"I began developing ideas for artworks that commemorated the many kinds of wildlife one could observe in any piece of land: from an organic garden to a deserted city lot to a recovering beach-front"

Deb O'Rourke, an artist,sends us a document about where she lives and draws near Lake Ontario, Canada

Day 1 turtles, Humber Bay Park
May 6, 2002: ink drawing
I was happy to be greeted first by a reptile: so ancient, so calm.
Animals in Order of Appearance: ring-billed gulls, beaver sign (tree freshly-felled), red-eared slider turtles, several pairs of common tern, many mallard duck pairs, a pair of white domestic geese, several pair of Canada geese, 8 or 9 double-crested cormorants (the first time I'd ever seen this animal), many pairs of red-wing blackbirds and barn swallows, chickadees courting, a pair of grackles, a mourning dove, two robin pairs, a goldfinch. Possibilities: many small songbirds, including possibly: house finch, savannah sparrow. I left when it began to rain....

Lake Ontario Shore, Humber Bay Park - March 2002: crayon drawing

May 6: During a brief break in the stormy spring weather I dashed to the site. On my way into the park, I passed a tree that was recently toppled by beaver- still budding green. Turtles sunned on a log in the collosal storm-water fitration ponds. Further on, construction landfill was placed in such a way as to foster the formation of a shallow wetland: a "grand marsh". Territorial disputes, fishing, nesting, sunning, resting, courtship: the abundance in this recovering eco-system is intoxicating.