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.

AvesInArt Challenge January 6!

I had the good fortune during my morning drive to see a Bald Eagle fly directly over the highway in front of me. This majestic beast of a raptor flapped slowly away beneath a sky gray with snow clouds.

BALD EAGLE, Haliaeetus leucocephalus, Wethersfield, CT. January 6, 2015.
Ink wash, white gouache, sharpie marker

This afternoon Jorge revisited the only place in town with birds - the manure piles on campus. With snow already falling, this little snowbird (who you've already met) made an appearance.

DARK-EYED JUNCO, Junco hyemalis. Storrs, CT. January 6, 2015.

 

Challenge Day 5

Challenge -- today it was a challenge to even FIND a bird! The temperature fell and the wind rose and everything was hiding.  Late in the afternoon Jorge found a flock of starlings near a manure pile behind some barns.

European Starling (Sturnus vulgaris), Horsebarn Hill, Storrs, CT, USA

I occasionally see brown creepers during lunchtime birding at my workplace, no such luck today, but I sketched their white pine trunk and added the birds from memory. They fly to the base of a tree and creep upwards, searching bark crevices for dormant insects.

Brown Creeper (Certhia americana), Hamden, CT, USA. Pencil, white gouache, sharpie marker

AvesInArt January Challenge, Day 4

A gray day, with rain and fog. I was in Killingly, Connecticut, counting birds on a local Christmas Bird Count - and finding very few, but the highlight was certainly a male Eastern Bluebird. With his back turned toward me, his color was eye-popping in an otherwise drab landscape.

Eastern Bluebird, Sialia sialis. Colored pencil with sharpie marker.

Jorge's bird of the day came from another foggy, gray location. This Red-tailed Hawk was hunting in a cattail marsh on Horsebarn Hill on the campus of the University of Connecticut, Storrs.

Red-tailed Hawk, Buteo jamaicensis, adult.

Challenge Day 3

Today at home we had a dusting of snow, so my bird of the day is the "Snowbird".  The Dark-eyed Junco usually arrives in New England with the first cold weather in October.

Dark-eyed Junco (Junco hyemalis) sharpie marker and ink wash

 Jorge chose another winter visitor for his Day 3 photo.  The Horned Lark can be found in large open areas - in Connecticut, we find them at Hammonasset Beach and at UConn's Horsebarn Hill.

Horned Lark (Eremophila alpestris)

AvesInArt Challenge Day 2

Today we took one of our favorite family field trips - heading to the Hammonasset Beach State Park for some birding, and stopping along the way at the Book Barn in Niantic.  Here's Jorge's submission for today, a female Northern Harrier, captured as she cruised her hunting circuit over the marsh.

NORTHERN HARRIER, Circus hudsonius

Sue's subject was closer at hand, a Song Sparrow foraging for grass seeds, partially concealed behind last summer's dried marsh grasses.

SONG SPARROW, Melospiza melodia