Scolding House Wren

We still have some sunshine! All the birds are out. Looks like the weather’s going to get a lot colder and wetter, with possibly even some snow, by the time of our Christmas Bird Count on Sunday.

Drawing the Motmot has alerted me to a fantastic site: video and audio clips of birds of the world. Fantastic sketching tool….

Northern Flicker

Now that the fog has lifted, birds that have been just far-off cries and calls have materialized. This flicker was very vocal this morning.

I finally saw my BIGBY pine siskins at lunchtime…

After the Fog

Oregon Junco

Mist. We go outside and get droplets on our eyelashes. The birds love it: lots of cover, not too very cold.

Ferruginous Hawk

Not today’s bird, but another one on Thanksgiving Day. This ferruginous was sunning itself at the top of the phone pole beyond the vegetable garden. Unbelievable to have this cool a bird in your yard…

Thanksgiving Day Turkey

Bird Silhouettes

“If you can’t see the eyes, if you can’t see the feet, if you can’t see the wings because the bird’s too far away or backlit, DON’T DRAW THEM!” he said.

My, how liberating. Don’t guess. Draw what you see. Only.

I am really hoping you can still tell what these birds are…

Killdeer on the Grass

Backlit, silhouetted.

Bird Sketching Workshop

This weekend was the Central Valley Birding Symposium. We went down this morning to catch John Muir Laws’ triple bird sketching extravaganza (passerines/waterfowl/raptors). I think I made a couple of breakthrough-level discoveries — time will tell, here — but even if I didn’t it was well worth it.

Reminders to get the bird’s posture direction, followed by body and head shape, check proportions, followed by contour angles, then finally getting into interior details — all things I tend to ignore apart from the last one — were so helpful. And tricks for not making raptor bills too big so they look like parrots. And for not scrunching feet with a lot more detail than the rest of the drawing…

We found some great-tailed grackles in a parking lot in Stockton and drew them. Funky birds, funky tails, funky calls. It was like being back in Texas…

House Finch

Given how often I see or hear these birds, it’s astonishing I haven’t sketched one yet for Bird by Bird, but here it is. This bird was trying to get at the bird bath and was being harrassed by white-crowned sparrows.