• Hand signed by the artist,
• single-matted 5 x 7 print in 8 x 10 mat
• (choose mat color below – price includes mat),
• foam-core backed and bagged.

These endearing and lovable Birds still seem to be doing fine on the Eastside of the state where we saw them confidently negotiating life next to rushing traffic in towns like Brewster and Ellensburg this year.  The Westside is a different story.  Last year we heard them in Mason and Gray’s Harbor County and saw one in Clallam County.  There used to be Cal Quail all over the Westside and Seattle, including Discovery Park, Magnuson Park and Union Bay but many or all of those populations seem now to be gone.

It’s not necessarily a conservation tragedy when an introduced species fails somewhere.  But I’m a believer in the “Novel Ecosystem” idea: We are creating a natural world that has never existed before, and it would be nice if it included cool critters. Many Bird species that are most common now in Seattle were probably not found prior to the Western expansion. Bluebirds became abundant after the settlers cut down all the trees, only to get driven out by something, not Starlings apparently as many of us believed.  Conservation biology has no time for these non-crucial questions but I guess all I’m saying is I would like to know what exactly has driven some of these species out and if there are any easy fixes left.

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I failed to date this when I painted it in the late 80s or early 90s.  In December I remastered the file, (this is done by musicians and their estates who have had a long career also) to make color changes that weren’t possible for me to do then.  I was impressed by the work I had done, and got envious of my younger self (I guess I’m just the jealous kind).

[mat8x10]