Date: Fri, 26 Oct 2012 09:51:01 -0400
From: Molly Matlock
Subject: Shout out to Chatham Artist, Nathalie Worthington!
It seems like everywhere I turn outside of Chatham, I see work by Chatham County Artists. Fills me with pride, it does.
I’m volunteering with a Raleigh non-profit’s auction, and I notice this INCREDIBLE Roseate Spoonbill print on our list of items posted at Bidding for Good (funds go to the NC Conservation Network): https://www.biddingforgood.com/auction/item/Item.action?id=181753631.
I love Nathalie’s work, and she’s one of my many favorite Chatham Studio Tour Artists. In case you’d like to impress your friends with your vast avian knowledge, here’s more info from Natalie about the Spoonbill:
*Roseate Spoonbill*
Artist: Nathalie Worthington
Limited edition (488/500) signed print
Print measures approximately 20″ x 25″.
From the artist: “The Roseate Spoonbill is found only in the Western Hemisphere: Florida, Texas and Louisiana; Central and South America. All spoonbills have long spatulate or spoon-shaped bills, but the Roseate is the only one mistaken for another long-legged wader, the flamingo because of its distinctive plumage. Locally called “pinks” or “pink curlews”, the mature birds – both male and female – also have red streaks from wing to back, a bald greenish head, and a bright orange tail. A spoonbill’s main foraging strategy is an instinctive sense of touch. As it wades through murky pools or shallows, it swings its partly-open bill from side to side through the water. Sense receptors on the bill’s underside signal contact with small fish, insects or crustaceans. The bill instantly closes and lifts for swallowing. Mating when three years old, the Roseates need secluded island hideouts for their connubial activites. The male collects sticks and the female builds a deep, well-constructed nest in association with heron and ibis colonies or rookeries in mangroves, salt marshes, and freshwater estuaries. Both parents take turns brooding, keeping, vigil, finding food, and feeding their young. Prior to 1900, hundreds of thousands of Roseate, Soonbills called the U.S. home, but by the 1920’s there were a
few hundred; their meat was eaten, and their exotic plumage appeared on ladies’ hats and feather fans. Extinction north of the Rio Grande seemed imminent. Thanks to sanctuary efforts by the National Audubon Society, and its continued collaborative efforts with Fish and Wildlife, and Park Services, as well as efforts to reduce pollution, the truce between man and bird is today being precariously maintained.”