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Songbird Remix's Product Preview Thread

Janet

Dances with Bees
Contributing Artist
Cool! I don't have that one either but it's on my list. I had no idea it was flightless. In fact I just looked up flightless birds and there's quite a few. I usually only think of penguins, ostrich, kiwis, and emus.
 

Szark

Awesome
well at least there are more now than 20 years ago. If only they could get rid of all the introduced species once and for all.
 

Satira Capriccio

Renowned
CV-BEE
Contributing Artist
But ... but ... but ... soooo many species are introduced. Some of them were even introduced by humans centuries ago. Or introduced themselves without human interference. How far back do we go in removing introduced/non indigenous species? Are we willing to do without steak, sausage, milk, coffee, tea, and eggs? Are we willing to give up the companionship of dogs and cats?

Europeans brought so many non native species with them like ... horses. But they also introduced donkeys, mules, cows, pigs, sheep, goats, chicken, large dogs, cats, and honey bees, as well as wheat, barley, grapes, coffee, and sugar cane to the Americas. Actually, I'm rather surprised chicken, sheep, goats, and honey bees are introduced species. In reverse, the Europeans introduced the potato, maize/corn, tomato, and tobacco to the rest of the world.

Before the Europeans, the ancient Polynesians brought dogs, pigs, chickens and rats, as well as plants like taro, yam, banana, and breadfruit throughout the Pacific. Again ... bananas surprises me. The Polynesians and the animals they brought with them wiped out about 40 species of birds just in Hawaii. Europeans wiped out another 25 species of birds.

Interestingly enough, the Dingo is an introduced species to Australia. Who knew!?! Granted, they did arrive about 5,000 years ago. Apparently, they came courtesy of ancient seafarers from Asia. Other species introduced to Australia include cattle, sheep, pig, horse, cats, dogs, goat, rabbit, camel, buffalo, banteng, red fox, rats and fleas (of course), house mouse, European honey bee, rainbow trout, mallard duck, spotted dove, European wasp, house sparrow, monarch butterfly, house gecko, the dung beetle, cane toad, myna bird, and red fire ant ... all of which were apparently introduced after the arrival of Europeans in 1788. Whew! That's some list!

In some cases, it isn't just the introduced species that cause the threat to indigenous species ... or are maybe even the greatest threat. How are indigenous species supposed to survive habitat changes by humans so we can raise domesticated animals or plants or build homes. Far easier to blame introduced species (by humans) when the threat IS humans. Surely it can't be the massive banana, coffee, tea, or palm tree plantations. How much land has been made inhospitable to indigenous species so we can eat steak? Do we really need to divert water, dam rivers, or drain wetlands so we can spread out into deserts, onto floodplains, or into swamps or marshes or bogs.
 

Szark

Awesome
I will be a bit more specific since New Zealand is a little different to most countries. Stoats are a big problem for flightless birds. Rats also but they are harder to keep out given they stow away on ships. Gray Squirrels here in the UK are wiping out our indigenous reds with a virus they spread. Some parts of the UK have managed to cull Grays to the point some islands are now clear and the red population are growing. Yes some introduced species can live in harmony within a balanced ecosystem some are not conducive to keeping it balanced.

So basically it is only those species that upset the ecosystem. Oh yes the human element is so much more destructive and what gets me upset more that most people don't give a damn. They carry on consuming, buying stuff they don't need, waste food and pollute. This notion that we are special on this planet really gets me too, perpetrated by certain religions and a destructive ideology of consumerism.
 

Ken Gilliland

Dances with Bees
HW3D Exclusive Artist
There are many sad stories about introduced species-- a lot of them are recounted in my "Threatened' series field guides. A shipwreck at Lord Howe Island allowed black rats to escape, which in turn, ate the eggs of the Robust Silvereye causing it to go extinct. Introduced domestic house cats have caused the extinction of several dozen bird species including the Bonin Wood Pigeon and Bonin Grosbeak (Bonin Islands, Japan), and the Socorro Dove (Revillagigedo Islands, Mexico). Islands, even big ones like New Zealand, are particularly sensitive to introduced species. Take the Hawaii Islands; 0f the 71 known species of endemic Hawaiian bird, one-third are extinct and two-thirds of the remaining living species are endangered or threatened. My Songbird ReMix Hawai'i has almost half of the known species to inhabit Hawai’i (35 species, 41 birds in all).

Africanized "killer" Bees were introduced to Brazil to help with polonization. The bees took over the nesting cavities of the Spix's Macaw. Add in deforestation and illegal trapping for the pet trade and this species is now extinct. You might know the Spix's Macaw from it's starring role in "Rio".

Deforestation, urbanization, removal of forests for range land all play big roles in the extinction crisis, but they are just symptoms. Take a look at this chart to see the root of the problem.

My "Threatened, Endangered, Extinct" series was specifically designed to give artists (yes, you) the tools to make art that teaches and makes viewers of your art "aware" of the ever increasing extinction problem we've been causing. To give you an idea how long I've been talking about this, here's reprinted Renderosity Magazine article from 14 years ago. You'll hear more about this (and everything bird) once we get to Audubon's birthday.
 

Satira Capriccio

Renowned
CV-BEE
Contributing Artist
Absolutely, the most damaging introduced species just about anywhere is the human animal. Yet, the human animal also has the potential to be the most beneficial ... if we'd only stop thinking of ourselves as the most important species on the planet.
 

Ken Gilliland

Dances with Bees
HW3D Exclusive Artist
Absolutely, the most damaging introduced species just about anywhere is the human animal. Yet, the human animal also has the potential to be the most beneficial ... if we'd only stop thinking of ourselves as the most important species on the planet.

I've always come from the idea that we share this planet with all the endemic species, not own it.
 

Janet

Dances with Bees
Contributing Artist
Satira, monarch butterflies were introduced from where to where? They have a very specific migration pattern. People tried to throw them off by capture a bunch of them and taking them hundreds of miles off route during it but they found their way back.

I didn't know that about coffee. I thought it was from South America. Apparently it's from Africa.
 

Satira Capriccio

Renowned
CV-BEE
Contributing Artist
Apparently, Monarch Butterflies were introduced to Australia from North America.

They were first recorded in Australia in the summer of 1870/71. But it's not clear to me how the Monarch Butterflies got to Australia. Where they imported intentionally? Were they scattered throughout the Pacific Islands and to Australia naturally by storms? Apparently, they don't use native Australian Milkweed species, but Milkweed species that come from southern and tropical Africa or from the Bahamas and the Caribbean. (The Milkweed species from the Bahamas and the Caribbean were imported as garden plants.)

So it is entirely possible Monarchs arrived in Australia a number of times long before they were first recorded in the late 1800s. But if milkweed plants they could use were not there in sufficient numbers, those Monarchs would not have survived.

The articles I read didn't identify how all those species were introduced to Australia. I imagine some like the house mouse and red fire ant were accidentally introduced (who would intentionally introduce fire ants?), while others were probably brought by storms.
 

Szark

Awesome
and they made it to New Zealand too. Not hard to fly from Sydney to the north island. I remember them as a kid living in NZ.
 

JOdel

Dances with Bees
HW Honey Bear
I see that the new birds of the month are the nightjar package. Have these been reworked and we should re-download them, or are they just being highlighted because they're cool?
 

Alisa

RETIRED HW3D QAV Director (QAV Queen Bee)
Staff member
QAV-BEE
Yes, to both ;)

They were reworked last year, as noted on the product page, so if you haven't updated them, definitely do so :)
Songbird ReMix Frogmouths, Nightjars & Goatsuckers - A Ken Gilliland 3D Creation

For all who don't know, the update thread here can tell you what/when stuff's updated and what's been changed:
Product Updates - Main Notification
There are threads in that forum for each batch of products, and when a product is updated, it's posted in the first post of the above thread, a new post in that thread, and in the appropriate thread for the sku.
 

Ken Gilliland

Dances with Bees
HW3D Exclusive Artist
I see that the new birds of the month are the nightjar package. Have these been reworked and we should re-download them, or are they just being highlighted because they're cool?

Hivewire3D decided to add a bird(s) of the month feature to the forum this year. It highlights birds that Hivewire3D (and I) think are cool and deserve some attention. Apart from real life videos, comments from Lisa and I, they also are on sale for the featured month. The selection is a little random, for instance in January, I received my monthly newsletter from Audubon California about Pacific Sea Ducks. I thought it was pretty amazing the mass of ducks shown in the video feasting on herring and sardines. That probably explains my Fish project and Waterfowl v2: Sea and Diving Ducks being featured in February.

I love my Nightjar set and features best of my best work. I don't think it received the attention it deserved... so it was March's choice.

My April Audubon California newsletter features the Tri-colored Blackbird, the bird I champion every year for my Audubon event, so chances are that will be featured next.
 
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