When I finally got up the nerve to apply to Artists for Conservation and was accepted as a signature member, the Silent Skies project deadline was approaching. I had a big, cross-country camping trip planned, but I liked the idea of the mural of endangered birds and I wanted to be a part of it. I thought I would have time for just one bird. I had no idea that I would end up painting seventeen (now nineteen) birds for the mural. My first bird was a “safe” choice. The Guadalupe Junco looks a lot like the Dark-eyed Junco we have in my neighborhood, and in my research on the...