The Stellar's Sea Eagle is one of the largest eagles in the world by weight, but its measurements don't add up to the Harpy Eagle or the Philippine Eagle. Still, though, it's an impressive bird.
Doodled from this photo.
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Stellar's Sea Eagle
I was at the zoo today and saw the most amazing bird: the Stellar's Sea Eagle. You can't get a sense of the scale of this bird by the sketch, or the impressiveness of its beak (partly because it's foreshortened in this view), but it is amazing.
The Stellar's Sea Eagle is one of the largest eagles in the world by weight, but its measurements don't add up to the Harpy Eagle or the Philippine Eagle. Still, though, it's an impressive bird.
Doodled from this photo.
The Stellar's Sea Eagle is one of the largest eagles in the world by weight, but its measurements don't add up to the Harpy Eagle or the Philippine Eagle. Still, though, it's an impressive bird.
Doodled from this photo.
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Let's call the whole thing off!
I made it for 26 days before throwing in the towel - longer than an average New Year's diet, perhaps, but not very long in the grand scheme of things.
The problem? I'm bored. I think the project wasn't well-considered enough, because it's boring the snot out of me. I adore birds, and will continue to draw them here, but maybe a week is more than I want to spend on any one bird for now. That, and at the moment, I'm working on snapping turtle jaw anatomy, horse vertebrae, a rabbit skeleton and a nascent river otter illustration.
This is supposed to be the place for me to blow off steam, and any 365-day project in the future will have to take that into consideration. I still want to do one, just not this one.
Oh well. Lessons learned.
The problem? I'm bored. I think the project wasn't well-considered enough, because it's boring the snot out of me. I adore birds, and will continue to draw them here, but maybe a week is more than I want to spend on any one bird for now. That, and at the moment, I'm working on snapping turtle jaw anatomy, horse vertebrae, a rabbit skeleton and a nascent river otter illustration.
This is supposed to be the place for me to blow off steam, and any 365-day project in the future will have to take that into consideration. I still want to do one, just not this one.
Oh well. Lessons learned.
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Atlantic Puffin: In Color
What?! There's no Atlantic Puffin here!
For now.
This has been the day from H - e - double-toothpick, so I'm putting a placeholder here at 10:45 p.m. so I can fall into bed and get some sleep.
Yes, I know, I'm cheating... but I did say I could change the rules any time I wanted, right?
For now.
This has been the day from H - e - double-toothpick, so I'm putting a placeholder here at 10:45 p.m. so I can fall into bed and get some sleep.
Yes, I know, I'm cheating... but I did say I could change the rules any time I wanted, right?
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Bonus Bird: Harpy Eagle
Dana was in Belize last week, and he got to feed a Harpy Eagle!
This is Panama. He's an education bird at The Belize Zoo.
Look at those talons. I learned last night that the longest talons on a bird of prey are the hallux and the inside front toe... because those are the ones they use to kill their food.
Note to self: stay away from Harpy Eagles in dark alleys.
This is Panama. He's an education bird at The Belize Zoo.
Look at those talons. I learned last night that the longest talons on a bird of prey are the hallux and the inside front toe... because those are the ones they use to kill their food.
Note to self: stay away from Harpy Eagles in dark alleys.
Monday, January 24, 2011
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Atlantic Puffin: Research
Photo by Steve Garvie, via Wikimedia Commons
The Atlantic Puffin (Fratercula arctica) is a bird I've never seen in life. But I really, really want to see one. This is a bird I would be willing to travel to see, even though they live where it tends to get cold. It's not that they're rare, or that there's even anything that interesting about them... except that they're pretty, or at least distinguished looking. With their black and white plumage and colorful beak, they look like clowns that are slightly worried about something. Some folks might find that creepy, but I kind of like it.
Atlantic Puffins are seabirds, members of the auk family. They eat fish, primarily, and nest on rocky outcroppings next to the sea in the North Atlantic. It has some clever, if obvious, nicknames: "clown of the sea" and "sea parrot."
Puffins have fairly long lives, and can live up to 30 years. They live primarily at sea, but when it comes time to nest, they live in colonies and nest in burrows on cliff sides. Dad clears the burrow; both mom and dad incubate the eggs and care for the chicks until they fledge.
Friday, January 21, 2011
Bonus Bird: Golden-crowned Sparrow
Doodled because the Golden-crowned Sparrow is Spokane Audubon's "rare bird of the month" for January. (Rare bird for here, that is.)
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Chestnut-backed Chickadee: Detail
OK, today is going to have to be a day where the victory is in showing up. This one was way more of a rush than I would have liked, but I've been up since 4:45 this morning (doing the weekly trek of planes, trains and automobiles to get from Seattle to Spokane), and I worked for much of the day.
I know, enough with the excuses already!
Here are the Chestnut-backed Chickadee's feet. As you might be able to tell (I know, it's tough), the bird has three toes facing forward, one facing back. The back toe, number 1, is called the hallux. This configuration of toes, anisodactyl, is common to songbirds. Before the year is out, I can guarantee that I'll be drawing at least two other foot configurations, probably more.
I know, enough with the excuses already!
Here are the Chestnut-backed Chickadee's feet. As you might be able to tell (I know, it's tough), the bird has three toes facing forward, one facing back. The back toe, number 1, is called the hallux. This configuration of toes, anisodactyl, is common to songbirds. Before the year is out, I can guarantee that I'll be drawing at least two other foot configurations, probably more.
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Chestnut-backed Chickadee: Graphite
Notice how yesterday I got the bird's eye a little bit too far back on his head? That's the nice thing about sticking with a subject for a few days: you can see what you've missed and try to figure out how to fix it.
Monday, January 17, 2011
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Chestnut-backed Chickadee: Research
Photo by Greg7 on Flickr, via Wikipedia Commons
The Chestnut-backed Chickadee is, as its name suggests, a chickadee with chestnut-colored feathers on its back and under its wings. The mask/cap and throat are similar to the more familiar Black-capped Chickadee. (Their cousin, the Mountain Chickadee, has a white eye stripe.)
Like other chickadees, the Chestnut-backed Chickadee has a large head in proportion to the rest of its body, making it look kind of like a Weeble with a tail. They are small birds, 4 - 5 inches long, with small, black beaks and fairly long tails. Most of their diet is comprised of insects, but they will eat seeds and berries.
Chestnut-backed Chickadees live on the Pacific Coast from British Columbia to Central California, and across northern Washington and Idaho. I saw them for the first time at the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle, near the Raptor Center; the folks at the Raptor Center keep some feeders full, and the feeders are routinely visited by nuthatches, chickadees, towhees and the ubiquitous sparrows. (This sort of begs the question, are they trying to tease the raptors? Perhaps not, since not all raptors like to eat songbirds; some would rather nosh on larger birds or mammals.)
Friday, January 14, 2011
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Bonus Bird: Golden-crowned Kinglet
The best part of deciding to become attuned to birds is that they just pop out of nowhere... not really, of course. They're usually around, but I'm more likely to see them now that I'm looking.
This is one of the surprises, a Golden-crowned Kinglet.
It snowed last night in Seattle, but the snow turned to rain and this morning was a slush-fest. I was running some errands, on foot, and I decided to walk up the viaduct from University Village. At the top of the hill on 45th I came across a small group of tiny (3 - 4 inches from beak to tail) birds with golden crowns.
I'm sure I looked like a complete idiot, frozen on the sidewalk staring into the shrubs, but it was so wonderful to see these goofy little birds go about their business. I was giddy, both from finishing my hill climb and from seeing a new-to-me bird. Whee!
Doodled from this wonderful photo.
This is one of the surprises, a Golden-crowned Kinglet.
It snowed last night in Seattle, but the snow turned to rain and this morning was a slush-fest. I was running some errands, on foot, and I decided to walk up the viaduct from University Village. At the top of the hill on 45th I came across a small group of tiny (3 - 4 inches from beak to tail) birds with golden crowns.
I'm sure I looked like a complete idiot, frozen on the sidewalk staring into the shrubs, but it was so wonderful to see these goofy little birds go about their business. I was giddy, both from finishing my hill climb and from seeing a new-to-me bird. Whee!
Doodled from this wonderful photo.
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Monday, January 10, 2011
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Saturday, January 8, 2011
Cooper's Hawk: Research
We have hawks in the yard: Sharp-shinned Hawks and Cooper's Hawks. They look very similar to one another, but the Cooper's Hawk is larger... we didn't know how much larger until we went to DC and saw the "Birds of DC" at the National Museum of Natural History.
The Cooper's Hawk (Accipiter cooperii) is a medium-sized hawk that's very common at feeders. The one in our yard last year liked to sit on the fence right next to the tree where I have the finch socks.
Cooper's Hawks live year-round across the continental United States. Western birds are smaller than their eastern counterparts.
It's a crow-sized long-legged hawk that looks like its wearing pantaloons, with a long barred tail. Adults have red or orange eyes; juveniles have yellow eyes. As with many birds of prey, the female is about 1/3 larger than the male. Wings and tails are dark brown, underparts buffy with dark bars. Chest and pantaloons have reddish bars.
As you might suspect from their prevalence at feeders, the Cooper's Hawk feeds mainly on small songbirds, with some rodents added into the mix.
Photo from Wikipedia.
The Cooper's Hawk (Accipiter cooperii) is a medium-sized hawk that's very common at feeders. The one in our yard last year liked to sit on the fence right next to the tree where I have the finch socks.
Cooper's Hawks live year-round across the continental United States. Western birds are smaller than their eastern counterparts.
It's a crow-sized long-legged hawk that looks like its wearing pantaloons, with a long barred tail. Adults have red or orange eyes; juveniles have yellow eyes. As with many birds of prey, the female is about 1/3 larger than the male. Wings and tails are dark brown, underparts buffy with dark bars. Chest and pantaloons have reddish bars.
As you might suspect from their prevalence at feeders, the Cooper's Hawk feeds mainly on small songbirds, with some rodents added into the mix.
Friday, January 7, 2011
Northern Cardinal: Putting It Together
Photo references for this week's doodles:
Bird doodle: http://www.flickr.com/photos/goellnitz/4719286326/
Beak detail: http://www.flickr.com/photos/aditithestargazer/3296420616/
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Northern Cardinal: Graphite
I think my motto for the year will be "imperfect, but done" because sometimes that's as good as a person can get.
Monday, January 3, 2011
Northern Cardinal: Line Drawing
Well, here's Mr. Northern Cardinal in all his glory.
Hopefully as this project gets underway I'll get organized enough to make a pen & ink version of these line drawings... but we're going to start slowly so as not to freak out the blogger...
Hopefully as this project gets underway I'll get organized enough to make a pen & ink version of these line drawings... but we're going to start slowly so as not to freak out the blogger...
Sunday, January 2, 2011
Northern Cardinal: Getting to Know You
Man, I feel like I haven't been to the gym in a while. Doodling is like that; if you don't do it for a little while you get rusty. And since I've been off from school, working and traveling I haven't doodled in a couple of weeks. Ouch.
Doing "Getting to Know You" sketches is a good way to get back into it. No pressure to do something beautiful, just trying to get an idea of how things work.
For the cardinal, I messed around in the sketchbook until I started seeing the shape of the bird. Cardinals, with their crests, make a distinctive teardrop shape if you catch them at the right angle.
The thing to remember about cardinals, or any crested birds for that matter, is that the crest will obscure the actual shape of the head (which is, I suppose, the point of having a crest). I'm not sure I'm getting it just yet, but it's something to be aware of.
Tomorrow: a line drawing.
Doing "Getting to Know You" sketches is a good way to get back into it. No pressure to do something beautiful, just trying to get an idea of how things work.
For the cardinal, I messed around in the sketchbook until I started seeing the shape of the bird. Cardinals, with their crests, make a distinctive teardrop shape if you catch them at the right angle.
The thing to remember about cardinals, or any crested birds for that matter, is that the crest will obscure the actual shape of the head (which is, I suppose, the point of having a crest). I'm not sure I'm getting it just yet, but it's something to be aware of.
Tomorrow: a line drawing.
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Northern Cardinal: Research
Photo by Ken Thomas, via Wikipedia Commons
The Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) is a medium-sized songbird found throughout the Eastern and Southwestern US and (oddly enough) in some places on the islands of Hawaii and Oahu (successful introduction). Both male and female have a distinctive crest and orange beak. The male is red; female is brown with red on her crest and wing and tail.
Cardinals live year-round in their range, but will move to avoid extreme temperatures or food shortages. They live in woodlands, swamps and suburbs. As with other feeder birds, the Cardinal is subject to predation by backyard hawks.
The Cardinal can be extremely territorial; if another bird enters a place the Cardinal thinks is his, the bird will be chastised and likely chased away. It is, apparently, not unusual for male Cardinals to attack their own reflections, at least during breeding season. Some of them have been observed doing this for hours at a time.
Cardinals have a distinctive song, sung by both males and females, which they use to attract a mate, in courtship and to lay claim to territory. Since songs are learned, there are regional variations.
The bird's diet consists primarily of seeds (look at the design of that beak!), but as with most birds, it also eats bugs and fruit.
Places to look for information about the Northern Cardinal:
- The Cornell Lab of Ornithology site, All About Birds.
- The Wikipedia article on the Northern Cardinal.
2011: Time for a New Blog Project
When we were in DC I picked up a book, 365: A Daily Creativity Journal. I've been wanting to do a 365-day project for the last couple of years, but a) a whole year is a long time and b) I struggle with that kind of organization.
In other words, I'm starting something that I may be spectacularly ill-equipped to follow through on... sigh. We'll see how far this goes.
In his book, author Noah Scalin (of Skull-a-Day fame) says "The key to a successful daily project is deciding on a subject or medium that you will enjoy exploring for a year (pg. 7)."
I've been looking at birds here for a while and I'm still fascinated by them, so that seems like a good subject.
And I'm in a natural science illustration program this year, so why not combine the two to create a body of work?
Here's the project, as I see it right now:
I know what you're thinking -- that doesn't sound much like a 365-day project now, does it? Bear with me for a moment.
Last term in the NatSci program, we had a process and I'll be basing the "daily" part of the project on that process. If all goes according to plan, it will look something like this:
That's it, for the moment. Since it's my project, I reserve the right to change the rules whenever I want. If I can keep it going for any length of time it should be a good experience, and maybe I'll even make a few things I like!
My first bird: the Northern Cardinal. I saw my first live one in DC, so it will be a new bird (for me) to start a new project in the new year.
Happy New Year!
In other words, I'm starting something that I may be spectacularly ill-equipped to follow through on... sigh. We'll see how far this goes.
In his book, author Noah Scalin (of Skull-a-Day fame) says "The key to a successful daily project is deciding on a subject or medium that you will enjoy exploring for a year (pg. 7)."
I've been looking at birds here for a while and I'm still fascinated by them, so that seems like a good subject.
And I'm in a natural science illustration program this year, so why not combine the two to create a body of work?
Here's the project, as I see it right now:
Do 52 bird studies this year, taking a week to do each study.
I know what you're thinking -- that doesn't sound much like a 365-day project now, does it? Bear with me for a moment.
Last term in the NatSci program, we had a process and I'll be basing the "daily" part of the project on that process. If all goes according to plan, it will look something like this:
- Saturday: research
- Sunday: "getting to know you" sketches - loose, mostly gesture, for overall shape, or to study the interesting bits
- Monday: line drawing
- Tuesday: tonal drawing in graphite
- Wednesday: color, either colored pencil or watercolor
- Thursday: detail drawing - here's where you're likely to see lots of beaks, feet and eyes
- Friday: put it all together digitally
That's it, for the moment. Since it's my project, I reserve the right to change the rules whenever I want. If I can keep it going for any length of time it should be a good experience, and maybe I'll even make a few things I like!
My first bird: the Northern Cardinal. I saw my first live one in DC, so it will be a new bird (for me) to start a new project in the new year.
Happy New Year!
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