Went out for a ride on Monday afternoon, looking for birbs and buds (crocuses). I saw a lot of the usual suspects: gulls, a downy woodpecker, pigeons, crows, and geese (SO MANY GEESE!). Then after I rolled across the Chief Mistawasis Bridge and started rolling back down the other side of the river, I started hearing - and then SPOTTING Western Meadowlarks!
Can you see it? Zoom in. That little dot in the distance atop a tree? Yeah, that's a meadowlark chirping away!
Luckily I remembered to bring out the "BIG GUNZ" so I was able to make out a bit of detail - general shape, yellowish... yep, meadowlark... Too bad I dont' have a CAMERA that can zoom in this much.
Maybe 200m down the road, i heard and spotted another across the road! (little dot on the bale of hay!)
There was one around here, but it flew off before I could even got my camera out.
As did the next one I saw...
The final one I spotted was in a tree right by the side of the road. It DIDN'T just fly off as I approached - at least, not right away.
I got these couple shots that... well... weren't awful - at least they're not wee dots in the distance. More importantly, it stuck around long enough for me to dig out the binoculars and stuck around long enough for me to get a REALLY GOOD LOOK! I've only ever really seen meadowlarks as dots on distant posts or in trees. Never really carried binoculars with me before this year. So, it was really quite exciting to have a good look at this one!
Western Meadowlark in the Birbs of Saskatchetoon Sketchbook
I’m not sure I have the patience for watercolour. Or I’m too much of a slob… Sometimes I think I just need to lean into it and MAKE A MESS… Thinking it will look like Ralph Steadman… but instead, it just ends up looking like… well… a muddy MESS. Added colours to this too soon and stuff bled into spaces that it really shouldn’t have… ugh..
Well, as long as you are having fun it's good. (maybe lean into Bob Ross, too; no mistakes, just happy accidents?)
ReplyDeleteWestern meadowlarks have one of my favorite bird songs. Just something so cheery about it.
They are a delight to listen to. While it was super exciting to SEE one up close for the first time, I always stop and listen when Im out for a ride and hear them!
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