The American crow is a highly intelligent, all-black bird. Crows are known for complex and advanced social behavior. This includes documented tool use, plus the ability to recognize faces and then convey warnings or suggestions about people and places, in advance, to their young. Crows show remarkable adaptability to their environment and are able to thrive in large and small groups in wildlands or cities alike. Crows often gather in large communal roosts, which can sometimes be thousands of birds strong. A group of crows is called a "murder".  Crows have a long lifespan, with the oldest recorded wild crow living over 17 years. 

The artist grew up in Southern California close to the ocean, body surfing and collecting shells and sea glass. She received a BA from Cal State Fullerton in Art. After moving to Cambria CA, she started working with driftwood, inspired by the wonderful shapes and many possibilities. Our customers love the quirkiness and character, and the dignity, of her owls, shorebirds, Santas, gnomes, and animals. She hopes that you enjoy her art as much as she enjoys creating it.

The post Driftwood Crow #3 15 x 14 x 5 appeared first on Forest Gems Gallery.

The barn owls, owls in the genus Tyto, are the most widely distributed genus of owls in the world. They are medium-sized owls with large heads and characteristic heart-shaped faces. They have long, strong legs with powerful talons.

The post Driftwood Barn Owl Head, 16 x 9 x 3.5 appeared first on Forest Gems Gallery.

The snowy owl (Bubo scandiacus), also known as the polar owl, the white owl and the Arctic owl, is a large, white owl of the true owl family. Snowy owls are native to the Arctic regions of both North America and the Palearctic, breeding mostly on the tundra. Snowy Owls are known to range as far south as Seattle, Washington, where they create quite a sensation with birdwatchers! Washington State's Skagit River Valley is a great place to spot the "snowies" in winter.

The artist grew up in Southern California close to the ocean, body surfing and collecting shells and sea glass. She received a BA from Cal State Fullerton in Art. After moving to Cambria CA, she started working with driftwood, inspired by the wonderful shapes and many possibilities. Our customers love the quirkiness and character, and the dignity, of her owls, shorebirds, Santas, gnomes, and animals. She hopes that you enjoy her art as much as she enjoys creating it.

The post Driftwood Snowy Wall Owl With Mouse 20 x 8 x 4 appeared first on Forest Gems Gallery.

The great grey owl (Strix nebulosa) is the world's largest species of owl by length. It is distributed across the Northern Hemisphere, and it is the only species in the genus Strix found in both Eastern and Western Hemispheres. In some areas it is also called the Phantom of the North, cinereous owl (this name is also used for Strix sartorii), spectral owl, Lapland owl, spruce owl, bearded owl, and sooty owl.

Adults have large rounded heads with grey faces and yellow eyes with darker circles around them. The underparts are light with dark streaks; the upper parts are grey with pale bars. This owl does not have ear tufts and has the largest facial disc of any raptor. There is a white collar or "bow-tie" just below the beak. The long tail tapers to a rounded end.

The artist grew up in Southern California close to the ocean, body surfing and collecting shells and sea glass. She received a BA from Cal State Fullerton in Art. After moving to Cambria CA, she started working with driftwood, inspired by the wonderful shapes and many possibilities. Our customers love the quirkiness and character, and the dignity, of her owls, shorebirds, Santas, gnomes, and animals. She hopes that you enjoy her art as much as she enjoys creating it.

The post Driftwood Great Gray Owl Mom and Baby 16 x 7 x 6 appeared first on Forest Gems Gallery.

The trumpeter swan (Cygnus buccinator) is a species of swan found in North America. The heaviest living bird native to North America, it has a wingspan of 6 feet!

Trumpeter swans nearly went extinct, primarily due to overhunting for their feathers, meat, and skins. The feathers were particularly sought after for products like powder puffs, hats, and quill pens. Additionally, habitat loss from wetland drainage for agriculture also contributed to their decline.

By 1933, fewer than 70 wild individuals were known to exist extinction seemed imminent until aerial surveys discovered a Pacific population of several thousand trumpeter swans around Alaska's Copper River. Careful reintroductions by wildlife agencies and the Trumpeter Swan Society gradually restored the North American wild population to over 46,000 birds by 2010. Thank goodness!

Trumpeter Swans overwinter in the Pacific Northwest and are absolutely majestic.

The post Driftwood Swan, 17 x 13 x 10 appeared first on Forest Gems Gallery.

Western Screech-Owls are small owls with stocky bodies. They have somewhat square heads, almost no neck, and conspicuous ear tufts. The tail is short. Western Screech-Owls are nocturnal hunters and are far more often heard than seen. They spend days either in a roost hole or looking out from the entrance, where they are sometimes found by noisy groups of mobbing songbirds. They live in forests (particularly among deciduous trees) at elevations up to about 6,000 feet. They are fairly tolerant of people and may be found in suburbs or parks, or attracted to forested backyards with a nest box.

The post Driftwood Freestanding Screech Owl, 18 x 7 x 6 appeared first on Forest Gems Gallery.

Western Screech-Owls are small owls with stocky bodies. They have somewhat square heads, almost no neck, and conspicuous ear tufts. The tail is short. Western Screech-Owls are nocturnal hunters and are far more often heard than seen. They spend days either in a roost hole or looking out from the entrance, where they are sometimes found by noisy groups of mobbing songbirds. They live in forests (particularly among deciduous trees) at elevations up to about 6,000 feet. They are fairly tolerant of people and may be found in suburbs or parks, or attracted to forested backyards with a nest box.

The post Driftwood Freestanding Screech Owl, 12 x 8 x 6 appeared first on Forest Gems Gallery.

The barn owls, owls in the genus Tyto, are the most widely distributed genus of owls in the world. They are medium-sized owls with large heads and characteristic heart-shaped faces. They have long, strong legs with powerful talons.

The post Large Driftwood Barn Owl on Stand, 31x 12 x 10 appeared first on Forest Gems Gallery.

The barn owls, owls in the genus Tyto, are the most widely distributed genus of owls in the world. They are medium-sized owls with large heads and characteristic heart-shaped faces. They have long, strong legs with powerful talons.

The post Driftwood Barn Owl and Baby, 29 x 6 x 5 appeared first on Forest Gems Gallery.

North America's largest shorebird, the Long-billed Curlew, is a graceful creature with an almost impossibly long, thin, and curved bill. This speckled, cinnamon-washed shorebird probes deep into mud and sand for aquatic invertebrates on its coastal wintering grounds and picks up grasshoppers on the breeding grounds. It breeds in the grasslands of the Great Plains and Great Basin and spends the winter in wetlands, tidal estuaries, mudflats, flooded fields, and beaches.

The silhouette of the Long-billed Curlew is unmistakable: whether standing in a shortgrass prairie or in a tidal mudflat, these birds stand out. The Long-billed Curlew's genus name, Numenius, means “of the new moon,” and describes the slender, curved shape of the bird’s bill.

During migration and on the wintering grounds, they forage in small groups and with other shorebirds including Willets and Marbled Godwits. Look for them foraging in shallow wetlands or resting with their bill tucked under their shoulder.

The post Freestanding Driftwood Curlew #1 21 x 19 x 5 appeared first on Forest Gems Gallery.