Ripped From the Headlines!

The staff at the Audubon Center at Francis Beidler Forest hopes that everyone had a safe and wonderful Thanksgiving...everyone and every thing!

Image by Mark Musselman

While enjoying our days away from the swamp, we had extra time to peruse the printed and online news.  Here are a few noteworthy selections:

In a callback to our post from last week, we spotted an article by Bo Petersen in The Post and Courier regarding an award nomination of local conservationist George Rabb for his lifetime of work protecting wildlife and their habitats.  Why are frogs disappearing from the planet at an alarming rate?  Mr. Rabb can tell you.  "He drove research that identified a deadly skin fungus literally being carried frog to frog as local species were transported around the world. Because of that work, a global effort is under way to find ways to diffuse the crisis and conserve healthy captive species as a fallback."

Next, work continues with Ashley Ridge High School and the new nature trail. Last week, we were on campus to teach the basics of Global Positioning System (GPS) navigation.  Students quickly got the hang of the technology and found various objects like a manhole cover, a specific palm tree, white traffic arrows, and a bench.  All objects that could have been located with verbal directions, but it likely would have devolved into something akin to the old game of telephone.  With their newly acquired skills, students will be able to capture the coordinates of various locations along the nature trail, including wildlife sightings!  Using the data they collect, students will also be able to create their own maps.  You can read more about the day in the Summerville Journal Scene's article.

Images by Emily Cavell


Finally, "one of the world's rarest and most valuable books is out of the vault and on public view."  You can read the rest of Joann Loviglio's article regarding John James Audubon's "The Birds of America" in yesterday's Post and Courier.