach, recommending media as well as books for people who enjoy learning about science. She is calling the book Integrated Advisory Service: Breaking Through the Book Boundary to Better Serve Library Users. Look for the book in Spring 2010.

I mention this now because I just read an article in the May-June 2009 issue of Sierra that is in the same spirit. Richard Conniff write about some of his favorite books and DVDs about nature and wildlife in "Critter Encounters: Exploring Our Fascination with the Animal Kingdom." He even includes two titles that I recommend: American Buffalo: In Search of a Lost Icon by Steven Rinella and Wesley the Owl: The Remarkable Love Story of an Owl and His Girl by Stacey O'Brien. Another old favorite that he suggests is My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell.

The "Mixed Media" section of Sierra often has good reading recommendations. Also watch the back pages of Audubon to find popular science titles.

BBC Knowledge Magazine

When our staff took a tour of the LaGrange Public Library in December, Julie, who manages our magazine collection, noticed BBC Knowledge. It is a splashy new title coming out at a time when many magazines seem to be folding. The BBC must think the American market is still ripe for good periodicals.

You can look through the December issue online. You'll find that the articles focus on science, history, and nature. BBC marketing says that the new magazine is aimed at the curious reader. In the December issue are articles on sloths, the new particle accelerator being built in Switzerland, and a new history book and TV series from Simon Schama. In the interview, the provocative Schama says that the United States has a less obviously military culture than Britain. He says, however, the "citizen soldier" that Jefferson envisoned as a restaint against invading foreign countries has not worked well, pointing out the gungho wars against Mexico (1845) and Iraq. There are also many short news items in this very colorful magazine.

Thomas Ford is starting a subscription to add to our "more browsing/less research" periodicals collection.

Bookforum, Dec/Jan 2009, Volume 15, Issue 4

When I was in Iowa City a couple of weekends ago to pick up my daughter Laura for Thanksgiving break, we visited Prairie Lights Bookstore. After looking at books and drinking hot chocolate, as we started to leave, I noticed a tall stack of the December/January 2009 issues of Bookforum. I think I might have heard of the publication before, but I am not sure - there are so many "Book Something" publications. Whatever, it looked interesting, so I bought a copy.

Nine days late, I can report that I have enjoyed Bookforum and its reviews, featuring a lot of books for readers who like something a bit more challenging and deeper than bestsellers. Of particular interest to me was a full page (large page) article reviewing Hitler's Private Library by Timothy W. Rybeck. The review writer Trevor Butterworth quotes Rybeck's depiction of of Hitler as an insecure man who defended his positions with books and used his vast knowledge of books to intimidate. Rybeck asserts, however, that while Hitler remembered much of what he read, he was unable to think critically and distinguish truth from lies. Hitler was an admirer of American automaker Henry Ford and required all his staff to read Ford's books.

Allen Barra wrote a two-page review of The World Is What It Is: The Authorized Biography of V. S. Naipaul by Patrick French. "Authorized" is the interesting word here, as French was given free access to all of Naipaul's papers and is very critical of the novelist. According to the agreement, Naipaul could have required changes to the text but did not. The reviewer tries to make sense of a man full of jealousies and contradictions who would so easily agree to such a portrayal.

In "Grave Doubts: Reckoning with Mass Mortality after the Civil War," T. J. Jackson Lears discusses two books about the extreme amount of violence and death during the American Civil War. He asserts that most accounts of the war gloss over the horror, hiding it behind stories of gallantry and honorable purpose. He thinks the rhetoric of the glory of war that arose as a coping defense has made us too willing to fight in subsequent wars.

In the short reviews, the book that look most interesting to me is Fifty Miles from Tomorrow: A Memoir of Alaska and the Real People by William L. Iggiagruk Hensley. Hensley tells about growing up in the far north and his career as an advocate for his native people.

Throughout the book review are ads for art books, which seems odd until you discover that the review is a sister publication of Artforum.

Bookforum will appeal to readers who enjoy The New York Review of Books. Larger public libraries and those with literary readers should consider adding a subscription.

Wendell Berry in World Ark Magazine Digitized

Yesterday, I drove my daughter Laura back to Iowa City for her spring semester at the University of Iowa. I've heard remarks about how dull a drive it is along Interstates 88 and 80 - about how there is nothing to see. I disagree. I paid particular attention yesterday and discovered that there was almost always farmhouses, barns, or other agricultural buildings in view. There were vast fields covered in light snow, ponds covered in ice, rivers to cross, and cows and horses breathing out steam in the cold. Near the Mississippi River, I saw a bald eagle circling right over the highway. A redtailed hawk sat on a post. Rather than a void, the land between the western Chicago suburbs and the college town is rich farmland, especially lovely with the snow.

This morning I read the January/February 2008 issue of World Ark, which includes an interview with novelist/poet/farmer/environmentalist Wendell Berry. Berry has written a lot about farmland and the people of rural America. He'd be able to read the land along the Interstate and know which family farms are thriving and which have been taken over by corporations. The maintenance of the barns and house would shout at him. In an interview on pages 16-19, he says that he regrets how our urbanized society has lost touch with its food supply and discusses how even city neighborhoods can reconnect with land. He suggests models from the past to make the future better. Ancient Greek cities included farmland to keep them self-sufficient.

World Ark is a publication from Heifer International, which sponsors giving farm animals to third world countries. I suspect only contributors ever see its articles. I checked Worldcat to see how many libraries carry World Ark and found only five.

There is a way, however, for many people to read this article. Heifer International posts the entire issue on its magazine on its website using services of Nxtbook Media. Click on a page of the magazine and the digital reader turns to the next. The magazine allows zooming, bookmarking, stick notes, saving, and printing. without my having to download any software.

Libraries could use similar digital publishing on their websites for annual reports, tutorials, or online children's books.

American Libraries, February 2007: Are You Reading?

Based on circumstantial evidence, I do not think many people are bothering to read monthly issues of American Libraries. They are probably unaware of the redesign of the journal and its focus of looking back and forward in 2007, its 100th anniversary year. It is unfortunate that the articles are not fulltext at American Libraries Online. Is the fear that no one will bother joining ALA if the articles are free on the web? I do not think so. Most librarians join ALA because they are committed to the profession, not because they really want the journal. Is the fear that nonlibrarians will read the articles? I hope not. Putting the articles on the web would give them the exposure they deserve. The authors who wrote the articles and columns deserve a broader platform.

Because I can not link to the articles, I will link to the February table of contents and tell you what articles impressed me in the new issue.

"Race and Place: A Personal Account of Unequal Access" by Tracie D. Hall on pages 30-33 is definitely the most important item in the issue. The library service we all expect is still not universally available, as Hall makes very clear.

Meredith Farkas tells about the efforts of the Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County to train its staff in "A Roadmap to Learning 2.0" on page 26. Few libraries have the resources and talent of PLCMC, but they steal a few ideas from their blueprint for learning.

"Spectrum Turns 10: ALA's Diversity Recruitment Program Marks Its First Decade" by Amy Stone on pages 42-43 is an alert to how much more needs to be done in the area of diversity recruitment.

I was asked the other day why libraries would be interested in Second Life, the virtual world on the web. The answer is that youth are interested. See "Who's on Second? Do You Know Where Your Avatar Is?" by Jennifer Burek Pierce on page 46.

Mary Ellen Quinn tells about the new The Cambridge History of Libraries in Britain and Ireland in "Librarian's Library" on page 48. It will take real commitment to read, as it is three volumes and over two thousand pages. It does sound interesting. Can someone write the concise edition?

Bill Ott devotes his "Rousing Reads" on page 51 to one author, Lee Child.

Will Manley reports on the 1907 ALA Annual Conference in Ashville, North Carolina on page 64. No, he was not there! He read through the July 1907 issue of Bulletin of the American Library Association. He says that we would recognize most of the content, issues, and attitudes. Only the ideas about service for youth have changed radically.

Wouldn't it be nice if I could link to these articles so you could read them right now? The folks at RUSQ have caught on. Seek out the February issue of American Libraries. There should be one around your library.