Birbs of Saskatchetoon - Gulls

 

Gulls have been back for a week or two now - and in greater numbers every time I head out. I have no idea what kind they are. Ring-Billed Gulls? California Gulls? Herring Gulls?! Could be any or all or something else entirely… I was going to wait until I could positively ID them before adding any to the Birds of Saskatchetoon Sketchbook… but I have no idea when or if that will ever be!? So I decided to just go hand and add a sketch of assorted white-headed gulls out on the river ice to the book. If ever I ID any I'll add an individual page for each that I do! 

I thought of doing a page like the SAY GAY ANYWAY GULLS.... but up close, like that, I'd feel like I'd need to add details that one might actually identify one type or another... so... distant view with vague details... 

Gulls

Gulls are back in Saskatoon. I got excited about adding a new illustration to the Birds of Saskatchetoon Sketchbook… but then I discovered there are TWENTY THREE different species of gulls that have been known to inhabit or pass through Saskatchewan!? And many of them are remarkably similar. I have to admit, I’m finding extremely difficult to identify which ones are here - at the distance I’ve been seeing them at…

Regardless, they are back, and it is a sure sign many more migratory birds will be here soon.

They seem pretty bothered about some new legislation in Florida, though…? (Or perhaps that is just me, projecting…) 

Gulls Say Gay - 28cmx35cm (11"x14") - ink on paper

rough sketch in sketchbook. 

 

another rough sketch in sketchbook.

Birbs of Saskatchetoon - Canada Goose

 Since as long as I can remember, there have been Canada Geese that overwintered here along the river - often rather large flocks of them. So it was surprising to me that I didn't see ANY... ALL WINTER (so far!) this year! I finally spotted a pair on the weekend. I doubt they're migrants returning from a sunny vacation in Mexico... they've just been hiding...SOMEWHERE around here!? 

I almost didn't see these at all, I'd stopped to get a better look at a nearby duck I'd spotted from the bridge (It looked like it had a reddish head - but turned out to be a trick of the light or something, as it was just Common Goldeneye). These were completely hidden from view from the bridge, and even where I was standing on the trail they weren't super clear, because they just kind of blended in with the surrounding shades of grey... 

But there they were - a pair of Canada Geese! 

Over the weekend I got to working on a few illustrations... 

Quick sketch in one sketchbook... 

Then I got to working on a few more in other sketchbooks and on separate pages. 

I have a problem with not being patient enough to wait for things to completely dry before trying to do another layer or adjacent colour and almost always apply more ink/paint too early and RUIN things... 

I have this idea that if I'm doing MULTIPLE copies of similar things, maybe it will take me enough time to do the one colour on all of them that by the time I get back to the first one, it will be dry.... 

This rarely works out in reality... 

More colours. 

Not sure why that Bohemian Waxwing painting remains on the painting table... guess I just haven't found a better place to put it and was so focused on these others I kind of didn't even notice it was there... 

Story of my life... 

Finished version of Canada Geese in Birbs of Saskatchetoon Sketchbook. 

(head's a bit small on the one in the back... dammit...) 

Canada Geese - 20cmx20cm (8'x8"), Ink on Watercolour Paper 

Canada Geese - 30cmx30cm (12'x12"), Ink on Watercolour Paper 

Birbs of Saskatchetoon - Blue Jay

Wednesday morning, I was working on another drawing of Bohemian Waxwings, when Finnegan just crept upstairs and very quietly said to me "You should come and take a picture of this..."

For some reason I thought maybe he was talking about something related to the school project he's working on... (There was a project for Communications Media that he was needing me to help him film himself and somehow my brain decided this had something to do with THAT!? ) 

As we went downstairs he said "It's just outside my window, it might not be there anymore..."

I realized he was talking about something else... 

Why do they always have to hide so deep in that overgrown Lilac bush...?! Part of me wants to thin it out... of course, if I DID that, it probably wouldn't BE so appealing to birds... 

It had dipped in temperature - the windchill was about -30°C - so it was super puffed up into a big ball of feathers. 

I've seen lots of smaller birds all puffed up in cold weather. This was the first time I saw a Blue Jay like that - it looked HUGE!? 

Ugh... none of these really turned out... Looks like I'll be making a composite again, rather than working from one in particular... which is okay.. 

I tried to quietly step out the front door to see if I could get a better angle.. but they flew off - to another tree in the yard - turns out there were TWO of them!  I stepped back in to grab boots and a jacket to go out into the yard... but by the time I got out they'd flown off down the street. I could hear them... but despite boots and a jacket - I was still wearing STILL wearing short pyjama bottoms and thus not really appropriately attired to be chasing birds around the neighbourhood! 

Bluejay in the Birbs of Saskatchetoon Sketchbook.

MOAR Birb - Cedar Waxwings Redux

As it often happens, after posting my drawing of a bird, which is loosely based on a poor, grainy, mostly-out-of-focus, and/or obsured photo... I almost immediately thereafter run into MORE of them, but closer up and in clear view!? This happened a week or so ago with the Bohemian Waxwings... 

You can see the some of the pictures I took over on my Bike Blog. 

So that has inspired a few new drawings of Bohemian Waxwings. I've been having fun with adding speech bubbles and odd or irreverent snippets of conversations. 

WTF Waxwing Waxwings - 15cmx15cm (6"x6"), Ink on Watercolour Paper 

Laser Eyes Waxwings - 20cmx20cm (8'x8"), Ink on Watercolour Paper 

Epic Dude-Bro Waxwings - 28cmx35cm (11'x14"), Ink on Watercolour Paper