Bernini & the Camera

Birdie doesn't like cameras very much, despite the fact that she's a total ham.


She uses her crest the way we use our eyebrows. "What are you looking at?!"


(Notice her orange eyes - when she came to live with us 12 years ago (!), her eyes were black... we thought she was a he for that reason. She's been sexed using DNA, but her orange eyes were our first indicator that we might have misnamed her.)

Something you might have realized, but just in case not, here's something to think about: most birds look almost silly when viewed head on...



... Little Bird is no exception.

Notebook #2

I finished my second birdlydrawn notebook yesterday. Whee!

Here are some of the sketchy bits that didn't make it to the blog...



You can sort of tell it's a waxwing... right?


Pinecones are endlessly fascinating... even if they're not birds.


I was working on this motmot's bill -- notice the jagged edges, like "teeth." The bill turned out okay, but the rest of the head... not so much.


Bernini, Bernini... always Bernini.


Bernini with a brush pen.

Love Happens?

I like romantic comedies... a lot. Unfortunately, Love Happens was neither romantic nor funny.

And there was some really awful treatment of a bird in it.

A cockatoo. Some variation on a sulphur-crested cockatoo. Not a lesser, like B. More like this one, a bigger cousin native to Australia (Cacatua galerita), photo from Wikipedia Commons:


In the movie, one of the main characters, in a "if you love something, set it free" moment, takes the big cockatoo to the wilderness of the Pacific Northwest and lets the bird fly off.

There are so, so many things wrong with that scene, two of the big ones being:

1. Cockatoos aren't native to the Pacific Northwest; and


2. Most birds raised in captivity don't know how to survive in the wild.

In other words, it is likely that if that character's fit of weepy sentimentalism had been a real-life moment, it would have been a death sentence for the bird.

Look, I don't think movies have to be completely realistic to be good. But releasing a non-native pet parrot into a wilderness situation is beyond unrealistic... it's inappropriate. A pet parrot is raised to be imprinted to people (unless it was wild-caught, which is a completely different story). If you live with a pet parrot who was hatched into a human environment, as the human part of its flock it is your responsibility to provide for the bird in a human environment. If you don't want to do that, it's your responsibility to find someone who is willing.

(And yeah, I understand that there are people in the world who believe that no parrot should be a pet - all parrots should be allowed to be free in their native habitats. More power to them. My point here is that once that human-bird imprint has been made, it's really difficult to unmake.)

I was mortified by this scene, and even more mortified that the writers/producers/director apparently didn't question it as a plot point. Not just because it's an irresponsible act, but because a) it didn't do much to advance the story and b) it made some of the characters even less sympathetic. I turned off the DVD.

The parrot I live with, Bernini, was sitting with me on the couch. I took the DVD out of the player and told her that we would never make her fend for herself in the wild... even if she sometimes sorely tempts us with her bratty behavior.

Doodle B(ug)

Yesterday Dana and Lilo went for a walk while I stayed behind with B to watch the second game of the subway series (Yankees vs. Mets).

Actually, B doesn't watch TV. She sits on the back of the couch so she can see out the picture window. Watching the world go by seems to be far more entertaining to Bernini than Major League Baseball. Who knew? (Maybe she was disappointed that the Yankees weren't playing very well... I know I was.)


She sat in a patch of sunlight and relaxed for a few minutes... just long enough for me to do a muddy little drawing.

Remiges & Rectrices

When B molts, it's an excellent time to study her feathers.

The one on top is a remex (pl. remiges), a feather from B's right wing. You can tell because the feather is asymmetrical, with the leading edge being narrower than the trailing edge.

The middle is a contour feather, most likely from somewhere on her front.

The bottom is a rectrix (pl. rectrices), from her tail. It's more symmetrical and has a more square appearance.

Feathers are so specialized... it's really pretty amazing. Even more amazing is the fact that B seems to be able to control each of her feathers individually.

Flight feathers are actually very stiff. Lilo (the dachshund) likes to chew on feathers when she finds them. Thankfully, Lilo finds individual feathers more interesting than the ornery strong-beaked cockatoo from whence the feathers came.

Gratuitous Parrot Post

B is cranky today. She's smart like a toddler and has the temperament to match. Dana's out of town for the next couple of days and B misses her favorite human.


This is one of her moods I completely understand. He's one of my favorite humans too, and I miss him when he's not around.

More B

More sketches of Bernini, a mover and a shaker.

Funny Cornell story: I'm reading along in the first chapter and the book is explaining that perching birds have tendons that lock when the bird sits back on its heels (that's what keeps them from falling out of trees when they sleep). The tendons release when the bird stretches its legs.

So the book says:

"If you have a live bird or a freshly killed specimen, slowly extend its hind limb to full length, then flex it close to the body, while watching the movement of the toes. You will observe that when you extend the limb the toes open, and when you flex it, the toes close into a position for grasping." ~ Cornell Lab of Ornithology Handbook of Bird Biology, pg. 1-15.

OK, if you've ever met B, you'd know that she'll bite if you spend too much time on her feet. She loves to be studied when it comes to feathers because it's like preening. Touching her feet? Just like a pedicure... and she can't stand getting her toenails cut.

Research Assistant

Ta-dah! I'm officially a student of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology Home Study Course.

Recommended materials for the course: the book (obviously), a notebook (check), binoculars (have to work on that one), and birds to study... preferably live ones. Apparently a bird in hand is a good option.

Actually, I have someone in mind for that job, so without further ado, let me introduce you to my assistant. You'll recognize her from some of the drawings I've done for this blog...

Life Drawing: Cacatua sulphurea

The nice thing about living with a parrot is that they like to be watched.

Wait. I should amend that. They like to be watched if they feel safe. Most parrots are flocking birds, which is why they can get along so well with us. In the absence of other parrots, we become their flocks. B has lived with us for ten of her 11 years, so we might as well be cockatoos, for all she knows... just bigger and not as beautiful.

And since Bernini rules the roost (hence the nickname Queen B), she's pretty sure that we should all be watching her (or petting her, or feeding her) all the time.

The problem, which I've mentioned before, is that she's not one to sit still for very long, so if you want to sketch, move quickly and don't expect to catch a lot of detail. She was preening the other night while I was sitting in her room with her, which offered a few pages' worth of different angles and perspectives.

Queen B: the Limitations of Drawing from Photographs

Here's Bernini from a photo. I love this portrait because I remember snapping the photo; it was summer, B was relaxed and even a little bit curious, which you can tell because she hasn't artfully arranged her crest feathers. (She was probably preparing to do something like chew on some part of the house.) She's got personality in spades, but it's difficult to catch it in a photo. B has a rich emotional life (as rich as a bird can possess): she expresses contentment, frustration, embarrassment and impatience... sometimes a little too well.

But as with most birds it doesn't show in her face. She emotes with her actions, by stretching and marching, bobbing her head, squawking and moving her feathers. Her behavior changes around cameras, so it's not easy to catch her personality in a photo.

I suspect that that's true for all birds. Wood ducks pip their heads and fluff their crests in a way similar to B. Harpy eagles stretch one wing and foot, like B does. Flickers get flustered and react to situations rashly... like B.

Birds are a challenge, because to really see them you have to observe them, but getting close enough to them to really see them could mean that a) they won't behave naturally and/or b) they move too quickly to see details.

Eventually, I hope to strike a balance between sketching from life and drawing from photos. But for now, as I get to know how birds are shaped, different beak and foot shapes, feather structures and patterns, I find working from photos helpful.

Doodled from a snapshot I took last summer.

Life Drawing

Class, today's model goes by 'B' -- short for Bernini -- an 11-year-old lesser-sulphur-crested cockatoo. She holds still for no one, so doodle quickly.