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The Mockingbird and the Egg
Medium: pastel on museum paper
Year Produced: 2010
Dimensions in inches (H x W): 11" x 14"
Both species represented in this painting are at risk. The Espanola mockingbird is classified as Vulnerable. The egg belongs to a Galapagos green turtle. It is Endangered. Galapagos is the only significant nesting area for this sea turtle outside Mexico. Espanola Island is the only place in the world where this Mockingbird occurs. What was most tragic about observing this scene was not the Mockingbird capitalizing on a rotten exposed egg .....but that the egg was exposed at all. The nests of both the turtle and the bird are vulnerable to the same terrestrial threats. Today, three of the four species of Galapagos Mockingbirds are at risk. The Floreana mockingbird, with only 100 remaining, a direct result of predation from the introduced feral cats and rats that attacked their nests. Sadly, the nest this turtle egg came from was probably first dug up by a feral cat or rat.
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