27 January 11
14 January 11
Junco in Tree
It’s freakishly warm here. The birds were out and busy today.
13 January 11
11 January 11
14 December 10
11 December 10
Cormorants Preening
I went to Woodland this morning and, coming back on Road 102, made a quick stop at the pond near (but not at) the Wastewater Treatment Plant. A large mammal (mink? muskrat?) dove as I arrived at the boardwalk. Apart from Canada geese, mallards, and a flock of gulls, there were a number of double-crested cormorants preening in the gloom. No sun today.
7 December 10
27 November 10
Black Phoebe After a Rain Shower
Numenius and I went to Sacramento after lunch today. He was looking for a new sketchbook. We went to Art Ellis where I asked (with no real hope of finding any) for the Clairefontaine Dessin à Grain I’d seen mentioned on Urban Sketchers (the link there was to a hand bookbinder in East Timor, it’s gorgeous stuff). What I did find and decided to try was an Artist Marker Pad (Bee Paper Company).
The phoebe above is my first set of sketches. It is very smooth paper, leaving no bleed lines. I wish it came in sizes large enough to fold and bind… Anyway, the bird. Black phoebes are great to draw in pen and ink because they have such clearly defined, um, black and white markings.
23 November 10
American Crow in the Tree
Definitely crow congregating time. Huge flocks spread out over sodden plowed fields to gorge on worms, then all flock back into Davis for the evening.
17 November 10
Golden-Crowned Sparrow
I hear these birds far more often than I see them.