If spotting Downy Wookpeckers and a White-Bellied Nuthatch in our yard wasn't enough for one day, just as we got to campus, we heard knocking above us in a tree we were passing under. We both looked up into and spied a HAIRY WOODPECKER!?
Amanda, who had earlier in out backyard wondered if what we'd been looking at were actually Downy or Harry woodpeckers said: "oh, yeah. Those were definitely Downies. THIS is a Hairy Woodpecker!" Spotting this one confirmed it - it was DEFINITELY larger than the ones we'd spotted earlier!
I chased it around a bit trying to get a good picture while keeping an eye on the bikes as Amanda went in to swap computer bits.
As always, the pics I took weren't GREAT... but good enough to get some ideas of how I was going to draw/paint it!
Hairy Woodpecker in the Birbs of Saskatchetoon Sketchbook.
I only did the one in my sketchbook.
They DO look a lot like the Downy Woodpeckers, no!? The main difference is size, which is really hard to tell from an illustration, and their beak. The Harry Wookpeckers beak is much longer, proportionally, than the Downy's.
Here are a few of the pics I caught of it while chasing it around between the Arts, Thorvaldsen, and Main Library buildings.
I have one more to do and then I'm caught up with all the birds I've spotted so far this year - all of which were spotted in January... then I guess I better get out birbing and looking for MORE!
another good illustration.
ReplyDeletethanks!
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