BIRD WATCHING

​From NYT: "The 19th-century feather trade almost wiped out the roseate spoonbill, painted by Danielle Mastrion."

​​In "Public Art Takes Flight," the New York Times Editorial Board writes that New York art gallery owner, Avi Gitler, is not allowing the legacy of John James Audubon to rest.  From the NYT:
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​For three years, Mr. Gitler and a crew of artful spray-painters and some who stick to their brushes have been splashing giant-scale paintings of endangered birds all over the neighborhood. Gleaming with avian beauty, they appear in vivid colors as multistory murals on the sides of apartment buildings, as epiphanies in alleyways and as scattered nocturnal flocks that burst into view when shopkeepers roll down security gates where they are painted.
“There’s something beautiful about this fish crow perched where Audubon breathed his last,” said Mr. Gitler of a gorgeously alert bird glaring four stories high above a gas station on West 155th Street that now occupies part of the old Audubon estate. Working closely with the National Audubon Society, Mr. Gitler counts 80 bird paintings already in place out of 314 birdsthe society lists as threatened by climate change.
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The article was emailed to me by retired Clark County Supervisor Patrick Gaffey, who now spends his time writing and bird watching. Gaffey's Facebook posts are a nest of source material for a local mural project that could feature birds of Southern Nevada. ​