Draw a Bird Day December

Myriam (Myr's Bytes)

IMG_1590b

Savannah Sparrows are Little Brown Jobs with delightful touches of yellow feathers above their eyes. My illustration has a few extra splashes of yellow… because… I just really seem to like using my yellow coloured pencil. My model was a small 6 by 9 cm (2 1/4 by 3 1/2 inch) photograph in The Atlas of Breeding Birds of Alberta. The small size of the photo was fortunate and unfortunate – I squinted a few times to discern some bird details but the lack of detail made it easier to focus on the main features and draw more quickly. I’ve never seen a Savannah Sparrow in real life, but hopefully I will meet a few next year. They like moist environments with dense ground vegetation, especially longish grasses, and avoid areas with extensive forest cover or short grass. Males are bold and conspicuous in the spring and summer, frequently observed singing from low, exposed perches.

The atlas has lots of nice maps showing the distribution of breeding birds in the province and it also describes Alberta’s 6 main natural regions: Boreal Forest, Canadian Shield, Foothills, Grassland, Parkland and Rocky Mountain.

Other names for the Savannah Sparrow
Scientific Latin: Passerculus sandwichensis
French: Bruant des prés

Monthly Draw-A-Bird days were started by the wonderfully friendly, enthusiastic and creative Laura at Create Art Everyday.

23 Comments

  7. Wow, Myriam!!! This is incredible! Sparrows get a bad rap sometimes but they sure are beautiful birds. Really amazing work! I can almost feel the sunshine reflecting off the yellow in his feathers. 😀 Can’t believe you worked with such a small reference. Thanks for flying with us!

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    1. Oh, thanks so much Laura :-)! I did another drawing from a small photo after this one, then I went to the library to get a birding magazine with big photos! I do like seeing the details.

      Always fun to fly with you and the other merry, monthly feather artists!

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