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11th Annual Songbird Remix Audubon Sale!

LisaB

LisaB

HW3D Vice President & Queen Bee
Staff member
Co-Founder
BirthdaySaleBanner.jpg​

John James Audubon, born on April 26th, 1785, was the United States dominant wildlife artist for half a century. His seminal work, Birds of America, a collection of 435 life-size prints, is still a standard by which bird artists are measured. In his later years, Audubon sounded the alarm about the destruction of birds and their habitats. After his death, the Audubon Society was formed and carried his legacy into the future.

Today, Ken Gilliland carries the spirit of JJ Audubon’s work into the 3D digital age by promoting avian artistry and environmental awareness through his Songbird ReMix series. While his contribution to the bird conservation community is an ongoing thing, once a year he hosts a special sale event to bring awareness to the world of birds and raise funds necessary to protect them and their habitat.

2017 marks eleven years of this highly anticipated 3D bird event. The 11th Annual Songbird Remix Audubon's Birthday Sale celebrates the fourth year the sale is being hosted at HiveWire 3D, the new home for the Songbird Remix 3D library. Audubon California has a promotion that coincides with the Audubon Birthday Sale called “Give $5, Save 5 birds”, paying the farmer to leave their crops standing which saves endangered Tri-colored Blackbird chicks from being “harvested” along with the crop that is their home.

Each year, Ken has donated 25% or more of proceeds from the Audubon Birthday Sale to Audubon California. Over the years, the sale has generated thousands of dollars for Audubon. This year, 35% (or more) of Ken’s proceeds on the 2017 Audubon's Birthday Sale will be donated to Audubon California who is directly responsible for preserving many of the birds featured in his Songbird Remix series. The annual Audubon’s Birthday sale has saved almost 20,000 endangered birds to date.


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We asked Ken some questions to find out more about Audubon, what else we can do and why saving birds is something everyone should care about. See the full interview here.

 
Ken Gilliland

Ken Gilliland

Dances with Bees
HW3D Exclusive Artist
Thank-you for posting this, Lisa. Yes, today starts my annual Audubon's Birthday Sale. New items for the sale include my "Nature's Wonders Frogs", "Songbird ReMix Flock Formations 2" and a Nature's Wonders Habitat/Environment ValueStack.

As Lisa said above, this sale benefits the Tri-colored Blackbird and other endangered birds. The Tri-colored Blackbird is an unique bird found only in central California. It has lost much of it's riparian nesting habitat due to farming and development. The birds have relocated to wheat and other fields to nest. The problem is that their nesting period occurs at the same time as the harvesting does. Most of the nests and chicks are harvested as a result. What Audubon California does with the donations is to buy land outright to provide nesting areas, or at least, to pay the farmers to postpone their harvest until after the majority of the Blackbirds fledge.

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It's been my tradition during my Audubon's Birthday Sale to share a daily fact "Why Birds Matter" to us... so here it goes:
  • The combined value of 17 different ecosystem services that birds provide (such as pollination and water catchment) is estimated between $16- 54 trillion per year worldwide. This is around double what all the worlds economies make together. Without birds, we'd have to pay for these "free" services ourselves... so protecting birds actually saves us all money.

and a FUN fact:
 
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Pendraia

Pendraia

Sage
Contributing Artist
Frog and flock formations are in my trolley...I haven't decided if I can afford anything else yet but there are a few things I'd like to get.
 
Glitterati3D

Glitterati3D

Dances with Bees
Flock formations 1 and 2 in this image! And, of course, Habitat Extender. Great stuff, Ken.

ParkAfternoon.jpg
 
Ken Gilliland

Ken Gilliland

Dances with Bees
HW3D Exclusive Artist
It's Earth Day today and I'll be out Marching for Science in Los Angeles.

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Why Birds Matter

While these numbers are 16 years old now they still prove that birds (and protecting them) are good for business. I'm guessing all these numbers are significantly higher now...
  • US Wildlife watchers spent $38.4 billion in 2001-- resulting in a $95.8 billion contribution to the nation’s economy and producing more than one million jobs (USFWS 2001).
  • Birders spent $32 billion in 2001 watching birds -- that in turn generated $85 billion in economic benefits, produced $13 billion in tax revenues and 863,406 jobs (USFWS 2001).
  • US Birders spend $3.1 billion on food for birds and other wildlife; $733 million on bird houses and feeders; $2.6 billion on cameras and associated photographic equipment specifically and $507 million on binoculars and spotting scopes specifically for birding. (USFWS 2001).
  • An estimated 75% of households in Britain provide food for birds at some point during the winter.
Today's FUN Facts:
  • The Phainopepla is a beautiful all black crested bird from the American Southwest. It's name “Phainopepla” comes from the Greek word for “shining robe”. They rarely drink water, getting their moisture from berries instead. Phainopeplas love mistletoe berries and can eat over a thousand berries in a day.
 
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StudioMartillo

StudioMartillo

Engaged
Just got Jewels of the Forest and Hummingbirds of North America. The Hummingbirds are my special friends, which I've posted about before. They eat gnatses which are annoying when bike riding. One lived in an Ironwood by my back porch for a while, which was named 'Buzz', 'cause he would buzz me. Once when I was standing still, looking around for him after a bike ride, he zipped in and
picked some gnats off my shirt. Very bold little rascal. I've only spent about $30 on a monocular for bird watching. Shame on me!
 
Glitterati3D

Glitterati3D

Dances with Bees
StudioMartillo said:
Just got Jewels of the Forest and Hummingbirds of North America. The Hummingbirds are my special friends, which I've posted about before. They eat gnatses which are annoying when bike riding. One lived in an Ironwood by my back porch for a while, which was named 'Buzz', 'cause he would buzz me. Once when I was standing still, looking around for him after a bike ride, he zipped in and
picked some gnats off my shirt. Very bold little rascal. I've only spent about $30 on a monocular for bird watching. Shame on me!
Click to expand...

I love them too. In the Southeastern US we get the ruby throated and I can't wait until it's time to get the feeders out each spring. They're just arriving here now; had one at the feeder the other day.

Take a look at Ken's Motherhood set, too - there's hummer stuff in there that's awesome.
 
Ken Gilliland

Ken Gilliland

Dances with Bees
HW3D Exclusive Artist
Well, I did my first-ever march (March for Science), got to chant "Science, not Silence" and didn't even arrested. Apart from the heat (93 degrees at noon), it was a pretty fun day. There was some guy in a polar bear suit and another in a dinosaur suit-- surprised they didn't pass-out due to the heat, and a lot of great signs-- one of my favorites- "I came because they told me there was going to be lots of π". My sign was a quote from Robert Ingersol, "There are in nature neither rewards nor punishments — there are consequences."

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Why Birds Matter...

You are not alone if you love birds. The US Fish and Wildlife Service estimated in 2001 that there were over 46 million "Birders" (conservatively defined as having taken a trip a mile or more from home for the primary purpose of observing and identifying birds or tried to identify birds around the home). Audubon California said in 2011 that over 6 million Californians were "Birders". It is considered the fastest growing form of outdoor recreation. Overall, Birding is now the second most popular hobby/pastime on the planet, only surpassed by gardening.

Fun Facts:
The Eurasian Wynecks name comes from it's ability to turn their heads almost 180 degrees. When disturbed at the nest, they use this snake-like head twisting and hissing as a threat display. This odd behavior led to their use in witchcraft, hence to put a "jinx" on someone.
 
Alisa

Alisa

RETIRED HW3D QAV Director (QAV Queen Bee)
Staff member
QAV-BEE
Cool! lol at that sign about lots of π. Heat - UGH!!!

Love your sign, Ken.

Reminds me a bit of a great quote from Neil deGrasse Tyson: "the good thing about science is that it's true whether or not you believe in it."
 
Miss B

Miss B

Drawing Life 1 Pixel at a Time
CV-BEE
Ohhhh, I like that quote Alisa. :)

I also like Ken's. You can't hide from the "consequences". ;)
 
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