Barb Brouwer
Contributor
It’s for the birds. Really.
Between 1970 and 2014, dozens of songbird species lost more than 50 percent of their populations. Canada is North America’s bird nursery, with a majority of the continent’s birds hatching here before migrating south, says Salmon Arm Art Gallery curator Tracey Kutschker.
“On the shores of Shuswap Lake, we are privileged to see and hear the diverse songbird population, as well as benefit from the ecosystem services birds provide,” she says. “This exhibition aims to bring awareness and solutions to this crisis of declining songbird population through a diverse set of media.”
Flight, an exhibition featuring 15 artists exploring the disappearing songbird population, opens at the gallery with a special reception featuring live music and refreshments at 7 p.m. Friday, April 12.
Read more: New homes going up for Shuswap songbirds
Read more: Salmon Arm Art Gallery hosts exhibit focused on songbird decline
The exhibition will include installation, photography, sculpture, drawing, painting, digital/audio and interactive artwork. Participants are 2D artists Janet Aitken, Valerie Rogers, Frieda Martin, Joanne Sale, Jane Byrne and Lee Rawn, photographers Roger Beardmore and Clive Bryson, and 3D artists Marla Bjorgan, Hop You Haskett, Lottie Kozak, Carol Schlosar, Aidan Sparks and Cathy Stubington.
Photographers Bryson and Beardmore are pleased their passion for birds and photography will be part of this multi-media message with a serious message.
At 76, Bryson says he has been a photographer for about 60 of those years. He is a member of the Shuswap Photo Arts Club and, like Beardmore, a member of the Shuswap Naturalist Club.
He says many songbirds inhabit and visit the Shuswap including, American crow, American Dipper, goldfinch, American robin, barn swallow, black-capped chickadee, Bohemian waxwing, Brewer’s blackbird, brown headed cowbird, cedar waxwing, chipping sparrow, cliff swallow, raven, common redpoll, common yellowthroat and more.
He worries about the number of songbirds that fall victim to cats and suggest owners keep them indoors.
A lover of all animals and flowers, the well-known photographer and author does not sell his photographs but rather donates them to local organizations, including the Salmon Arm Nature Bay Enhancement Society (SABNES). His photos can be viewed at Salmon Arm’s Marine Park wharf, on the foreshore trail and Tsùtswecw Provincial Park, formerly Roderick Haig-Brown Park.
Retired in 2011, Beardmore revisited a long-held held passion for photography and says birds had always piqued his interest. The more he viewed birds, the more the passion shifted and birds took over, he says.
“Now I am out there regularly looking at the birds and the camera just comes along,” he notes.
Beardmore enters his observations into a free cell phone app that is linked to the ornithology lab at New York’s Cornell University. He says it is accessible for anyone in the world and details where birds are, their numbers, habitat, migration routes and more.
“This has revolutionized our knowledge of birds and what’s going on with birds around the world,” he says. “Unfortunately, the results of the data are showing there is definitely a decline in our songbird population and that’s really the motivation behind the exhibition at the art gallery.”
He suggests people can help ease the plight of the birds by hanging bird boxes where cats are unable to reach them.
Beardmore says his and Bryson’s photos will include birds, on the ground, in trees and in flight. An audio system will allow visitors to hear a half-dozen songs of birds people may know.
Read more: Domestic, feral cats implicated in steep decline of songbirds
Read more: ‘On life support:’ Research shows common pesticides starve, disorient birds
“It’s a way of reinforcing people’s connection to the birds they’re hearing,” he says. “It’s nice to make that connection and recognizing songbirds, their place and what people can do to help out.”
Beardmore is currently working on a sign featuring the swallows of the bay in conjunction with students at the outdoor school.
Partnering with SABNES, the Art Gallery will present the movie, The Messenger, billed as a visually thrilling investigation into the causes of songbird mass depletion and how the issues facing birds also pose daunting implications for our planet, at 4 p.m. Thursday, April 18. This is a free/by-donation event.
The exhibition runs to June 1. Admission to the gallery is by donation. Gallery hours are Tuesday to Saturday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
@SalmonArmnewsroom@saobserver.netLike us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter
