Lincoln Sparrow Junk Mail Painting

Lincoln Sparrow (Melospiza lincolnii) 84%
junkmail, gesso, ink, charcoal on cardboard

Floated mount on wood support.
2022
9 7/8 X 8 3/4″

See the other works in the Junk Mail Migration Painting Series

Purchase the original Lincoln Sparrow Painting

Explore all available paintings, prints, and stationary in the Junk Mail Migration Painting Series

Lincoln Sparrow (Melospiza lincolnii) 84% — Eye and beak detail of painting

What is the % in the title? The percentage in the title is the breeding data reported by the Boreal Songbird Initiative project. In this instance, 84% of Lincoln Sparrows breed in the Boreal Forest Ring.

Lincoln Sparrow (Melospiza lincolnii) 84% is part of a larger ongoing series about backyard ecologies called Junk Mail Migration. These works examine the direct impact of junk mail production on the immediate environment – our backyards.

Many of our favorite songbirds breed, live, and migrate to/from the Boreal Forest, only passing through Iowa seasonally. When their breeding habitat is destroyed, the population dwindles and the chance of viewing the likes of a Yellow-bellied Flycatcher in our backyard diminishes.

For this portion of the project, birds were selected that migrate through Iowa seasonally, are not year round residence of Iowa, and have over 70% of their breeding ground in the North American boreal forest ring.

All are represented in life size scale, drawn with graphite, charcoal, gesso, and ink on junk mail laminated to recycled cardboard and supported with reclaimed or sustainably forested wood.

• See the other works in the Junk Mail Migration Painting Series

• Purchase the original Lincoln Sparrow Painting

• Explore all available paintings, prints, and stationary in the Junk Mail Migration Painting Series

• References

  Dinsmore, James J. Iowa Birds. Iowa State Press, 1984.

  Boreal Songbird Initiative. “Bird Conservation,” February 26, 2014. http://www.borealbirds.org.

  Laura Spess Jackson, Carol A Thompson, and James J Dinsmore. The Iowa Breeding Bird Atlas. University of Iowa Press, 1996.

  Sullivan, B.L., C.L. Wood, M.J. Iliff, R.E. Bonney, D. Fink, and S. Kelling. 2009. eBird: a citizen-based bird observation network in the biological sciences. Biological Conservation 142: 2282-2292.

  Terres, John K. The Audubon Society Encyclopedia of North American Birds. Wings, 1991.

  Kent, Thomas Hugh. Birds in Iowa. T.H. Kent T.H. Kent, 1996.

• Identifying Birds

  A few things I’ve found helpful as a very beginning birder is to try and remember:

  Size (bigger or larger than a bird you do know like a cardinal, sparrow or red-tail hawk)

  Bill shape

  Markings around the eye

  Crest or other distinguishing features like it has a purple breast.

  Tail shape

  Cornell is a proponent of citizen science, so they offer many course.

  While names are not important for enjoyment of birding, there is a certain thill in putting a name to a bird. For me, naming helps to solidify the memory and experience of seeing and hearing it. Of course photographing, drawing, and painting help too.