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The Snowy Owl is my favourite owl to paint.
It lends itself spectacularly to the art form of sumi-e which I practice.
However each time I paint one, I wonder how much longer they will be with us.
Snowy owls are facing severe population declines—estimated at over 50% since 1970—due to climate-driven changes in the Arctic.
Currently listed as Threatened in Canada, these birds are losing their tundra habitat, much of which is now covered in shrubs making it difficult for them to hunt their main food source, lemmings.
They are also experiencing reduced food security, as warmer winters destroy snowy environment that the lemmings rely on.
As the Snowy owls move further south, they are crashing into buildings and vehicles as well as getting electrocuted by power lines and poisoned by eating prey that has, itself, ingested rat poison.
They are also increasingly threatened by avian flu.
Both of these problems are not due to their being hunted by due to the Global Warming phenomenon, which makes for a slower process of accessing their official vulnerability in Canada.
Snowy owls are referred to as an ‘Umbrella Species” because their state of survival is used as a prediction of the survival of other species. Thus, if government action is not swift enough, which at the moment it is not, we will lose not only this beautiful being, but many others whose survival is known to fall under their ‘Umbrella”.
This piece, for Roslyn, shows the maelstrom of the snowy owl’s predicament.
The emotion portrayed in this painting is mine – one of fear and sorrow regarding what the future holds.
The hanko or name stamp that Roslyn carved from rock, which on this piece, says ‘wild’ in the most ancient Japanese characters.
