Timeline is a series of 6 collagraph prints depicting six species of birds' eggs, together with a small box containing story cards.  Eggs are a symbol for the potential of new life.

Dates are a construct to chart human history. Non-human species, especially 'wild' ones, are rarely included in the narrative. Theirs is a parallel, largely unrecorded history. Regularly, and with increasing frequency, they disappear, unacknowledged and unmourned. 

The six titles of this series refer to the dates when certain bird species became extinct.

 

 

1844

Great Auk

A large, once numerous, flightless seabird which nested on rocky cliffs from Newfoundland to Norway.

Clumsy on land, they were easily caught for food.  As their numbers dwindled, both birds and eggs were much sought after by collectors.

The last sighting of them was on Eldey Island, off Iceland.

 

1900

Guadalupe Caracara

A once common, gregarious bird of prey inhabiting an island off the California coast.

Demonised as attackers of livestock, they were hunted and shot ruthlessly until all were gone.

 

 

1911

Storm Petrel

A small, hawk-like seabird. The introduction of goats to the island of Guadalupe caused a rapid deterioration of habitat.

They were probably finished off by domestic cats which scoured the high rocks to find their nesting burrows.

 

 

1921

Lord Howe Starling

In June 1918 rats escaped from a grounded ship onto this island in the Tasman Sea.

Within a very short time eleven species of birds were gone, including this once plentiful starling.

 

1926

Pink Headed Duck

Caught between hunters' guns and deterioration of their habitat as huge areas of the Ganges delta were drained and cultivated.

This small, shy attractive duck quietly disappeared.                                              

 

1945

Laysan Rail

A tiny waterbird with a trusting nature.

The introduction of rabbits reduced remote Laysan island to a barren rock. Some Rails were relocated and thrived on two nearby islets until in 1943 the US navy accidentally introduced rats to their last home.

Within two years none remained.

  My thanks to Errol Fuller, whose fascinating book Extinct Birds was inspirational.