NC Botanical Gardens gallery highlights local birds, encourages conservation

From March 6 to April 27, the North Carolina Botanical Gardens is hosting an exhibit called “North Carolina Birds and Where They Live." This exhibit features the watercolor paintings by Catherine Kramer, a member of the Watercolor Society of North Carolina, the Orange County Artists Guild, the Durham Artists Guild and Alamance Artisans. 

The gallery features various local birds such as the common yellowthroat, the white-throated sparrow, the belted kingfisher, the "chubby" hermit thrush and the white-crowned sparrow. The gallery is also filled with local landscapes, like a great blue heron on the Eno River and other local ponds, pastures and forests. 

Kramer received the Permanent Purchase Award from the Watercolor Society of North Carolina for her painting, “Adagio” in 2023. She also makes gourd art, as displayed on her website. 

Kramer’s technique emphasizes the use of natural light and color, depicting her impression of the natural world. She uses the watercolor medium because it captures the ever-changing and fragile natural world. The original watercolor paintings and their prints are for sale, and all of the profits go to the Triangle Land Conservancy, a nonprofit dedicated to preserving natural North Carolina. 

“That’s the thing I love about the Triangle Land Conservancy — their whole ethos is great — trying to keep what we have even if it's farm land. I decided four years ago that I don’t need the money so I decided I would donate all of it to them,” Kramer said.

The Botanical Gardens is a conservation garden focused on planting the natural flora that attracts natural fauna, like the birds featured in the gallery. 

Janet Whitesides is a volunteer at the Botanical Gardens, which she said has been an oasis to her for 50 years.

“It’s a wonderful way to get away from the urban noise,” Whitesides said. 

The Botanical Gardens are a common place for locals to relax and appreciate nature.

“I really like to be outside just surrounded by greenery and scents, and so I thought I’d read here and just explore some of the nature,” Alex Johnson, a senior majoring in business administration at UNC who was visiting the gardens, said. 

In the gallery, Whitesides’s favorite bird is the red-shouldered hawk, a common predator of North America. Johnson’s is the barred owl. 

The Botanical Gardens offers tours, courses, lectures and many events for the community to engage with and learn about nature. Sharing art like Kramer’s is one way to spread awareness and appreciation of North Carolina’s range of biodiversity.

“We live in a beautiful state," Kramer said. "North Carolina is just beautiful and we need to value it and not develop all of it and not cut down all of the trees because once they’re gone, it’s hard to get it back."

Of the birds in the gallery, the yellow-billed cuckoo is a candidate for federal endangered status and the yellow-throated warbler has suffered habitat loss. Whitesides encourages putting up birdhouses and bird feeders to support these birds that are critical to North Carolina’s biodiversity. 

“It just makes you feel so lucky to live in a place where we have all of these birds still, so hopefully they last," Whitesides said.

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