Swainson's Hawk

Friday lunchtime sketching outings to the Raptor Center have resumed. I overworked this one. It was looking great while loose. I got carried away. Now it looks overposed and stiff.

One for the hopper.

Bluebird Klatsch

A flock of about seven or eight bluebirds swans in, checks out the hole in the pole, and leaves.

Every day.

Savannah Sparrow

Several savannahs in the almond tree at lunch, today. I guess it’s winter…

On the way back to work I saw a great-blue heron standing in the field. The advantages of wandering around with a sketchbook and pen in your pocket…

Crow on the Wire

Sometimes you don’t have time for much…

We are very much hoping to make it to the Central Valley Birding Symposium this Sunday to attend John Muir Laws’ bird sketching workshops…

Barred Owl

The who-cooks-for-you call, faint but unmistakable, interrupted the courting great-horned owls last night while I was trying to sleep… These birds don’t occur here, so it was almost certainly a trick of the wind that wafted the song across the creek from the Raptor Center, where this barred owl has been living for some time.

Barred owls, like their tawny and spotted cousins, have large black eyes with no apparent iris. Although I was able to see a slight reflection in the dark, “bottomless” eye, it’s not what I think of. Looking at this bird for the ten minutes I sketched it was like looking into two inkwells…

White-breasted Nuthatch

A white-breasted nuthatch has joined the supposedly more rare red-breasted around here for the winter. I love watching head down vertical surfaces…

Red-tailed Hawk

I went out to feed my apple core to one of the horses in the paddock at lunchtime. I startled a young red-tail out of a eucalyptus; it flew across the paddock into a mulberry, carrying a large-ish prey item. About five minutes later it flew out of the mulberry: it had almost certainly dropped whatever it was.

A wander over there revealed a barely alive ground squirrel.

Hoping the hawk would return and finish off the job, I came back in. Sure enough, the youngster circled around and perched. It took a while for it to find the squirrel, but in the meantime, I sketched it…

Yellow-rumped Warbler

In a break between showers the sun came out, with lots of bird activity. This yellowrump was foraging among the star-thistle stalks.

We really need this rain and lots more besides…

Crows

I drew these crows last week but never posted the sketch… It has since rained and the crows are looking for worms, not walnuts.

Bodega Bay

I’ve been away with my mother in Bodega Bay, which gave me the chance to draw birds I don’t see very often. Here’s a Western gull that perched right outside the window at the Tides (where Hitchcock’s The Birds was fllmed).

Five species of grebes, two species of loons… And the obligatory, for this time of year, marbled godwits. I also saw my first ever long-tailed weasel, which I did sketch (posted here).

Breakfast in the company of loons and sea lions: you can’t beat it. The fog surrounded the bay and the rising sun cast a pink sheen over the blue murk…