Chapter 7
For this month's feature I would love to officially welcome the stores that are now carrying my Greeting Cards and Limited Edition Prints!
Milawa Post Office in Milawa, Victoria:
Milawa, Victoria is known as the ‘Gourmet Crossroads’. Home to Brown Brothers Winery, it is located just south of Wangaratta on Snow Road which is the route heading to the Alpine Region. As well as being a major wine growing region, Milawa boasts other delicacies such as cheese, olives, and mustards.
The Milawa Post Office has been manned for 20+ years by local Albert Colin; a friendly, helpful, and generous soul who supports the local community as one of the key connections to the outside world which has been particularly challenging of recent times during the Covid-19 lockdowns! He has offered his support to the local artist community by expanding his stationery and gift shop to include selections of their Original Art (and mine too!).
Forty Spotted Pardalote
I wanted to give an update on one of the endangered species subjects I have studied and created an artwork on in the past.
Inspiration: There was a viral video of a Vet pulling out 8 or so maggots from a baby bird’s face, body, and wings. The video was awful to watch but really left an impression on me, so I looked into what birds are affected by this kind of torment and I found the Forty Spotted Pardalote. I felt it was important to include on my list of what to create next.
SPECIES Forty Spotted Pardalote
TAXONOMY Pardalotus (Pardalotus) quadragintus
STATUS Endangered (Redlist); Endangered (ala.org.au)
Tiny and elusive, the Forty Spotted Pardalote lives high in the canopy of the White Gum (Eucalyptus viminalis) forests and is exclusive to eastern Tasmania and some of the surrounding islands. Fragmented colonies appear on Maria Island, Tinderbox, Kingston, Bruny Island, Coningham, and two locations on Flinders Island. The largest colonies are at Bruny and Maria Island. They occur along with two other pardalote species; the Spotted Pardalote and Striated Pardalote, however the Forty Spotted is significantly more rare. With habitat loss an ongoing threat, this highly specialised species is listed as endangered with resources being channeled to protect their habitat.
The biggest threat to the Forty Spotted Pardalote is the screw worm fly; a parasitic fly that lays its eggs onto the chicks of these birds and the fly maggots burrow into their skin and drink their blood. In some areas, nine out of ten pardalote chicks will die from these parasites, further decreasing their numbers and the time we have to save this rare species.
Though not all hope is lost!
Thanks to the creative efforts of scientists and conservationists in Tasmania they have come up with an ingenious solution! In their thorough and detailed research of the pardalote, conservationists have fully understood how the pardalote lives and particularly how they build their nests.
The birds scout the forest floors to find the softest feathers to make a warm cosy nest for their young. As time consuming as this takes, scientists decided to ease the workload, with something extra special.
Using sterilised chicken feathers (readily available at pet stores), they laced the feathers with bird-safe insecticide to deter the parasites. Hanging a self serve dispenser of nest building materials around known pardalote colonies, it wasn’t long before these treated feathers were put to good use! Now the average survival rate of the Forty Spotted Pardalote chicks is 95% successful - compared to the 8% survival rate of chicks without insecticide-treated feathers in the nest.
It is a monumental improvement for the future generations of this species.
Thank you for taking a look! ---- I’ll be working on my new collection featuring more of our feathered and furry friends from the Australian bush!
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