Passer

Passer was the name given to sparrows in Latin. From passer comes passar and from this, pájaro, which is the generic name applied to any flying bird, especially if small in size, and more properly if it belongs to the order of passeriformes, those with sparrow-like shape. This order of birds encompasses more than half of the world's bird species, and the most common in all habitats. This makes them the second most numerous group of vertebrates, due to their evolutionary success. However, throughout 2019 alone, a 29% decrease in the population of these birds was observed, being more pronounced in urban environments.

This project, Passer, is not an attempt to catalog the birds of our environment. It is a reflection on what is happening. The gradual disappearance of one of the most abundant and best-adapted animal populations on the planet points to the poor management we humans make of resources and our environment. And it clearly indicates where we are heading as a species.

This series of small-format drawings is also a tribute to my brother Enrique, an ornithologist by vocation and profession, who in 2015, after months of intensive chemotherapy treatment to combat leukemia, donated bone marrow to me with whose transplant I managed to overcome the disease. It was he who transmitted to me respect for nature and a special interest in birds.

All birds represented in this project have been observed in the garden of the family home and its surroundings.