Bird lovers unite: Hurstville center, Figge museum hosting exhibits

By Alma Gaul | Wednesday, February 06, 2008

People interested in birds and learning more about them have a smorgasbord of opportunities to choose from this month through May.

In Davenport, the Figge Art Museum just opened an exhibit titled “Birds of America,” featuring 48 prints by John James Audubon that belonged to John Deere’s son, Charles Deere. The prints are on loan through May 11 from the Butterworth Center/ Deere-Wiman House in Moline, both former Deere family homes.

It is believed that fewer than 50 copies of this particular edition of prints exist  today, so the Figge exhibit offers a rare opportunity to see a large number of these colorful, 3- by 2-foot prints, says Angela Hunt of the Butterworth Center.

Accompanying the exhibit will be a series of programs examining Audubon’s life and work, the printmaking process and how to identify birds.

In rural Jackson County, Iowa, the Hurstville Interpretive Center off U.S. 61 south of Maquoketa, Iowa, will host an exhibit and series of programs titled “Salute to Songbirds,” beginning Sunday, Feb. 10.

The exhibit consists of 20 panels, some interactive, covering a wide variety of topics, including how to recognize songs, the damage to birds caused by cats that are allowed to roam outside and how to attract songbirds to your yard.

Ann Burns, Hurstville’s environmental education coordinator, said the center decided to host the exhibit because birding is such a popular outdoor leisure activity.

It is also an opportunity to explain the challenges faced by migratory birds and give people some ideas on how they might help. The numbers of many migratory birds are in rapid decline because of habitat destruction — in the tropics, in North America and at stopping points in between.

“If they (the migratory birds) land in the Gulf and find only parking lots, they can’t eat, can’t rest,” Burns said. “If you are one of those people who goes to Texas in the winter, you can encourage your mobile home park to put up trees.”

The exhibit is on loan from a nature center in California and has been tweaked for Midwest viewing, Burns said. Its next stop is the Muscatine (Iowa) Environmental Learning Center.

It will open with a talk on neotropical birds by James Pease, a wildlife specialist at Iowa State University Extension in Ames.

 Alma Gaul can be contacted at (563) 383-2324 or agaul@qctimes.com. Comment on this story at qctimes.com.