extinct

Wander into town to pick up essentials and check out the Audubon's Birds of America exhibition at the National Museum of Scotland. The exhibition is absolutely fascinating. Seeing the prints is just amazing. Although you'd need a special bookshelf if you happened to be one of the few lucky owners of the books (see extra) which come in double elephant size. Audubon's relationship with nature was interesting: a keen hunter of the 19th century who shot plenty birds but also observed habitat degradation and was worried about species loss. He wasn't worried about the passenger pigeons, now extinct due to shooting for sport. The Carolina parakeet was considered a pest and is now extinct for more than 100 years. We seem to have a good go at degrading our planet further and, if we keep going, towards our own extinction.