11th Annual Songbird Remix Audubon Sale!

[Ken Gilliland]

Today, marks a day of multiple climate marches around the world; people standing up to say we should listen to what our planet and our life-support system is telling us.
I know that this has sadly become a hot button issue, but it shouldn't be... as astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson has said, "The good thing about science is that it's true whether or not you believe in it."

Another great deGrasse quote, ""The dinosaurs never saw that asteroid coming, what's your excuse?""

Climate March inspired Bird Facts:
-50% of the US bird population (314 species) will go extinct unless we confront climate change now.
-1 in 6 species on this planet is on the brink of extinction due to human causes. It is estimated that 50% of all species in the world will be extinct within 30-50 years if we don't act now.
-Of the 71 known species of endemic Hawaiian bird, one-third are extinct and two-thirds of the remaining living species are now endangered or threatened.
-Over 50% of all Hawaiian endemic birds evolved from the House Finch.
-Elon Musk on Climate Change

Songbird ReMix Hawai'i has almost half of the known species to inhabit Hawai’i (35 species, 41 birds in all).

 

[Ken Gilliland]

I should also mention that we're closing in on the grand finale of my Audubon's Birthday Sale which ends of May 1st.

 

[Miss B]

Another great deGrasse quote, ""The dinosaurs never saw that asteroid coming, what's your excuse?""

Absolutely Love it!!

 

[Alisa]

Love those quotes..

 

[Ken Gilliland]

As we close in on the final two days of my Audubon sale, here is todays "Why Birds Matter" facts...

• For many states within the US, and countries around the world, bird tourism is their top economic producer. Damaging environmental protections will end up damage economies... In the United States, 73% of Hawaiian visits are birders in search of seeing Hawaii's rapidly declining endemic bird populations and 69% of Wyoming and Alaska's tourism comes from Birders. Other states that count on birders include: Florida 25%, New Hampshire 45%, Vermont 31%, Utah 31%, Maine 63%, Montana 40% and New Hampshire 45%. Only 1 in 5 US State economies don't count on Birders. (USFWS 2011)
• In the avian raptor families (eagles, hawks, owls and falcons), females are usually 20-30% larger than males. Their larger size allows them to hunt larger and different prey so they don't over-hunt their territory with their male counterparts.
• While most woodpeckers work trees for their meals, the Northern Flicker often works the ground, spearing ants with it’s barbed tongue. Ants are its favorite food. The Northern Flicker is found in Songbird ReMix Woodpeckers

and a few more of my favorite quotes...

• "If you take care of the birds, you take care of most of the big problems of the world" -Dr. Thomas Lovejoy, Science & Policy, George Mason University
• “Birds should be saved for utilitarian reasons; and, moreover, they should be saved because of reasons unconnected with dollars and cents...
  The extermination of the Passenger Pigeon meant that mankind was just so much poorer... And to lose the chance to see frigate-birds soaring in circles above the storm, or a file of pelicans winging their way homeward across the crimson afterglow of the sunset, or a myriad of terns flashing in the bright light of midday as they hover in a shifting maze above the beach— why, the loss is like the loss of a gallery of the masterpieces of the artists of old time.”
  —-Theodore Roosevelt, 1916
• "It's impossible to put a price on towering peaks and pristine forests and America's cultural history, but we know that our national parks have an economic impact that extends beyond their boundaries. In 2012, hundreds of millions of recreational visits to public lands and waters generated over $50 billion for local communities, and supported nearly 900,000 jobs. So whether they're hiking or camping or fishing, visitors to our parks and public lands are not only enjoying the bounty of our natural resources, but also they're promoting jobs and they're promoting growth. And continuing to set aside federal land for outdoor recreation will drive critical revenue for those local communities, and preserve our pristine lands for generations to come." --- Barak Obama, 2013
• “The biggest cause of trouble in the world today is that the stupid people are so sure about things and the intelligent folks are so full of doubts”. ---Bertrand Russell

...and more bird 'fallout'... local Santa Ana winds (@50-70mph) kept migrant birds in our yard over the weekend. Pictured are Black-headed Grosbeaks. There are free Grosbeak textures for anyone who has the base Songbird ReMix set (look in downloads "Click for list")

 

[Lyne]

ohhh pretty little things! I got mine, Thank you!

 

[Alisa]

We see lots of those little guys up here!

 

[Ken Gilliland]

Frogs of the World Volume I is now in the Store

It's the final day of this years' Audubon's Birthday Sale. Thank-you everyone for supporting my products and helping to save some Tricolored Blackbirds. I think it's appropriate to spend this last day talking about this special blackbird so here it goes...

• The Tricolored Blackbird can be found at the Audubon Kern River Preserve along with the bi-colored Red-winged Blackbird. Due to its dependence of a large colony structure, habitat fragmentation could lead to its demise just as it did with the passenger pigeon.
• In 2012, there were 250,000 of them, today there are less than 150,000. The Tricolored Blackbird received a temporary "Federal Endangered" status last year halting the steep decline. It is expected to be revoked by the current administration in Washington.
• My Audubon’s Birthday sale has saved over 20,000 Tricolored Blackbirds to date.

Link to Audubon California's "Save the Tricolored Blackbird Page"
​

If you watch any of this video (5:20), watch the minute... and this question posed, "Is it acceptable for a small species like the Tricolored Blackbird to vanish? What about two such species? Or three? When do we decide the world will not be the same without them?".

If we lose the Tricolored Blackbird, will Americans for the most part notice or care? The answer, alas, is no. Most everyone who reads my posts cares deeply. We know that every species and subspecies matter, but we have trouble putting that knowledge into words for folks like, say, Manuel Lujan, who in 1990, in his capacity as Secretary of the Interior, indignantly inquired: “Do we have to save every subspecies?”. As artists, our job is to educate others with our art and get them to care (which just so happens to be the mission of the Songbird ReMix and Nature's Wonders series.)

So, with your Audubon sale purchases, do some great art and inspire others, get them to care and to think, "wow, I like to see this bird (or Lizard, Frog, Moth) for real out in the wild".

 

[Alisa]

Yay for 20,000 saved birds!!!

Congrats on the new release, too, Ken, and thanks, for all you do both for the 3D Community and the environment!!

 

[Mythocentric]

One of the reasons for moving to my current home on Morecambe Bay is it's designation as a recognised World Centre for its bird population which draws in thousands of visitors every year. I've lost count of the new species (at least to me) I've seen, including most recently the Little Egret which is slowly expanding its range northwards from Africa. I can't model but I do produce images from your work for our local Primary School's to show our future generation what amazing creatures our birds are! One 'bird' fact I would add to yours is to remind people that that little feathered thing they are looking at and perhaps wondering about is the last direct living representative of the dinosaurs. That's quite a timespan and to lose any of them wouuld not be 'sad' or 'unfortunate' (I've heard both terms used) it would be a disaster on an unprecedented scale for this world of ours! Keep up the Good Fight Ken and many thanks from us all!

 

[Lyne]

Got my Frogs Vol 1 in hopes that $ can help too.... and I have a question... is there an entity that takes LIVING endangered birds, like this sub-species and protects them in some sort of zoo for a breeding program and/or a gene pool for repopulating the world after circumstances (the current administration?!?!) take it away??

 

[Ken Gilliland]

One of the world's primarily endangered species breeding program is in your backyard, Lyne.

The Institute for Conservation Research for Endangered Species (CRES) was created by the San Diego Zoo/Safari Park and has numerous success stories. When I released Songbird ReMix Hawai'i as the headliner of my 2012 Audubon sale, I donated a portion of my sales proceeds specifically for their Hawaiian Raven reintroduction program (the Hawaiian Raven is currently listed as "extinct in the wild"). CRES also is the major player in the reintroduction of the California Condor. Unfortunately, the condor is going to face challenges again now that the current administration has rescinded the ban on lead ammunition. Condors, eagles, other raptors and wildlife eat carrion (often killed with lead ammunition) and end up with lead poisoning. There's even cases of lead poisoning in humans who eat their hunted game.

 

[Lyne]

Oh I know the Wild Animal Park has that program, just didn't know if they have THIS/these BIRD....

 

[Ken Gilliland]

Oh I know the Wild Animal Park has that program, just didn't know if they have THIS/these BIRD....

No,... to my knowledge, the main force behind saving the Tricolored Blackbird is Audubon California... and what Audubon California does with the donated money is two-fold; they purchase the crops from farmers in order to delay harvests (and prevent fledgings from being harvested) and also purchasing land suitable for the blackbirds to nest in (and protecting it from development). They also work with farmers to create conservation easement trusts on their land so that it will be protected from future urban development.

 

[Lyne]

Ohhhh that is VERY COOL that they do those things! Yay!

 

[Glitterati3D]

I have had the neatest thing happening this spring, just had to share.

Once we get into the cool fall days and early spring, I always hang suet feeder for the little birds that stick around and come out early (in addition to my seed feeders). So this spring, I hung my suet feeder again and I've had a young female downy woodpecker who visits it frequently during the day. I've never seen a woodpecker use a suet feeder which is why I assume this is a young one.

But, now, after several weeks of suet feeder use, she comes by each morning and lands on the porch rail near me as if to say Good Morning and thanks for the food!! Then, she proceeds to the feeder on the other side of the porch.

It's just the coolest thing I've ever seen. She stops to say Hi before heading to the feeder.

Anyway, in honor of Ken's annual fundraiser, a render with some of his birds.

 

[Alisa]

oh, lovely!