© 2007 Julie Zickefoose ...Science Art-Birds

Title: Migratory Birds-Fantasy Flock
Species: Common Nighthawk (Chordeiles minor); Scissor-tailed Flycatcher (Tyrannus forficatus); Black-headed Grosbeak (Pheucticus melanocephalus); Bay-breasted Warbler (Dendroica castanea); Hooded Warbler (Wilsonia citrina); Bobolink (Dolichonyx oryzivorus); and Ruddy Turnstone (Arenaria interpres)
Artist: Julie Zickefoose (for further information, click on the artist's name)
Image size: 21" x 29"
Media: transparent watercolor on Winsor-Newton paper
Date: 2007
South Africa

The artist notes: "This full-sheet watercolor depicts an unlikely assemblage of Common
Nighthawk, Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, Black-headed Grosbeak, Bay-breasted Warbler, Hooded Warbler, Bobolink and Ruddy Turnstone against towering thunderheads. It was created for a display booth for the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center in Washington, DC, to draw attention to the plight of declining Neotropical migrants. The reproduced version is 8' high. The artist's only charge by SMBC was to create "a work of face-melting beauty that would draw people from across a crowded< room."

The flock assemblage may be a fantasy, but the pending plight of migrants is anything but, and drawing attention to it is critical. In North America the Common Nighthawk is undergoing dramatic losses in some areas, while the Scissor-tailed Flycatcher is stable--except for Oklahoma, where it's the state bird--and the Black-headed Grosbeak is still holding steady,as are the Hooded Warbler and RuddyTurnstone, but the Bay-breasted Warbler has been decreasing for two decades, and the Bobolink is undergoing widespread decline..