Margot McMahon Hawaiian Duck (2024)

Margot McMahon
Hawaiian Duck (2024)
Technique Mixte Oil on Canvas
8” X 10”
$1,750

Hawaiian Indigenous Endangered Birds

During a family vacation to Oahu in 2021, McMahon sketched endangered birds indigenous to the Hawaiian Islands. Returning to her studio, McMahon painted the birds through her Technique Mixte process. When the fires broke out in Maui in 2023, her painted birds took on special meaning as symbolic indicators of our earth’s fragile ecosystems. Her series of endangered indigenous birds brings awareness to the human and environmental factors that threaten avian populations in the Hawaiian Islands.

One of three remaining endemic waterfowl in Hawaii, the Hawaiian Duck is listed as endangered due to habitat loss, introduced predators, overhunting, and specifically genetic extinction due to hybridization with invasive mallard ducks. Kauai remains a stronghold for the population with a relatively high genetic diversity within the species