Stunning Beauty is a photograph by Dawn Currie which was uploaded on February 19th, 2015.
Stunning Beauty
From Florida Birds Collection by artist Dawn Currie. This unique beautiful, and threatened bird - the Florida Scrub Jay is the only species of bird... more
by Dawn Currie
Title
Stunning Beauty
Artist
Dawn Currie
Medium
Photograph - Digital
Description
From Florida Birds Collection by artist Dawn Currie. This unique beautiful, and threatened bird - the Florida Scrub Jay is the only species of bird endemic to Florida and one of only 15 species endemic to the United States. I have observed and photographed them throughout Brevard and Indian River Counties, I found this particular bird in Helen and Allan Cruickshank Sanctuary in Rockledge Florida.
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Florida Scrub Jay (Aphelocoma coerulescens): The Florida Scrub-Jay is a medium-sized, crestless jay with gray upper parts and under parts, blue head, and pale eyebrows. Throat is gray and breast has blue-gray streaks. The wings and tail are blue. Bill, legs and feet are black. They are very curious and unafraid of humans.
The Florida Scrub Jay can become hand-tame in areas where it comes in contact with people. Unfortunately the salted peanuts offered by humans are extremely harmful to the species, by altering mating habits and through dehydration. This bird is also restricted to the rare oak scrub community of Florida, a habitat under constant threat of development. At this time, the Florida Scrub Jay is classified as Threatened under the Endangered Species Act.
The steep declines in both scrub habitat and Florida Scrub-Jay populations can be directly correlated to the expansive growth of Brevard County's human population during the past 60 years. The estimated 87% decline in Florida Scrub-Jays population was primarily due to scrub habitat loss as a result of the transformation of high, dry land into agricultural, commercial and residential land uses. The remaining scrub parcels are highly fragmented and generally provide poor quality habitat to dependent species due to long-term fire suppression. These trends, which are mirrored statewide, threaten Florida's only endemic bird, the Florida Scrub-Jay, with extinction.
Uploaded
February 19th, 2015
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Comments (32)
Christopher James
One of your peers nominated this image in the 1000 views Groups nominated images by your fellow artist in the Special Features #9 promotion discussion. Please visit and pass on the love to another artist.
William Tasker
Tremendous capture, Dawn! They are so pretty. Your beautiful and identified bird image has been featured by Wild Birds Of The World, a nature photography group. L/F
Barbie Corbett-Newmin
Dawn all your bird photos are amazing! Congratulations on achieving over 500 views on this wonderful work and on your graduation from the 200 Club!
AnnaJo Vahle
Perfect title, Dawn. The scrub jays are so pretty and sing so beautifully, too. You did a great job. f/l
Melissa Bittinger
What great detail! Quite a striking bird, this shows him off extremely well. I didn't know about Scrub Jays, oh I hope they don't end up extinct...that would be horrible.
Dick Hudson
Such a nice presentation of this endangered beauty. I have been looking for them near Kissimmee and earlier in Sanford with little luck. I need to make a trek a little further down south. Nice capture.