Great Egret: Finally, Silverpoint

Storm=gray days, and we had one today. I decided to try silverpoint on Pastelbord (a wonderful surface). You can’t do this quickly: the first pass is almost uniform, so you have to work on getting the darks as dark as possible while leaving the lights untouched, or barely worked.

It’s a hypnotic process, filling in the alfalfa field. slow, steady. It’s not a sketch, though I did a few sketches in pencil beforehand…

Rufous Hummingbird

A huge storm is on the way. We’ve had a lot of rain today already, but winds are supposed to pick up tonight and be fearsome, taking out trees and power lines. We still have power (and thus water) but maybe not tomorrow.

Today we saw our first rufous hummingbird of the year, sipping from the feeder in the pouring rain. I set the scope up and perched on the couch in order to sketch. It kept coming back so I kept making more; guess this will work for Illustration Friday’s “Multiples.”

Hyperactive Black Phoebe

American Robins in Bath Mode

After yesterday’s rain there are plenty of birds taking baths in puddles, in particular one outside my window at work.

I tried to get a sense of the bustle and officiousness of these robins in a colored pencil sketch, above; it didn’t really get it. So I tried a portrait.

Carried on with watercolor and it’s getting closer… after their baths they sit and preen in a tree and chatter away, flicking their tails and feathers in unison…

White-throated Swift

When you bike under the I-80 freeway these days to get to the UC Davis campus you’re likely to hear a frenzied twittering. The swifts are back. Some of them will nest right under the freeway; most will head further north and find, we hope, a natural place for their nest that doesn’t expose them to this much danger.

I saw three yesterday flying in close formation. This is my sketch of them from memory.

California Gull

Numenius tried to call me on the radio to say he had horned larks on West Campus. The radio had turned itself off, and I was having a splendid time painting this adult non-breeding California Gull at Lake Spafford.

(When he arrived panting to announce the horned larks, my paints got put away pretty quickly…)

Northern Flicker, Red-shafted

This weekend is the Great Backyard Bird Count; please consider spending 15 minutes (or much longer!) counting birds in your local patch and submitting them to the compilers. It’s easy. You can do several counts over the weekend and submit them all.

I decided to keep a running count of what caught my eye outside my window at work this morning. Best birds by far were five American pipits which I have never seen at work before; now on the “birds at work” list. Sent in the list. Easy as pie.

Juvenile Red-tailed Hawk

Causing a commotion at work…

Short-eared Owl

Following a report of short-eared owls (10 of them) hunting before dusk along road 28H, we headed out there yesterday evening after work on our bikes. We ran into fellow Bigbyer Steve at the spot. Sure enough, there were 5-8 owls working this one field looking like giant monochrome butterflies.

Nuttall's Woodpecker (for Christopher)

Waiting for when you get out here, C.