Song of the Sky-Vihaan Shiroor
Grade: 4th
Dublin, California
Cerulean Warbler is a songbird known for its blue hues and rapid, buzzy songs. It is a
small bird found in the eastern United States which migrates to warm parts of South
America during winter. They love to nest in tall trees in hills or mountains and primarily
eat insects.
It was Ms. Nidhi, who is my art teacher, told us about the Songbird Art Contest in one of
our classes. I was excited to work on my next piece especially since I could pick one of
the birds from the list. We had five birds to choose from and I decided to pick Cerulean
Warbler. At first I just liked the color of the bird but then I researched a little bit about it
and learnt some details about the bird. That made me further like this bird.
Do you know that Cerulean Warbler is on the U.S Fish and Wildlife Service’s Birds of
Conservation list? They have become endangered primarily because their habitats and
nesting grounds have reduced due to deforestation in the United States, South America
and all along their migration path. This little songbird’s declining population is causing
imbalance in forest ecosystems where they reside and eat pests like caterpillars, moths
and cankerworms. A small bird that can hardly be a threat to anyone is being greatly
harmed as deforestation is expanding due to human activities.
Reading this made me a bit sad and I decided to make a painting of this bird. I have
used watercolor and colored-pencils to enhance the artwork. I have tried to use
watercolor in the background and that was difficult since the amount of water needs to
be controlled. But I am happy with the experiment since it made me learn something new.
My awareness about Cerulean Warbler was raised due to my participation in this
contest. I am hoping that my painting will try to raise awareness about this bird among
my friends and family members. Human activities have long interfered with nature and
innocent creatures are getting impacted. We still have time to save some of these
endangered species and I hope we all can come together in this effort.
