After spending far too much time trying to locate and take a picture of the Chipping Sparrow, we finally got underway. After a few stops to look at geese and goslings in the downtown parks, we stopped again at along the train between the University Bridge and weir to look at birds out on the water. There were a lot of the usual suspects, but I also spotted something a little different. From a distance I almost thought they might be Killdeer - with some brown and black and white stripes - and they were somewhat smaller than the nearby Mallards. Looking at them through the binoculars it was clear they were something else but I wasn't sure what. I did take a moment to make a sketch of both before carrying on.
It took me some time to identify them as most pictures in books of Hooded Merganzers show them with their crest up - which looks VERY different...
Hooded Mergansers in the Birbs of Saskatchetoon Skethcbook.
Back to painting with Holbein Acrylic Inks.
Sketch I made. Didn't have the white spot in quite the right place.... but it was enough to eventually identify.
Birbs I saw out on the river...
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zoomed in a bit...
Cool birbs!
ReplyDeleteI like everything about your drawing/painting here - the colors and patterns, the lettering, the reflections in the rippling water.