Black-backed Woodpecker
Being part of a larger ongoing series about backyard ecologies, the Junk Mail Migration examines the direct impact of junk mail on the immediate environment – our backyards.
Originally created in 2019 using charcoal, ink, gesso, and junk mail on a cardboard backing board. The Black-backed Woodpecker is available as a limited edition print, unlimited 8 x 10″ print, and a greeting card.
Many of our favorite songbirds breed, live, and migrate to/from the Boreal Forest, only passing through Iowa seasonally. When their breeding habitat is destroyed, the population dwindles and the chance of viewing the likes of a Yellow bellied Flycatcher in our backyard diminishes.
For this portion of the project, birds were selected that migrate through Iowa seasonally, are not year round residence of Iowa, and have over 70% of their breeding ground in the North American boreal forest ring — 37 birds in all.
