Tits, bushtits and penduline tits

I drew these Black-throated tits, a.k.a. Black-throated bushtits, a.k.a. Aegithalos concinnus, a.k.a. Mésange à tête rousse, from a photo on Pinterest because they are cute, strikingly patterned and resemble chickadees. I couldn’t find any information on the photographer. The last drawing I posted was of a Black-capped chickadee and drawing it reminded me of a more colourful but similarly shaped and patterned bird that I … Continue reading Tits, bushtits and penduline tits

Myriam (Myr's Bytes)March 8, 201920 Comments

animals, birds, photography

A Yellow Warbler Nest: Part 2

When I returned to the yellow warbler nest two days later, on June 25th, it was empty. But the next day, Mrs. Yellow was sitting on her nest! I found a new “viewing tunnel” to take this photo, from an intersecting trail. When I visited on June 28th, Mrs. Yellow was doing some more nest sitting. Photo 1 is from the June 23rd … Continue reading A Yellow Warbler Nest: Part 2

Myriam (Myr's Bytes)February 23, 201916 Comments

animals, birds, photography

Warmer weather and a Red-breasted Nuthatch

Yay! The two week super chill has left the city! I celebrated by going for a walk through the forest in a balmy -6 ℃. Though I visit the north end of Mill Creek Ravine Park regularly and often hear nuthatches (Red-breasted or White-breasted… I can’t always differentiate their calls), I don’t usually get a good look at them and I rarely get … Continue reading Warmer weather and a Red-breasted Nuthatch

Myriam (Myr's Bytes)February 20, 201914 Comments

art, drawings

Chick-a-dee-dee-dee

Happy Draw-a-Bird-Day!!! I photographed this Black-capped Chickadee on December 8th, 2018, in Mill Creek Ravine Park. My first attempt at drawing this little fella looked pretty good up close, but when I took a step back, he kind of looked off balance, like he was going to fall backwards off his perch. Poop! Sigh. Luckily, a December post by Jean Mackay gave me a … Continue reading Chick-a-dee-dee-dee

Myriam (Myr's Bytes)February 8, 201918 Comments

animals, birds, photography

A Yellow Warbler Nest: Part 1

June 23 2018, 10:38 AM. A trail through a ribbon of urban forest on the south of shore of the North Saskatchewan River, in the Edmonton River Valley. I spotted some movement in the forest shrubs. A female Yellow Warbler. She was building a nest! She moved about in the nest for a while, then sat in it as if incubating eggs, testing its fit. … Continue reading A Yellow Warbler Nest: Part 1

Myriam (Myr's Bytes)January 29, 201911 Comments

art, drawings

Winter bird

Flying in a bit late for Draw-a-Bird-Day, this immature or female Pine Grosbeak (Pinicola enucleator) was eating tiny crabapples in Mill Creek Ravine Park, in late November 2017. Pine Grosbeaks bite through the skin of crabapples, eat the seeds and discard the pulp. They do the same with mountain ash berries. Realistically, the feathers of immature and female birds are grey and orange, but I … Continue reading Winter bird

Myriam (Myr's Bytes)January 11, 2019January 11, 201917 Comments

art, drawings

The raven

Happy Draw-A-Bird-Day! I didn’t plan on spending 12 hours with this raven but I did. I mostly used a mechanical pencil with a fat HB lead. The fat lead can be sharpened with the little steel head of the pencil but I found it easier to use my 3-sided pencil sharpener on the side with the half-length blade. Even right after sharpening, the tip of … Continue reading The raven

Myriam (Myr's Bytes)December 8, 201839 Comments

art, drawings

Bird bones

It’s a headless, neckless, one-legged and one-armed Glossy Ibis skeleton! I partially and approximately re-drew it from Katrina van Grouw’s beautiful Glossy Ibis skeleton in her book The Unfeathered Bird. If you find bird skeletons intriguing, this book is must-see eye candy and wonderfully informative too. A while back, I posted a drawing of a feathered bird wing. While doing research for that post, I … Continue reading Bird bones

Myriam (Myr's Bytes)December 4, 201813 Comments

art, drawings

New Zealand Fantail

A couple of days ago, I saw a photo of a New Zealand Fantail on eBird and I couldn’t resist drawing the little bird. The photo was taken by Steve Kelling at Okia Reserve, New Zealand (near Dunedin). Steve works at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and has seen 2671 bird species. Très cool! I drew the wee bird in my wee 4 by 6 … Continue reading New Zealand Fantail

Myriam (Myr's Bytes)November 14, 2018November 14, 201812 Comments

animals, birds, photography

They’re back!

According to eBird data, Common Redpolls are not seen in the Edmonton area between June and September, except for the sighting of a single bird on July 5th, 2014. Their breeding grounds are north of Alberta, in Alaska, the Yukon, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut. The Atlas of Breeding Birds of Alberta (Semenchuk 1992) does mention occasional nesting in Edmonton. This species also breeds in … Continue reading They’re back!

Myriam (Myr's Bytes)November 11, 2018November 11, 2018

art, drawings

A migrating palm warbler

I found the ink outline of this bird while flipping through my sketchbook this afternoon and I decided that this was a good day to fill-in-the-blanks. This bird and its migration buddy were my first ever Palm Warbler sightings. Two days later, I saw two more Palm Warblers in Mill Creek Ravine Park. This fall, my only Palm Warbler sighting was a trio at Roper … Continue reading A migrating palm warbler

Myriam (Myr's Bytes)November 2, 2018November 7, 2018