Final images of the AiA Challenge

January 31 - A bright, sunny day, a foot of snow on the ground, and the temperature barely broke 15 F.  With the wind blowing hard all day, it felt more like 15 below zero, but, because it's Saturday - we headed out with binoculars, telescope and camera and tried our luck. Three miles from home we found a half dozen mergansers on the river.

COMMON MERGANSER pair (Mergus merganser). Sharpie marker.
January 31, 3015. Stafford Springs, Connecticut, USA.

 A Barrow's Goldeneye was reported on the Connecticut River at Enfield - we searched but went home with only the Common Goldeneye on our little list for the outing.

COMMON GOLDENEYE male (Bucephala clangula)
January 2015. Connecticut River at Enfield, Connecticut.

Penultimate Day of the AiA Challenge

January 30th.  How do you hide a one-meter tall bird? First scrunch it down to half a meter, then make it the color of the winter marsh, then make it perfectly motionless. Today I found this heron in the same little pool where my mergansers and mallards hang out.

GREAT BLUE HERON (Ardea herodias). Colored pencil.
January 30, 2015. Hamden, Connecticut.

Each of the three mergansers in Connecticut has its niche.  Our merganser of fresh-water rivers is this one, the Common Merganser. This female shows the diagnostic white chin (which the similar Red-breasted Merganser lacks).

COMMON MERGANSER (Mergus merganser)
January 2015, Enfield, Connecticut, on the Connecticut River.

Day 29 of the Challenge

January 29th - a day spent indoors, so another indoor selection for bird-of-the-day. A row of study skins in the University's research collection.

EUROPEAN STARLING (Sturnus vulgaris). Study skins. Pencil
January 29, 2015. UConn's Biological Research Collections.

MALLARD (Anas platyrhynchos). Connecticut River at Enfield, Connecticut.
January 2015.

AvesInArt Challenge - 4 days to go

January 28th. My bird for today is the yellow-shafted Northern Flicker, related to woodpeckers, and an occasional winter visitor to feeders in New England.  The western subspecies of this bird has red-shafted wing and tail feathers!!

NORTHERN (Yellow-shafted) FLICKER, Colaptes auratus.
Pencil with colored pencil highlights. January 28, 2015, Hamden, Connecticut, USA.

Jorge spent some time with the goldfinches during the snowstorm yesterday, and chose this image for his bird of the day.

AMERICAN GOLDFINCH, Spinus tristis.
January 2015, Willington, Connecticut, USA.

AiA Bird-a-Day #27

January 27, 2015 - a big snow day here in Connecticut. Again, the feeders were very active, and today a kind of special happening, pictured in my drawing.

BLACK-CAPPED CHICKADEE (Poecile atricapillus) Colored pencil and sharpie marker.
January 27, 2015. Willington, Connecticut, USA

Each species in our yard has its favored feeding stations and perching places. The chickadees like the "chickadee restaurant" next door to the rhododendron shrub - where this one posed for Jorge's camera.

BLACK-CAPPED CHICKADEE (Poecile atricapillus)
January 27, 2015, Willington, Connecticut, USA

Challenge, Day 26

Today we are preparing for a snowstorm - clearly the birds know it's coming too, as they are frenetic at the feeders.  The cardinals visit in the late afternoon, usually taking spilled seeds on the ground.

NORTHERN CARDINAL (Cardinalis cardinalis) Colored pencil and sharpie marker
January 26, 2015, Willington, Connecticut, USA

Jorge's portrait of one of our many goldfinches shows hints of the brilliant yellow breeding plumage of a male.

AMERICAN GOLDFINCH (Spinus tristis)
January, 2015, Willington, Connecticut, USA

January 25th - Day 25.

My bird of the day is a hawk that swooped low over my car as I drove into a parking lot. The black-and-white banding on the tail and wings and bright rufous shoulders are field marks for this species.

RED-SHOULDERED HAWK (Buteo lineatus). Colored pencil and graphite pencil.
January 25, 2015, Tolland, Connecticut, USA.

Jorge's bird of the day is one of the common, but not so easy to photograph, birds that hangs around the barns on campus.

ROCK PIGEON (Columba livia)
January 25, 2015, Storrs, Connecticut, USA

AiA Challenge final week

January 24 - It was a snowy Saturday at home, and we both chose common winter visitors for our bird-of-the-day.

Common winter visitors to our bird feeders.
January 24, 2015. Willington, Connecticut, USA

BLACK-CAPPED CHICKADEE (Poecile atricapillus)
January 24, 2015, Willington, Connecticut, USA

Challenge Day 23

January 23rd.  You may have trouble finding the bird in my sketch today, but it's a scene I saw a few days ago. A bluebird fluttered into the gray and white scene and perched on a branch in the middle of the tumult of ice breaking up on the river - such a contrast!

Eastern Bluebird (Sialia sialis). Sharpie marker and just a little colored pencil.
January 23, 2015. Willimantic River, Willington, Connecticut, USA.

Jorge continues his theme of gulls today, with another of our common species.

Herring Gull (Larus argentatus)
January 2015, Connecticut, USA.

AvesInArt January Challenge continues

January 22nd. My sketch for today is the bold and brilliant blue jay. Throughout the Americas, jays fill the niche of noisy omnivore, often living in close proximity to people.

BLUE JAY, Cyanocitta cristata. Colored pencil and sharpie marker.
January 22, 2015. Willington, Connecticut, USA.

Jorge's bird of the day was photographed at the coast, where we have three common species of gulls year 'round.  During the winter other gulls show up as well, but you have to be a full-time bird-chaser to be able to photograph those guys!

RING-BILLED GULL, Larus delawarensis.
January 2015, Connecticut, USA.

AiA Photo-Sketch Challenge

Day 21 - Most days, I get out for a walk at lunchtime, and usually with my binoculars along. Most days I see this guy too - the very familiar robin.

American Robin (Turdus migratorius). Colored Pencil
January 21, 2015. Hamden, Connecticut, USA.

Jorge's after-work outing took him back to the manure piles behind the barns on campus. The ever-present starlings were again, present, and also this sparrow.

House Sparrow (Passer domesticus) male.
January 21, 2015. UConn Campus, Storrs, Connecticut, USA.

Bird-a-Day January 20

Day 20 - out on my lunchtime walk I watched some mergansers fishing in the reservoir. The female came up with a crayfish that she somehow managed to swallow. I have since read that the bird breaks off the two large claws before eating.

female Hooded Merganser with crayfish (Lophodytes cucullatus). Colored pencil.
January 20, 2015. Hamden, Connecticut, USA

Jorge's bird for Day 20 is this beautiful sparrow.  Studies of the White-throated Sparrow show that individuals with brighter stripes on the crown are the dominant birds in social groups.

White-throated Sparrow (Zonotrichia albicollis).
January 20, 2015. Stamford, Connecticut, USA

Challenge Day 19

Cue music - "what a difference a day makes..."
There were spots of sun today, even warm (by the standards of Connecticut in January).  I found a group of about 30 goldfinches feeding in the tops of sycamore trees down by the river.

American Goldfinch (Spinus tristis). Sharpie marker and colored pencil.
January 19, 2015. Willington, Connecticut, USA

Yesterday's heavy rain pushed the ice out of the river, and a number of mallards took advantage of a little open water.

Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos). January 19, 2015.
Willimantic River, Mansfield, Connecticut, USA.

AiA Challenge hits a rainy day

January 18th - it poured rain all day today, turning every surface to a sheet of ice once the temperature dropped.  Our yard birds kept up their steady activity at the feeders, though, with titmice in good numbers.

Tufted Titmouse (Baeolophus bicolor). Colored pencil and sharpie marker.
January 18, 2015. Willington, Connecticut, USA.

Jorge has often seen this mockingbird near where he works - but recently it had been elusive until today!

Northern Mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos)
January 18, 2015, Storrs, Connecticut, USA.

January 17th - AiA Challenge rolls on

One of the most frequent visitors to our bird feeders in winter is the chickadee.  This afternoon I observed them make countless trips from the feeder to a nearby bush, hammer open a seed then hop to another branch and do a quick bill-wiping motion.

Black-capped Chickadee (Poecile atricapilla). Sharpie marker.
Willington, Connecticut, USA. January 17, 2015.

In January in Connecticut, we see loons along the coast. They have lost their distinctive black and white spotted pattern, and instead wear a drab coat of gray and white.

Common Loon (Gavia immer)
Connecticut, USA. January 2015.

Bird-a-day for January 16th

There are still a few "feeder-birds" that are missing from this collection of photos and drawings, so today I'm adding our most common woodpecker.

Downy Woodpecker (Picoides pubescens). Pencil and colored pencil.
Willington, Connecticut, USA. January 16, 2015.

Jorge's addition for today is a winter visitor to Connecticut, the American Tree Sparrow. 

American Tree Sparrow (Spizella arborea)
Connecticut, USA. January 2015

Halfway through our Challenge!

Another day to do my bird drawing indoors - and another museum specimen. This time it's a wing, rather than the entire bird. This type of preparation is good for showing feather detail - such as the showy white patch the mockingbird flashes as it flies.

Northern Mockingbird, Mimus polyglottos. Ink wash and sharpie marker.
January 15, 2015, UConn Biological Research Collection, Storrs, Connecticut.

We saw the male House Finch a few days ago, and now here's the female - one of those LBJ's (little brown jobs) that can be confusing to beginning birders.

House Finch (female), Haemorhous mexicanus.
January 2015, Connecticut, USA.

January 14 - Challenge Day 14

Jorge's photographic essay of sparrows continues with this Song Sparrow.

Song Sparrow, Melospiza melodia.
January 2015, Connecticut, USA.

 Sue's glimpses of urban birds today included the flamboyant mockingbird - but huddled against the cold it looks rather less so!

Northern Mockingbird, Mimus polyglottos. Sharpie marker and colored pencil.
January 14, 2015, Hamden, Connecticut, USA.

Day 13 AvesInArt Challenge

The subtle colors of the mourning dove are easy to miss - it could pass as just another grayish-brown bird - but look closely and you find pastel blue, iridescent violet and warm pink.

Mourning Dove, Zenaida macroura.
January 2015.  Connecticut, USA

I love the silhouettes made by winter trees against a late-afternoon winter sky.  Add to that the spectacle of hundreds of crows coming to roost and you get a moment of pure magic.  The agile and boisterous crows jostle for positions on the highest branches, keeping up a constant chorus of corvid communication.

American Crow, Corvus brachyrhynchos. Sharpie marker
January 13, 2015  West Haven, Connecticut, USA

Photo-Drawing Challenge Day 12

Good weather for a duck!! - that's what I was thinking (really!) as I headed out in the rain for a lunchtime walk. Then, there they were, four mallards sleeping on thin ice beside a patch of open water in the reservoir.

Mallard, Anas platyrhynchos. Sharpie marker.
January 12, 2015. Hamden, Connecticut, USA.

Jorge found this beauty of a sparrow, the Fox Sparrow, the other day when we were out birding. There were two, flitting in the tangle of brambles - this one paused a moment in the sun, just long enough!

Fox Sparrow, Passerella iliaca.
January 2015, Stamford, Connecticut, USA.

Challenge, Day 11

House Finch (male), Haemorhous mexicanus. 

Variation on a theme of reds and browns today - this male House Finch showed a particularly bright red wash over the face.
It's always great to see our flamboyant Red-bellied Woodpeckers - with their brilliant scarlet caps contrasting with the intricately patterned black and white dorsal plumage.

Red-bellied Woodpecker (male), Melanerpes carolinus. Sharpie marker and colored pencil.

Day 10, AvesInArt Challenge

January 10th was another very cold day, but with bright blue sky, so it good to be out birding as long as we could stand the wind! We visited some of our favorite spots and found a few new birds for the Challenge!
I chose to sketch a little flock of tree sparrows that were gleaning grass seeds leftover from last fall.

American Tree Sparrow, Spizella arborea. Colored pencil.
January 10, 2015. Silver Sands State Park, Milford, CT

Jorge found a roosting Mourning Dove who sat quietly for a portrait.

Mourning Dove, Zenaida macroura. January 10, 2015. Cove Island Park, Stamford, CT.

January Challenge continues

Day 9 - After a sudden snow squall, the day was bright and sunny - but still very cold. I found this pair of doves resting with fluffed-out plumage to keep warm.

MOURNING DOVES, Zenaida macroura. Colored pencil and sharpie marker.
Hamden, Connecticut, USA.

The ever-present starlings caught Jorge's attention again. This bird's common name derives from its winter plumage - starry spots on iridescent black plumage.

EUROPEAN STARLING, Sturnus vulgaris. Storrs, Connecticut, USA.

January 8 - Day 8 of the AiA Challenge

Another super-cold, but bright, winter day. I did what any sensible bird artist does - stayed indoors and sketched this research specimen.  This is a traditional study skin, pinned out on its back with bill out straight. By contrast a taxidermy specimen attempts to recreate a life-like pose.

WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCH, Sitta carolinensis. Sharpie marker.
University of Connecticut Biological Research Collections.

Outdoor birds were again elusive, but Jorge found another Junco, this one sunning on an exposed perch.

DARK-EYED JUNCO, Junco hyemalis. Willington, CT, USA.

Challenge Day 7

Day 7 of the challenge was again quite a challenge.  Jorge found the starling flock taking grain from the cows' feeding troughs.

EUROPEAN STARLING, Sturnus vulgaris, UConn's Horsebarn Hill.

On my brief outing today, I saw exactly zero birds, so I share with you an acrylic sketch I made last month in Costa Rica. The toucans were my favorite birds from that trip - so crazily gaudy!

KEEL-BILLED TOUCAN, Ramphastos sulfuratus. Acrylic on canvas board.
Provincia de Alajuela, COSTA RICA.