Enewsletter

Birds are often one of our first links to the natural world. Many Canadians have found a connection to nature by stopping to watch a bird fly, feed or nest. Annie Buckton, a nine-year-old girl from the small community of Southampton, ON, is no different.

Through spending summers at her family's cottage at nearby Sauble Beach, Annie's fondness for nature and wild things developed. She found a special love for Piping Plovers, an endangered bird species that has only recently returned to the area, as she watched a dedicated group of volunteer guardians protect their nests on the beach each season.

This fall, as the plovers wing their way into the disaster-struck Gulf, Annie has found a way to help, as her mother writes in a letter to Nature Canada:

Like so many of us, Annie watched and read stories about the horrific oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico earlier this year. Every day, she would ask her parents if the spill had stopped and every day she received the same grim answer – not today. Annie and her family traveled to the Gulf of Mexico last March and the magnitude of the disaster weighed heavily on her. As a nine year old, Annie couldn't conceive the catastrophic havoc the spill would wreak on the ocean's ecosystem, the damage to the livelihoods of fishermen, resort owners, land owners and all the endless industries that are indirectly affected. But what Annie did comprehend and what would consume her thoughts endlessly was what will happen to the wildlife, the water and shores? She watched in horror as the Audubon society plucked endangered species from the oily muck and attempted to clean them up and find new homes for them.

The extent of the tragedy was brought home to Annie when she and her mother read a story about the potential dangers facing the Piping Plovers. Although the fall migration peaks in August and September, plovers can begin to leave their breeding grounds as early as June or July if nest conditions have been unfavourable. This year, these birds are heading straight to a region where their habitat and food sources may have been compromised and are still at risk from oil contamination.

Annie's mother picks up the story:

This sad story broke Annie's heart and led her to ask her mother a question that brimmed with the innocence and idealism of youth, "Mom, do you think I could paint a picture of a Piping Plover, frame it and ask that it be put it up in the Southampton Gallery for sale, and then I could give the money to save the Plovers?" Her parents, touched by the notion, called the Southampton Art Gallery, spoke to the Directors of both the gallery and the school and they in turn suggested they all take Annie's idea one step further and invite talented local artists to join Annie and mount an exhibition and sale with proceeds going to efforts in the Gulf.

With the support of Annie and her family, the Southampton Art Gallery, located at the corner of Highway 21 and Main Street in Southampton, has been hosting a month-long exhibit in the Guest Gallery featuring Annie's work and that of local artists from all genres. The exhibit and sale will continue until November 4. For more details please call 519-797-5068 or 1-800-806-8838.

The proceeds from this exhibit and sale will go to Nature Canada to be directed to the National Audubon Society of the United States to support clean-up and recovery efforts in the Gulf of Mexico. Nature Canada and the Audubon Society are both members of BirdLife International, a global partnership of conservation organizations that strives to conserve birds, their habitats and global biodiversity, working with people towards sustainability in the use of natural resources.