Shorebirds at the Wastewater Treatment Plant

I took a friend to Woodland today for a medical procedure. I had a couple of hours to kill so I went over to the Woodland Wastewater Treatment Plant, where a Sabine’s gull has been reported. I didn’t see it but there were lots of birds and it was pleasant (if a little hot) to sit and draw them, with more leisure than I usually allow myself.

Young Yellow-billed Magpie

Yellow Warbler at Putah Creek

On Saturday I went down to the bathing area on Putah Creek where warblers have been seen a lot recently. None in the creek, but a few yellow warblers feasting on Oregon grapes on the bank.

Bird Sketching at the Arboretum

I led a bird sketching workshop for Audubon on Saturday. There were five of us. Unbelievably, a green heron was perched just below eye level over the water and stayed there for at least 25 minutes.

There were scrub-jays too. We all tried multiple sketches because the birds kept resuming the same position, making it a good idea to work on several at once.

Afterwards a couple of us joined up with Let’s Draw Davis, which accounts for the child in the lower-left of the jay page, proudly sporting last year’s Spurs jersey.

Pelicans Everywhere

I participated in an oil spill drill last Thursday at the San Francisco Bay Oiled Bird Care and Education Center. There were about 120 pelicans in care, most of them starving. It costs a lot to feed a pelican every day and they are still coming in.

There was also the egret hanging around, stealing whatever fish it can.

And so it goes...

There’s been a gray fox hanging around the Wildlife Health Center, seen by several people during daylight. On Tuesday we saw a pup, a subadult.

This morning I found this dismembered crow fledgling out back, right next to a pile of fox scat, an obvious latrine. It may be the fledgling we saw last week, or not. This is the fate of many young birds and that any of them make it to adulthood is sort of miraculous.

Drawn with Derwent Inktense pencils with water added, then a second go of dry for the feathers.

American Crow Fledgling

Lots of nestling noises all over the place, and today I spotted this fledgling crow under a picnic table at work. A parent was nearby and we left the bird quickly. Lots of hazards await this little guy if he doesn’t learn to fly soon: cats, the resident gray fox, other crows, hawks. And even if he does fly, West Nile is a real risk — cases are being reported around the Central Valley already.

Trip to the East Coast

I haven’t been back to the northeast during spring migration since I left in 1996. Last week was a blur of warbler song and color.

I didn’t manage to sketch the gorgeous male indigo bunting that sat in a bush at eye level for over ten minutes, but once I got over my dumbfoundedness at all of it I started sketching fast. I should know to do this, but I’m going to blame jetlag.

Mount Auburn, Plum Island, coastal Maine. Blackburnians and parulas and yellow warblers and black-throated greens. I can still hear them…

Yellow-billed Magpie

I got more Pentel brush cartridges today and want to keep working with the brush. Magpies are a good subject for black-and-white sketches…

Crows on Newly-mown grass