Smoke Jumper -- Aplomado
Falcon (1995)
Acrylic on
illustration board
19" x 30"
| Prior
to reaping, sugar cane rows are burned to facilitate harvesting.
The flames send many insects, rodents and other little creatures
scurrying for their lives, and small, agile raptors like the
neotropical aplomado falcon (Falco femoralis) quickly
learn to associate these seasonal fires with easy hunting. Agriculture,
however, is a double-edged sword for the aplomado falcon, which
seems to disappear completely from areas that are intensively
farmed. This falcon with long legs and tail inhabits open areas
from the U.S./Mexican border to Patagonia. The locust (family
Acrididae) is a large and common insect in Guanacaste province,
Costa Rica, where it found its way into my sketchbooks, althoughh
aplomado falcons are strangely absent from this area. |
|