Water bird Installation

Waterbird Museum Installation at The Hudgens Center for Arts and Learning  through April, 2021

“River Watch” (Great Blue Heron)

“Bartram’s Journey” (Great White Heron)

“Marsh Alert” (Clapper Rail)

“Emerging Wood Duck” 

“Green Heron & Friends”

 

This grouping of waterfowl and shorebirds illustrates both conservation threats and success stories. While hundreds of thousands of shorebirds were once killed for the fashion industry (the price of plumes rose to more than double the price of gold), federal legislation was finally enacted to protect these birds thanks to the lobbying efforts of private groups, such as the Audubon Society. The highly adaptable green and great blue herons (which can use tools when fishing) have stable populations. Although the wood duck suffered great bottom-land forest habitat loss, a nest box program has brought them back in numbers. Birds, like the clapper rail (which is endangered in California), still face environmental problems, such as pollution, oil spills, pesticides, and loss of habitat.