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…

Cooper's Hawk

Arboretum at Lunch

Golden-crowned sparrows are much harder than their white-crowned sparrows to get on for long enough to draw — they skulk a lot. I did manage to get on this one.

A nasal “pank, pank, pank” alerted us to this red-breasted nuthatch.

Commotion across the creek: a red-shouldered hawk chased this juvenile Cooper’s hawk into a tree.

Audubon's Yellowrumped Warbler

Pffit, it says.

American Crow

It has been very windy today; not much in the way of birds to sketch. But the afternoon flocks of crows were fun…

Cormorant and Pelican

I had a fantastic time in San Francisco yesterday, making sure I took myself to the water to sketch (I did this after I dropped Numenius off for his class ).

Fort Mason was hopping. I saw eared and western grebes, western gulls, and this double-crested cormorant and American brown pelican….

Golden Eagle

Lunchtime at the Raptor Center, again. this bird was eating and was being thoroughly harassed by wasps. I may take some wasp traps over there…

Still having a very hard time with raptor bills. I’m making this poor creature look more like an albatross than an eagle…

Black-crowned Night-Heron

A lunchtime-at-the-Arboretum bird. We were looking for a fox sparrow (no luck) but found this natty fellow and a Hutton’s vireo…