Entry to the ENDANGERED Art & Photography Contest 2017
Philippine Eagle by Kaia Goodrich. All Rights Reserved.
I am a 7th grader at Lavilla School of the Arts and this piece was my first watercolor assignment. I love birds and want to study ornithology in college. Painting birds helps me to understand their anatomy. I chose to feature the Philippine Eagle because I think it is one of the most beautiful and powerful predators and I admire it. Philippine Eagles are currently classified as critically endangered, with an estimated 600 birds left in the wild. They are losing their habitat largely to deforestation. They are an important apex predator, with a diet of mostly flying lemurs. Much like the Bald Eagle in the United States, these majestic birds are a protected national emblem in the Philippines and killing one is punishable by 12 years in prison and a huge fine. In my piece, I wanted to capture the beauty and grace of this powerful yet fragile creature as he soars through the sky in search of a place to roost in a deforested homeland.