7 May 08
European Starling
Starlings are ubiquitous here, so much so I almost don’t notice them. But this is an error: an introduced species, they compete for nesting cavities with native birds (some of the sketches at left show a bird at a hole, which it won off a pair of Western bluebirds).
I find this bird unusually hard to draw. It has weird proportions: a small head and very short tail, and the neck seems sinuous. Long, gangly legs. Many of my attempts make it look like a woodpecker (or a bluebird). The hardest part, though, seems to be rendering the shine on the feathers.
I once worked with an Australian woman who called starlings “bodgies,” Oz for greasers on motorbikes. The Bodgie Bird.
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