In this section are copies of original works of art. All of them are dedicated to helping us live according to unconditional love and compassion, which is the foundation of our peaceful means of bringing true and lasting peace to all of God's creatures, whether they are human beings or other animals.
The Sooty Shearwater (Ardenna grisea) was first noted by a European in 1789 by Captain James Cook during his second, epic voyage, but not formally described and given a scientific name until 1853. That’s a little odd in that the species is common in the North Atlantic and the North Pacific in summer. In fact this is a bird species that normally only experiences summer because in the fall Sooty Shearwaters, millions of them, depart the northern hemisphere to seek out nesting grounds on historically uninhabited, remote oceanic islands high in the southern latitudes. There could be somewhere between eight and nine million of them, which humans deem to be a lot – somewhat ironic given that there are 8.2 billion of us, each consuming far more than any Sooty Shearwater, a species that weighs in, on average, around 740 grams.
Still, tens of thousands of the fat baby shearwaters are “harvested” each year, to be eaten. They are called “muttonbirds”, and are usually boiled until tender. They are also accidentally caught in fishing nets, including “ghost nets” that have broken loose and drift underwater for years, entangling various aquatic species. And shearwaters are very aquatic, coming to land only to nest, but otherwise spending their lives soaring on wings usually held stiffly, dining on fish, squid, and other small marine organisms at or near the surface. That puts them at risk from oil spills, and as well, there have been mysterious die-offs of thousands of birds thought to have been caused by toxins produced by algae (seaweed). The bottom line is that the species is in decline and notwithstanding the huge flocks of hundreds of thousands of birds sometimes seen offshore, they are now considered to be a species of concern.
Tuatara (Sphenodon punctatus)
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Copyright © Barry Kent MacKay
Barry describes himself as a Canadian artist/writer/naturalist.
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