Happy Draw-a-Bird Day! I drew this hummingbird (based on a Golden-tailed Sapphire) with birds of paradise flowers back in February, when Edmonton had a week of -30 degree Celcius weather. Walking outside didn’t feel good, but the light for drawing was lovely: bright and crisp. I fudged the beak lines and my white gel pen […]
In the summer of 2018, I had the good fortune of watching a female Yellow Warbler build a nest, incubate her eggs and feed her nestlings. I’ve posted photos of her nest-building and nest-sitting, and now it’s time for photos of her itty-bitty hatchlings! After June 30th, I visited the nest two more times without […]
Happy draw-a-bird day! It has been a while since I posted. I’ve been feeling unwordy. I did get around to posting a few photos on Instagram. J and I moved to Burlington, Ontario from Edmonton, Alberta in early July. The birds, the vegetation and the humidity are quite different here! Burlington is near Toronto, on […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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. […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
