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

New Exhibit at Starbucks

AvesInArt has just put up a new show!  Birds of Uruguay, in paintings and photographs, is now on view at the Starbucks in Storrs-Mansfield, Connecticut.

Interior view to the gallery wall.

After closing time, Sue making final preparations.

Some of the colorful birds of Uruguay.

Come to see the show and let us know what you think.  And, if you're interested in seeing these birds in person, check the Southern Screamer Birding Tours website, and consider a trip to Uruguay!

Bird Portraits?

This spring I'm trying something new.
I've painted a few bird portraits in a new medium - acrylic on canvas board.

Green Jay (Cyanocorax luxuosus) from the Rio Grande Valley of southeastern Texas

I love the classic side-view portrait, but have always been intrigued by some of Jorge's photos which capture a front view.  Just about the only birds that actually have binocular vision (where they see what's in front of them using both eyes to create a forward-facing field of view) are the OWLS.  The rest of the birds have a wide field of view primarily to the side of the head, which is useful for detecting predators.  So, while a photograph may capture an instant where the bird is facing the camera - it is not actually focusing on you at that moment.

My choice of these two species was due to the intriguing patterns on the faces. The Green Jay is a bird of subtropical to tropical forests, where sun-dappled shade is common.  These colors and patterns work well to confuse and conceal the bird's actual features.  The pale blue feathers above and below the eye stand out from the black mask, and appear to be distinct feather tracts that at can be manipulated, perhaps in display.  

Jocotoco Antpitta (Grallaria ridgelyi) from the Andes of southern Ecuador

The pattern of light and dark on this antpitta's face is unique in the genus Grallaria - which is why it immediately caught the attention of ornithologists Robert Ridgely and John Moore, who discovered it very recently in the tropical humid Andes of southern Ecuador - in 1997!

I have often wanted to do a series of these photos (or paintings!) entitled "Here's looking at you" - but of course they aren't really looking at us at all.

Birding in Uruguay

landscape, departamento Treinta y Tres

If you've been to our AvesInArt website, you've seen Jorge's photographs of the beautiful and varied birds of Uruguay - his native country.  Early next year he will be guiding a birding tour to see some of these beauties.  

dry forest, Quebrada de los Cuervos, departamento Treinta y Tres

Here, I'll digress, to some etymology.  Uruguay, in spanish is pronounced something like "oo roo wai", and in english we've learned something closer to "yu ra gway".  At any rate - the name comes from neither spanish nor english.  Uruguay is a word from the native people of the region, the Guarani.  It translates roughly to "river of the colorful birds".

magnificent Ombue tree, Estancia Guardia del Monte, departamento Rocha

What could be more appropriate than birdwatching in a country named for the river of the colorful birds?  So, come along with Jorge on what promises to be a wonderful tour of Uruguay, visiting many easily accessible birding sites, such as wetlands and the unique Atlantic coastal forest.

Atlantic coast, Cabo Polonio, departamento Rocha

For more information, go to our Southern Screamer Birding Tours page at www.southernscreamer.com or you can get to the same page through our AvesInArt website, www.avesinart.com - under the "More" heading, find the "Birding Tours" page.

Valle del Lunarejo, departamento Rivera

Contact Jorge by email if you have questions:

birdinguruguay@southernscreamer.com

or fill out the inquiry form on the website.

Mark your calendars for February 18 - 28, 2013, and make a deposit to reserve your place on this customized, personalized birding tour to see the colorful birds of Uruguay.

 

inner courtyard, Estancia Guardia del Monte

All photos are Jorge's - from a recent birding trip to Uruguay.  To see the actual birds, click here to jump to AvesInArt's Birds of Uruguay photo gallery.