I finally got this done. Just watercolor & ink. The original is very large, so this was pieced together from 6 different scans. Not all of them line up perfectly, so there's some issues with borders between the different scans, but it's the best I could do with those limitations.
Birds that went extinct after the arrival of Europeans. (There's a whole slew of mammals that the Indians wiped out before the Europeans came, and the Hawaiian Islands lost about two dozen birds after the Polynesians got there, but those are for different pictures.)
Clockwise
Great Auk : North Atlantic to Europe: Subjected to industrial-level slaughter for oil and feathers, with the final blow from people killing them for collectors as they got rarer.
Labrador Duck: North-east Atlantic coast. Never common, it probably went extinct due to coastal habitat loss.
Dusky seaside sparrow: Florida Atlantic coast. A subspecies of the still-extant seaside sparrow, it lived in a very limited area which was lost to development.
Heath Hen: Eastern U.S. A subspecies of the prairie chicken, it disappeared due to overhunting and habitat loss.
Eskimo Curlew: Canada, migrating through the US to Argentina. Massive overhunting during migration, and the extinction of the Rocky Mountain grasshopper, a critical food source during migration.
Bachman's Warbler: Southeastern US, wintering in Cuba. Habitat loss.
Ivory-billed Woodpecker: Southern US and Cuba. Habitat loss due to cutting of old-growth forests, combined with shooting for collectors.
Carolina Parakeet: Eastern US. Being shot as crop pests, and habitat loss.
Spectacled Cormorant: Aleutian islands. Killed for food by sailors and natives.
Passenger Pigeon: Midwest and eastern US. Massive overhunting, destruction of nesting areas, and cutting of old-growth forests.
Birds that went extinct after the arrival of Europeans. (There's a whole slew of mammals that the Indians wiped out before the Europeans came, and the Hawaiian Islands lost about two dozen birds after the Polynesians got there, but those are for different pictures.)
Clockwise
Great Auk : North Atlantic to Europe: Subjected to industrial-level slaughter for oil and feathers, with the final blow from people killing them for collectors as they got rarer.
Labrador Duck: North-east Atlantic coast. Never common, it probably went extinct due to coastal habitat loss.
Dusky seaside sparrow: Florida Atlantic coast. A subspecies of the still-extant seaside sparrow, it lived in a very limited area which was lost to development.
Heath Hen: Eastern U.S. A subspecies of the prairie chicken, it disappeared due to overhunting and habitat loss.
Eskimo Curlew: Canada, migrating through the US to Argentina. Massive overhunting during migration, and the extinction of the Rocky Mountain grasshopper, a critical food source during migration.
Bachman's Warbler: Southeastern US, wintering in Cuba. Habitat loss.
Ivory-billed Woodpecker: Southern US and Cuba. Habitat loss due to cutting of old-growth forests, combined with shooting for collectors.
Carolina Parakeet: Eastern US. Being shot as crop pests, and habitat loss.
Spectacled Cormorant: Aleutian islands. Killed for food by sailors and natives.
Passenger Pigeon: Midwest and eastern US. Massive overhunting, destruction of nesting areas, and cutting of old-growth forests.
Category Artwork (Traditional) / Animal related (non-anthro)
Species Avian (Other)
Gender Multiple characters
Size 1482 x 1514px
Listed in Folders
The Ivory-Bill is one of those birds that's almost a cryptid these days.
There are a lot of people who live in or near the boonies of Florida who keep seeing and hearing them, and the call of the IBW is very distinctive, and can't be mistaken for anything else. It's also a HUGE bird, compared to other woodpeckers. Tygermoon Fox, spirits rest her soul, used to see them regularly on her property. She was one sharp cookie, and didn't take such things lightly.
Speaking from personal experience, I know that F&W personnel have a truly delightful habit of keeping such things very quiet. Someone will make a report, and they'll be asked, don't tell the rest of the public, but do call in with any new sightings.
There are a lot of people who live in or near the boonies of Florida who keep seeing and hearing them, and the call of the IBW is very distinctive, and can't be mistaken for anything else. It's also a HUGE bird, compared to other woodpeckers. Tygermoon Fox, spirits rest her soul, used to see them regularly on her property. She was one sharp cookie, and didn't take such things lightly.
Speaking from personal experience, I know that F&W personnel have a truly delightful habit of keeping such things very quiet. Someone will make a report, and they'll be asked, don't tell the rest of the public, but do call in with any new sightings.
Because the pileated woodpecker is still pretty common, most sightings can be attributed to misidentification and wistful thinking. Considering how valuable good photos or footage would be, and the zillions of birdwatchers and camera traps out there, the fact no one has produced anything since the 1930's is pretty telling.
I have a massive book that details everything that went down with the Great Auk, a fascinating and depressing read. They were incredibly oily birds and in some cases the oil rendered from their bodies was used in cigars so they would stay lit. The nail in their coffin was when their last major rookery was an island that collapsed into the ocean during an earthquake.
Also, the Imperial Woodpecker is basically a larger (almost?) Subspecies of the Ivory Bill. It may or may not be extinct as well. I learned that logging companies had put bounties on these birds because they considered them destructive to viable lumber trees. Supposedly they would drive poison pellets into trees to specifically target the woodpeckers.
Fills me with rage when I think back on all this.
Also, the Imperial Woodpecker is basically a larger (almost?) Subspecies of the Ivory Bill. It may or may not be extinct as well. I learned that logging companies had put bounties on these birds because they considered them destructive to viable lumber trees. Supposedly they would drive poison pellets into trees to specifically target the woodpeckers.
Fills me with rage when I think back on all this.
The imperial woodpecker was a full-on separate species. There's a vague hope it might still survive, because a lot of it's old habitat can't be studied due to drug cartel activity making it too dangerous.
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